Mike Parkinson

Mike Parkinson

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@Mike_Parkinson is a geek. He is 1 of 36 Microsoft PowerPoint MVPs in the world, is an internationally recognized communication and presentation expert, best-selling author, and professional trainer. Mike’s keynotes, training, books (“Billion Dollar Graphics” and “A Trainer’s Guide to PowerPoint: Best Practices for Master Presenters.”), and tools (Build-a-Graphic.com) help companies succeed while saving money and time. He owns Billion Dollar Graphics and is a partner at 24 Hour Company, a premier creative services firm.

Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

Amy Balliett

Amy Balliett

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Amy Balliett is a known thought leader, award-winning author, and keynote speaker in the fields of visual communication, visual content marketing, visual strategy, and artificial intelligence. Following her tenure as the founder and CEO of the industry leading agency Killer Visual Strategies she became the Senior Fellow of Visual Strategy for Material, which acquired Killer. Balliett serves as the Chief Visual Stragtegist to several boards, is a guest lecturer at several colleges and universities, and a LinkedIn Learning instructor.

Website | Twitter | LinkedIn

Sneak Peek:
How to Maintain Design Consistency When Using AI Prompts

Mike Rankin

Mike Rankin

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Mike Rankin has been involved in the design, editing, and production of books, magazines, and newspapers for almost 30 years. He is the Editor in Chief of CreativePro Magazine and CreativePro.com, co-author of the Adobe Photoshop Visual QuickStart Guide, and an Instructor for LinkedInLearning with over 30 video courses on InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, GIMP, Inkscape, and Affinity Publisher.

Instagram | LinkedIn

Jason Hoppe

Jason Hoppe

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Jason Hoppe has been teaching graphic design and production for over 20 years in Seattle. He began his education when paste up and traditional production was transitioning to the computer and embraced the earliest computers and technology. He earned a degree in Advertising and Production and a BFA degree in Swiss Graphic Design.

Being an early adopter of computers, he began using Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark and Pagemaker when they first came out. He moved from NY to Seattle to work in the advertising world and escape the cold and snow.

He started teaching page layout and Photoshop at the Art Institute of Seattle in the ‘90s and found a profound love of teaching. His teaching continues currently at the School of Visual Concepts, LuminousWorks and Seattle Central College. He was the founding instructor of CreativeLive and has created more than 250 videos in graphic design and production.

Jason is an Adobe Certified Expert InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat and an Adobe Authorized Instructor, and was named an Adobe MAX master.

His love of graphic design, infographics, production, photo retouching and illustration keeps him current with all the software with his book, Adobe Illustrator: Course and Compendium from RockyNook. He also writes an Illustrator blog on all things Illustrator at www.jasonhoppe.com.

His love of creation and discovery comes from customizing lawn mowers at an early age and his profound love of cars from the age of 3. Being raised with no television, he channeled his curiosity and energy fixing, restoring and collecting cars since he was 14, and is a self-proclaimed car whisperer.

He lives in Seattle with his partner and three wonderful hairless cats.

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Dax Castro

Dax Castro

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Dax Castro is an award-winning, Adobe Certified PDF Accessibility Trainer and certified Accessible Document Specialist (ADS) with more than two decades of experience in the marketing and communications industry. In addition to providing accessibility training to companies worldwide, he and Chad Chelius host a weekly accessibility podcast Chaxchat and PDF Accessibility Facebook group. Dax’s training style focuses on fundamentals in a clear and simple way that is both engaging and informational. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to accessibility, you can always count on learning something new from Dax.

Website | Facebook Group: PDF Accessibility | Podcast | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn

Nolan Haims

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Nolan Haims has decades of experience designing visual communications for the largest brands and organizations. He trains organizations to communicate more visually and create compelling stories with data. Nolan speaks at national conferences, writes extensively on visual storytelling, and is one of the co-hosts of the long-running Presentation Podcast. As one of only 15 Microsoft PowerPoint MVPs in the U.S., he regularly advises the PowerPoint development team on the industry standard software. He is the author of thebetterdeckdeck.com and runs his own design consultancy in Montclair, NJ.

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Lisa Carney

Lisa Carney

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I’m an entertainment retoucher with a photographer’s soul. My work tells stories rendered in pure light. Because, at the end of the day, it’s all about the light. Capturing it. Refining it. Harnessing it to create mood. Theme. Stories. I have worked in the entertainment ad industry for the last 30 years.

Graduated from Art Center College of Design with a BS in Photography. My undergraduate study was in Art History/Studio Arts minor from San Francisco State University.

I’ve had the privilege to live in Italy and France throughout my career. Now I call California my home.

Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

Tony Harmer

Tony Harmer

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Tony Harmer, also known as The Design Ninja, is a creative Swiss-army-knife and learning-content author with over four decades of experience in the creative world. Currently serving as the Chief Entertainment Officer of DN:TV, Tony has a diverse background that includes working as a press operator, concept artist in IP development, and designer/illustrator. He has also been a regular contributing writer for Computer Arts, creating engaging articles and videos on InDesign and Photoshop projects.

Tony’s impressive list of certifications reflects his expertise and reputation as a respected instructor in numerous applications. He has conducted graphic production and animation training worldwide, which ultimately led to his employment as a specialist solutions consultant at Adobe. During his tenure, he worked closely with major brands and design companies, contributing to their workflows. Although he left Adobe in 2018, Tony maintains his connection to the company as a guest and host on Adobe Live in the UK and USA.

As an author, Tony has created several popular video titles for LinkedIn Learning, attracting over 2.2 million learners. He is also an avid live-streamer, regularly streaming weekly.

Tony’s captivating speaking style and offbeat sessions have earned him popularity as a speaker and presenter. His sessions are filled with a wealth of tips, techniques, insights, and inspirations, delivered with a contagious sense of humor and enthusiasm.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube

Richard Goring

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Richard is a Director at BrightCarbon, the specialist presentation and eLearning agency. He enjoys helping people create engaging content and communicate effectively using visuals, diagrams, and animated sequences that explain and reinforce the key points, which is supported by plenty of resources and tips at www.brightcarbon.com.

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Jole Simmons

Jole Simmons

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Jole Simmons is a seasoned presentation designer, LinkedIn Learning author and podcast host living in the Bay Area. Nicknamed “The Presentation Guy” by some of his early clients, he adopted that as the name of his design company and has never looked back. Jole is originally from Maryland and saw the need for presentation designers in Silicon Valley, so he moved to San Francisco to work on presentations for large companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, YouTube, Gap, and Workday. He’s now a LinkedIn Learning author with several classes under his belt, and recently started a podcast “Presentation Junkies” with his good friend Lisa Marie Grillos. He currently lives in Daly City, CA and has an amazing 11-year-old daughter named Mia.

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