2/27/2026
Editors: Rebecca Morgan & Ken Braly
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From the Editors
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Miscellaneous Tips
AI may be undermining your book sales — Brenda Bence
This was recently reported by Kindlepreneur, Amazon’s new Kindle feature, “Ask This Book,” uses AI to provide readers with explanations and interpretations of a book’s content directly within the app. This feature, which operates without an author opt-out, has drawn criticism for potentially diminishing authorial control and raising concerns about copyright and the definition of enhanced book editions. You can read the full analysis at The Verge.
When “you” call for ransom money — Randy Gage
You’re a speaker. That means your voice, pictures, and photos are all over the internet, and people are making social media posts with you or about you, advertising that you’re currently away from home. All of which means you’re a ripe target for scammers. And now AI makes scamming scalable.
(Editors’ note: Randy wrote a thorough post on this. You’ll want to share it with your family and create a safety plan.)
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Get inspired and learn expert tips to greatly improve your slides in the “Scintillating Slides: Create Visuals as Fabulous as You Are” webshop with Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC, CVP, VMP. Register for half price before 3/31, and special 2-for-1 deal! |
Technology Tips
Time to add more RAM? — Ann Clarke
I use a laptop with 4GB of system memory, but programs began crashing after a recent Windows 11 update. I found out that these recent updates need even more memory for background processes and security features. Using AI meant even more RAM was gobbled up. I tried all the workarounds, but nothing worked until I upgraded to 16 GB of RAM. Now everything performs well. Perhaps 32 GB would be a good investment as AI becomes more popular and useful.
Don’t use AI to create slides — Rebecca Morgan
Colleagues have said they are using AI to create slides. I wanted to see how they’d do, so I tried 7 AI tools (Canva, Gamma, ChatGPT, Gemini, GenSpark, Manus, Claude) to create a sample slide with the prompt, “Create an agenda slide for a 5-minute presentation on slide-design tips.” I gave them no other instructions as I wanted to see what they’d create on their own.
What I got back ranged from dreadful to OK if you were producing a document, not a slide. They had way too much text on the slide in way too small fonts. Some had virtually no contrast, even though one of the tips they wrote was about contrast!
If you are using AI to create your slides, include prompts with good design criteria (e.g., specific fonts and sizes, number of bullets per slide, colors) as well. Otherwise, stop using AI, as the slides it creates will detract from your credibility!
(If you have a favorite AI slide creation tool not mentioned, enter the prompt above — and nothing else — and send me the results.)
Topic of the Month (TOTM) — Your Input Wanted
Our TOTM is: What redundant items (back-ups) do you bring when traveling — especially for long trips?
Send your brief, pithy responses *that are different from those previously mentioned* to editor@SpeakerNetNews.com. Please put “Topic of the Month” or “TOTM” in the subject line.
I always tell the client they need to provide the laptop and remote for the slide deck I send in advance. I bring those two items myself as well.
It’s rare that I have to bring out my laptop but it’s happened. Even more frequently, nobody could find the remote or it was forgotten, and I saved the day with mine so I wouldn’t be stuck behind the keyboard, pressing Enter.
About SpeakerNet News and the Editors/Publishers
- Publishers — Rebecca L. Morgan, CSP, CMC, CVP, VMP, and Ken Braly
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