Welcome to the end of December, the end of 2010. This is the time of year when we see plenty of “Top 10 of 2010” lists and summaries of the past year (along with a few predictions for the upcoming year). Yet in spite of the pundits and the headlines from national news outlets, I wanted to informally poll my friends and social networks to see how they’d headline the year.

Why? Despite the headlines and top stories, we tend to have our own filters and perspectives on what represents a whole year. 

So we posed the question in Mad Lib format: “2010 Was the Year of _____.” From our network, here are few of the results that came our way:

 “2010 Was the Year of the American Identity Crisis” – @tarynp

 “2010 Was the Year of the Lady Gaga Meat Dress and Tea Party Politicians (both over the top!)” – @theshiramiller

“2010 Was the Year of the Someone Else’s Life. (therefore, I call dibs on 2011!)” – @aparkour

 “2010 Was the Year of Writing, Social Media, and Mostly Good Times in a Bad Economy” – @georgiawebgurl

 “2010 Was the Year of the Social ‘Me’ versus ‘We’” – @alizasherman

“2010 Was the Year of the iPad (of course!)” – @eholtzclaw

 “2010 Was the Year of Blame” – @raidschmitt

“2010 Was the Year of Competing Rights” – @looking_glass

So what was the year to you?

We’re big advocates of finding ways to visually tell people your stories. Why? Because most of us learn and retain information better when it’s presented visually (and reinforced with spoken word). Kelsey Ruger at Moleskin (@moleskin) has a great way of sharing the importance of visual story-telling.  To help those of us who might be art-challenged, Kelsey offers this terrific presentation on how to reconnect to the creative, drawing parts of your brain. Knowing their audience, they’ve laid it out in easy-to-understand, step-by-step process.  You know, for those of us who are more linear and left-brained. Or for any of us who ever got a “D” in art class.  Ahem.
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