Essential or Extras? Brainstorming Ideas into Actionable Content - 5

Unlock Course Creation: A millennial mom's approach to impactful online courses

In this episode of Unlock Course Creation, host Cassandra Meszaros kicks off 2025 with a deep dive into the creative and strategic process of brainstorming content for your online course. This solo episode explores how to sift through ideas, refine them, and align your content with course objectives and promises to create a seamless learning experience.

Drawing comparisons to organizing a closet or preparing for a major event (including a fun Taylor Swift Eras Tour reference), Cassandra highlights the importance of getting messy before achieving clarity. Whether you’re building a course from scratch or fine-tuning an existing one, this episode will guide you step by step to ensure your course delivers maximum value.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

1. How to effectively brainstorm and organize course content.
2. Why aligning content with your course objectives and promises ensures clarity and focus.
3. Tips for differentiating essential content from “nice-to-have” extras.
4. How to avoid overwhelming your learners by refining and structuring ideas.
5. The role of supplementary resources in enhancing the learning experience.
6. Real-life examples (including Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour) to demonstrate the power of preparation.

Timestamps:

• [00:00] Welcome to 2025 – New year, new goals for your course creation.
• [02:26] Reflecting on the fresh start: How to harness New Year energy.
• [03:42] Introduction to brainstorming – Brain dumping your course ideas.
• [05:19] Why brainstorming aligns with course objectives and promises.
• [06:52] How to refine and organize content post-brainstorming.
• [08:28] Examples of brainstorming ideas for photography and self-care courses.
• [10:36] Tips for overcoming creative blocks – Time blocking and learner-focused questions.
• [14:03] Essential vs. extras – How to filter content that adds value.
• [17:02] Supplementary resources – Enhancing the learning experience with templates, checklists, and more.
• [24:10] Real-world instructional design: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour preparation and its parallels to course creation.
• [33:54] Final gut check – Aligning content, objectives, and overall flow.
• [35:03] Wrap-up and call to action.

Key Takeaways:

• Brainstorm First, Refine Later: Just like organizing a closet, course creation starts with dumping out all ideas before sorting and refining.
• Essentials Only: Focus on content that leads directly to the transformation you promise. Cut out irrelevant details to respect your learners' time.
• Supplementary Resources Matter: Enhance the learning experience by providing tools like templates, printables, and videos that reinforce course material.
• Confidence Through Preparation: Just like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour preparation, thorough planning ensures smooth delivery and confidence in your course.

Call to Action:

• 🎧 Subscribe to Unlock Course Creation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform to stay updated on future episodes.
• 💌 Follow Cassandra on Instagram @Cassandra.Meszaros for more course creation tips and behind-the-scenes content.
• ⭐ Leave a Review: Your feedback helps others discover the podcast!
• 📲 Work With Cassandra – Need help with course creation? Book a discovery call or an “Ask an Instructional Designer Anything” session here.

Resources Mentioned:

• Discovery Call – Work with Cassandra.
• Episode 4: Crafting Your Course Roadmap: The Power of Objectives.
• Episode 3: Promise Made, Promise Kept: The First Step to Course Creation Success.

This episode serves as a practical guide for transforming creative chaos into a structured, value-packed course. Cassandra’s insights will help you refine your ideas, ensuring your course is impactful, organized, and ready to deliver results in 2025!