As a Lightbulber, you were the first to see IRIS back in March - it's my AI tool that keeps you honest on whether your LinkedIn visuals are feeding your business or feeding the algorithm.

Well, after some additional training, back-end reinforcement and cosmetic upgrades, IRIS made her splashy public debut at the Lettuce Solo Summit last week.

If you were unable to join the 200+ live attendees, the recording is now available on Lettuce.co.

The session covers:

• LinkedIn as the Garden of Eden, and algo-fads as the “forbidden fruit”
• A resounding cheer of “We Can Do Better!”
• The IRIS visual critique framework + playtime with the tool
• The common theme I uncovered analyzing hundreds of visuals with IRIS — hint: the best ones all hurt
• A simple mental model for your LI content + profile mapped to your Narrative Spine (i.e., what should be in your visual vs. post vs. profile)

The fun didn’t stop there.

The morning after the workshop, a surprise landed in my inbox...

Attendee and new Lightbulber Michelle Courtney Berry - aka The Workplace Doc™️ - took IRIS home and got to work.

She spent Thursday evening after the workshop running her LinkedIn banner through more than 30 iterations, starting at 🫠 Regrettably Forgettable and working her way, methodically, to 💡 Genuinely Good.

Then, she wrote the whole thing up!

A few things Michelle noticed along the way that I think are worth passing on:

1. One word changed everything. The difference between a Noticed But Fleeting score and a Genuinely Good score came down to a single word.
2. The breakthrough came from her, not the AI. The insight that finally unlocked the a-ha concept came from 20+ years of research and keynotes. IRIS didn’t tell her what to say. It pointed Michelle deeper into her own mind.
3. Scores are directional, not definitive. Michelle also noticed that submitting the same image twice could produce different verdicts. She correctly identified this as normal LLM variability and drew the right conclusion: treat each score as a signal, not a grade. The framework — Instant, Resonant, Insightful, Spark — is the consistent diagnostic. The verdict is just the compass needle.

​I’ve posted her full write-up. It’s worth reading not just as an IRIS case study, but as a model of what committed iteration actually looks like.

And it goes beyond her final visual. As a byproduct of visual iteration, Michelle now has a new vocabulary for the arc she guides her clients through.

So if it’s been a while since you revisited IRIS, jump back in at her new digs - RateMyVisual.com.

I made an offer to the live attendees that stands for you as well — if you run a visual through IRIS and it gets rated “Genuinely Good”, send it to me and I’ll feature yours in the Lightbulb just like I did Michelle’s.

(No case study write-up required 😉)

Enjoy the long weekend, and I’ll see you next week with some new announcements on services, Lightbulb cadence, book updates, and more.

Q2 is half-over and full speed ahead!

💡

-Wes