Drawing Change updates for 2019
Six weeks into 2019, and lots going on at Drawing Change. Here’s a few exciting highlights and resources:
Graphic Facilitation Training – in the Arctic
This Southerner spent two weeks in the far North. I taught a graphic facilitation workshop in the Arctic Circle in beautiful Cambridge Bay, Nunavut where it was minus 58 degrees Celcius. (Someone skied to my 2-day training workshop!) The demand for new, visual ways of working is always growing – my hunch is we’ll soon see a new network of visual practitioners in the far North – building on a rich history of artistic practices – who will transform graphic facilitation skills with a Northern worldview. Being up North changes your perspective. This is a must-read blog post about Qallunaat.
Keynotes
Thanks to Aurora College for inviting me to Yellowknife to give a keynote about the role of visual practice for adult educators, and to facilitate part of the in-service. It was a chance to share my ideas around using graphic facilitation to bring us closer together – for a sense of meaningful belonging, and to transform learning. It was an honour to share a stage with Drs Angela James and Suzanne Robinson.
Next public speaking engagement is in Vancouver for the Graphic Designers of Canada-BC Chapter AGM on Feb 20th. I’ll be sharing part of how I came to this unusual career, and how creative practitioners can also use graphic facilitation skills – even if you don’t think you can draw (…yet! The secret to our field is that fancy drawing skills are not always required). Thanks to the #Neuland Ambassador network for the fun swag for these workshops – if the talk has boring moments, at least you can ask me questions about fun markers, right?
Graphic Recording for Public Engagement and Strategic Planning
Yolanda Liman provided graphic recording at a strategic planning session in Las Vegas for a client who’s transforming their industry to be even more ethical – we’re always happy to work for US-based clients who want to make the world a better place. And, Michelle Buchholz teamed up with the amazing folks at Alderhill Consulting to support Indigenous-led strategic planning.
Generative Scribing and Experiments in Systems Thinking
I went to NYC for an advanced workshop in generative scribing with Kelvy Bird (who I co-edited a book with) and Alfredo Carlo – a chance to experiment and go deeper into my own practice and systems thinking. Here’s a great new resource by Jessica Rhiel about systems thinking.
Generative scribing gives us more choices to listen and connect to what is happening in the room. How I work always depends on the context – some groups will need the visuals to distill complex information into knowledge translation tools, and other groups will benefit from visuals that show a possibility that is being generated and is yet emerging. My purpose is to honour the lifetimes of experiences of participants both in the process, and in the visuals that are created.
Practitioners shouldn’t be tied to one way of working – because this creative, intellectual and intuitive work is more than “just show up and draw”. I don’t believe that practitioners should be interchangeable, or that we should approach each session identically. From the practitioner perspective, with training, mentors, communities of practice and experience – we can all deepen our work from our wisest source. And when we ask ourselves to work from this place, we can also help the room work from this place, with intention and purpose.
The 300 Rule – a great business tip for emerging graphic recorders
For newer graphic recorders wondering “what to do when nobody notices this great piece of work I just shared?” – I really enjoyed this article about the 300 rule from Alex Mathers. . I’ll be at this year’s IFVP.org 2019 conference on the business panel, so I’m collecting wisdom from people smarter than me in the meantime!
And, Registration is OPEN for this year’s graphic facilitation workshops, too.