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FastCompany Ad

Do you subscribe to the magazine FastCompany?  You can find us on page 169 of the current issue.  We thought it was appropriate to be included in the ”Masters of Design” (October) issue.  If you’re a subscriber, you should have just received your copy.  If not, be sure to pick one up at your local news stand.  This is only our second print advertisement ever, and we’re pretty excited about it.  Click on the ad below to see a PDF version:

To find out more about VizThink ’09 from February 22-25 in San Jose, California, check out our website.

[Podcast] A conversation with Moritz Stefaner

One of the favorite parts of my job is to talk to all of the amazing people in our industry.  There is some incredible work going on in all areas of visualization.  It’s very exciting to have access to some of the latest research and to be able to share it with the community.  In the case of Moritz Stefaner and his research with FH Potsdam in Germany, they are solving two problems.  First, often the data or information you need is spread across multiple databases and data sources with incompatible formats and structures.  Even if you were able to bring all the information together, interpreting it in any standard way would be nearly impossible.  Moritz has combined the ideas of a semantic web, network visualizations, and multitouch displays (like the iPhone or Microsoft Surface) to assist in research, analysis and information gathering.  Watch this incredible 24 minute video clip to learn more about the semantic web, network visualization, and visualizations of extremely large distributed data sets:

During the podcast, Moritz lists several videos and other resources.  Here are the related links:

http://portal.mace-project.eu/

http://portal.mace-project.eu/maeve/

http://info.mace-project.eu/
http://well-formed-data.net/thesis
http://well-formed-data.net/experiments/elastic_lists

Table Video
http://vimeo.com/1722446?pg=embed&sec=1722446

Other screencasts:

http://well-formed-data.net/VizThink/movies.zip

PDF of the presentation:

http://well-formed-data.net/VizThink/slides.zip

While it’s less than 3 weeks away, there is still time to register for VizThink Europe ’08.  For many more details, check out our conference wiki.  Be sure to Register Now to reserve your space at the conference.

Online Visual Thinking Workshop: Last Chance to Register

Do you want to improve your visual thinking skills?  Is it hard to find the time to travel to a workshop?  Has your company placed restrictions on travel?  Well, we have a solution!  We’re bringing a workshop for visual thinking skills online, and today is the last day to register.  We’ve got 4 of the best people in our field lined up to help!

Dave Gray	David Sibbet	Karl Gude	Nancy Duarte

They will show you how to visualize your ideas so you can think and communicate with greater clarity and effectiveness. After completing this workshop you will have a toolkit for thinking and presentation effectiveness — your presentations of complex information and strategies will never be the same.  This workshop is tomorrow, and you must be registered in order to view the videos after the workshop, so don’t delay!

Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Times: 10:00am – 5:00pm Eastern (4, 1 hour sessions)
Location: Global Online Webinar
Cost: $200

More details on this workshop including specific times, speaker biographies, and content are available on our website.

VizThink Europe Hotel Filling Up

We are exactly 1 month from the start of the next exciting VizThink event, VizThink Europe.  As we get closer, the Crowne Plaza Berlin City Centre, the conference hotel and location of all of the sessions, is filling up quickly.  Many people are taking advantage of the great location in the heart of West Berlin to add a few days on both sides of the conference which results in even the days before and after the conference filling up quickly.  Right now, the night with the least rooms is Monday night, 11 October.  Staying at the conference hotel has lots of advantages including the easiest access to all of the conference events and very easy access to key nearby sites like Ka-Da-We (the largest department store in Europe), the Berlin Zoological Gardens, the Tiergarten, and the Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm Memorial Church. 

Ka-De-We	Zoological Garden	Tiergarten	Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Both the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn are also very near which provides easy access to all of the great sites around Berlin.  Even if you haven’t registered for the conference yet, you will want to reserve your hotel room as soon as possible.  Be sure to reserve your room now to get the conference rate and reserve your space.

Visual Thinking on the Radio

Last night two of our community coordinators, Sunni Brown & Marilyn Martin, were interviewed on the radio show Writing on the Air, on KOOP, 91.7 FM in Austin.  Sunni & Marilyn (along with Charlene McBride) started our local community in Austin.  VizThink Austin met this week for their 4th time and is one of our fasting growing communities.  The interview includes (interestingly related) musical interludes from the White Stripes and Joan Osborne, as well as a lot of great questions from the interviewers.  Here are a few of the questions that come up during the interview:

What is graphic recording?
   [White Stripes interlude]
Who are Sunni & Marilyn?
What do the White Stripes have to do with graphic recording?
What is mind mapping and how does it relate to graphic recording?
What is dream mapping?
   [Joan Osborne interlude]
How does the creative process happen for the graphic recorder without time for reflection?
How does graphic recording work?
What other creative outlets do you have?
Is there a relationship between words and images?
What is the role of archetypical symbols?
   [musical interlude]
What is VizThink Austin and how do you get involved?
What to expect at VizThink Austin?

Check out the 53 minute audio recording here:

Here is one of the images (from Jane McGonigal at SxSW) mentioned during the interview:

Did you know that we have 6 active communities around the world right now?  Toronto, Austin, London, Seattle, Madrid, and Amsterdam are all having meetings in September.  Portland, St. Louis, and Boston are following quickly behind with events in October.  Also in the works are Zurich, Ottawa, Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, and San Francisco.  These groups meet somewhere between monthly and quarterly, to learn new visual thinking approaches, practice techniques, network with colleagues in their area, and have a lot of fun.

If you’re interested in getting involved with, or starting your own, local community the best place to start is the VizThink online community where you’ll find a group for each active city, as well as groups for many other cities where people have started to express interest. If you don’t yet have an account for the online community email community [at] vizthink [dot] com… and we’ll get you setup.

Mindomo Sponsors VizThink Europe

When talking about web-based mind mapping, Mindomo is in the first to be mentioned.  When VizThink was just an idea, before we even had a budget, Mindomo was one of the tools we used to brainstorm the concept of a visual thinking community.  While a few things have been tweaked, you can see from this Mindomo-generate image, that we have stuck pretty close to plan:

Mindomo has led the way in web-based mind mapping, with options for sharing, collaboration, web-page embedding, and, of course, all of the features you would expect in a modern mind mapping tool like hyperlinks, attachments, and even a ribbon bar (which is somewhat unique for any web-based tool). We are so excited that Mindomo is going to be part of VizThink Europe. Come to the conference to meet with them in person and learn more about the new things they are working on!

Be sure to Register Now to reserve your space at the conference.

 

Book Review: slide:ology by Nancy Duarte

slide:ology is one of my favorite business books of the year so far, and, yes, it is a business book.  In fact, I think it should be the top of any business person’s reading list.  If you ever have to present an idea, pitch a product, sell a service, get approval, or provide a progress update which should cover just about every front line manager and above in an organization.  I’m not alone in my praise.  Garr Reynolds, presentation guru and author of Presentation Zen, calls the book his “favorite presentation book of all time.”

The crux comes very early in the book on the role that slides play.  According to Nancy, they can either be a document, a teleprompter, or a presentation.  Slides can be great as a document (her book was actually written using PowerPoint) or teleprompter.  However, audiences shouldn’t be expected to endure slides that are more document than presentation.  The remainder of this beautifully designed book is dedicated to tips and techniques on how to create effective and powerful presentations.

Filled with case studies and example’s, Nancy’s book provides tips and techniques that are both practical and inspirational at the same time.  Some people may debate of the finer points in the book.  Maybe the most controversial is the estimate of 36-90 hours to create a 30-slide deck.  Most people would find that time commitment hard for an everyday presentation.  However, if you’re trying to land that million dollar plus client or making a career-changing presentation, it could be argued that even more time might be justified.  In some ways, if it’s worth presenting, it’s worth spending the time to do it well.

Maybe of most significance to me was Nancy’s explanations of the use of color and text.  Arguably, these two items are the most prevalent elements of any presentation.  While I though I had understood color in the past, I’ve never had it (and particularly the color wheel) explained to me in such an easy, understandable, and instantly applicable way.  In a quick 14 pages, she moves from color theory into practical, usable examples.

She covers a variety of other topics like:

- Using personas (a concept borrowed from user experience design)
- Brainstorming presentation approaches & ideas
- Sketching ideas
- Using diagrams to express complex concepts
- Displaying data
- Arranging elements on a slide
- Using photos, illustrations, and images
- Using movement

To hear our discussion with Nancy on a variety of the topics from her book, check out our recent podcast with her.  This book is both a great read and a handy reference tool.  While it looks great on a coffee table, it would be a shame for it not to be near your computer to reference for every presentation you create.

I highly recommend this book as part of your personal library.  It left me wanting even more.  I can’t wait for the follow-up!  The book is available from your local bookstore or you can order it now from our bookstore.

Nancy is also presenting next week in the Visual Thinking Online Workshop just one week from today, on Tuesday September 16th.  You can talk with her and three other great presenters live (Dave Gray, David Sibbet, and Karl Gude).  This is a great opportunity to hone a wide variety of your visual thinking skills with some of the best in our industry.  The workshop is only available to those who register, so be sure to reserve your space now.  Here are the workshop details:

Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Times: 10:00am – 5:00pm Eastern (4, 1 hour sessions)
Location: Global Online Webinar
Cost: $200

More details on this workshop including specific times, speaker biographies, and content are available on our website.

Reminder: VizThink Austin & London this Week!

Just a quick reminder of the upcoming VizThink community events this week. 

VizThink Austin 4: Gallery walk | September 9, 2008 @ 6pm

This month’s Austin event will feature the work of fellow community members. It’ll be a great event to network, share your work, gain insight and get inspired. Marilyn & Sunni have done a great job getting the Austin community started and I’m sure their positive reviews will continue with this event – sounds like a lot of fun. For more information, or to register, visit the VizThink wiki at http://wiki.vizthink.com/VizThinkAustin4

VizThink London 3: Why the Vision thing is a Visual thing | September 11, 2008 @ 6pm

Mark Wogan from Crystal Mapping will be delivering a presentation entitled “Why the vision thing is a visual thing” – in his own words:

“From my own experience of corporate life and building an international business from scratch to 250 people I’ll tell the story of how I used visual thinking and communication techniques to make sure everyone in the business understood where they were going, how they were going to get there and why they were important in the bigger picture -the whole ‘vision thing’. “

For more information, or to register, go here.

Other Upcoming Events

It’s a busy month in the VizThink local communities – the following cities are also having events this month:

Toronto – September 16, 2008

Seattle – September 23, 2008 (new community!)

Amsterdam – September 25, 2008 (new community!)

Madrid – September 25, 2008 (new community!)

More Communities!

You’d think that would be it, but you’d be wrong! More regional communities are popping up around the world. Some cities/areas that have the first event scheduled or being planned:

Utah – November 5, 2008

Portland – TBD

St. Louis – TBD

Boston – October, TBD

If you’re interested drop me an email (community@…) and I’ll connect you with the people in that city who have expressed an interest.

[Podcast] Visual Thinking and Private Banking

Ever wonder how visual thinking applies to your business?  In this 8 minute podcast with Dave Gray, Founder and Chairman of Xplane, we discuss a variety of uses for visual thinking in companies.  Some of the suggestions include internal communications about strategic changes in direction, visual methods for process improvement, and visual tools to explain complex products and services to customers. 

We talk specifically about the application to Private Banking, but the principles are widely applicable to all businesses.  Is a strategic shift happening in your company or industry?  Are you experiencing a transition between older and younger generations of employees or customers?  Do you you have complex processes, products, or services that would be more effective if your audience understood them well?  Visual thinking can help.

[Podcast] What does the visual thinking industry look like?

We’ve been asking lots of questions about the visual thinking community almost since the very beginning (1, 2) of VizThink.  Who belongs to the community?  How is everybody related to each other?  How big is the community?  One of the best ways to solve this problem is, of course, visual thinking. 

Several people have worked on this over the last year.  However, Ellen Coomber has taken the research to the next level.  She has turned the question into an official research project interviewing dozens of people across the industry.  At VizThink Europe ’08, Ellen will be rolling out the first draft of the visual and gathering feedback for the next version.  We’re very excited to see how this will turn out!  For an introduction to the research, check out this 8 minute 38 second podcast with Ellen:

It’s important that we get your feedback to make the visual as complete and accurate as possible.  Attend VizThink Europe ’08 to be part of this exciting project.  For many more details, check out our conference wiki.  Be sure to Register Now to reserve your space at the conference.

All you need to know about Visual Thinking