Can you believe that VizThink ‘09 is only 1 week away?  We’ve been working on the plans for this conference since nearly the end of the last one.  While lots of things have changed in the world around us, one of the things that hasn’t changed is that attendees to VizThink ‘09 are going to have access to the best visual thinking content available under one roof.  We have over 30 breakout sessions with some …

While there are amazing things happening throughout the visual thinking community, some of the most interesting are happening at our sponsors, not the least of which is happening at Tableau. Late last week, we sat down with their Director of Visual Analisys, Jock Mackinlay, to discuss his work and research. With degrees from Berkeley and Stanford, and years of work at one of the world’s most famous research centers, Xerox PARC, Jock comes …

It’s easy to focus on the visual. In fact, that’s probably one reason we believe so strongly in visual thinking. It helps people brainstorm, process, organize, plan, and communicate information more effectively. However, we so often talk about the visual aspects of our field (photo, 3D, sketching, color, proximity, flow, etc) that we forget there’s a thinking part as well. The purpose of the visual isn’t necessarily to save us from …

As we roll closer to VizThink 2009 we’re pleased to be able to announce that once again Dave Gray will be running a day long pre-conference workshop on Saturday, February 21 from 9am to 5pm. Keep reading for more details, and to learn how you could attend it FREE as part of VizThink 2009.
During this one-day workshop you will go through the process of designing a presentation. Working hands-on in in small groups, you will collaboratively …

We have a great slate of facilitators and content lined up for VizThink ‘09.  We’ve brought back some of your favorites like Nancy Duarte, Karl Gude, and Dan Roam with all new content.  We’ve got industry leaders and gurus like Dave Gray, Bob Horn, and Lance Dublin back again to share their expertise.  Plus, all new amazing facilitators such as Sunni Brown, Eileen Clegg, Brian Friedlander, Jessica Hagy, Jerry Michalski, and Colin Ware.  In total, we have …

Work and personal time is busier than ever. The economy is the worst it’s been in decades. Taking 2 or 3 days to go to a conference is a big investment, both in time and money. For a few people, conferences are a boondoggle, but for most of us we want to make the most out of our investment. Yesterday, we had the chance to sit down with frequent conference attendee, …

We’re very excited to announce that Karl Gude, industry expert and guru, will be conducting a pre-conference workshop entitled “How to Communicate Visually” at VizThink ‘09.  This very special workshop will run on Sunday, February 22, 2009 from 9am – 5pm. 
During this workshop, participants will learn what information can be better understood visually? And what is the best way to display that information: in narrative or diagrammatic form? map based? charts and graphs? How can a …

100s of messages in your inbox, overflowing blog readers, browser tabs filled with websites to explore…that and so much more can lead to information overload.  For over a decade, Jerry Michalski has been using his Brain to not just process that information, but to organize, recall, and find hidden relationships between the disparate pieces of information.  In this 15 minute, 34 second podcast, we discuss using visualization for knowledge management, dealing with massive quantities of …

2008 has been a fantastic year, for those of us at VizThink but also for the visual thinking community in general. We just want to take this opportunity to thank you for following the blog, visiting our community and attending our events, workshops and conferences around the world. Our mandate as an organization is to do what we can to grow and support the visual thinking community so, literally, without you we wouldn’t have much …

Have you ever had a problem you need to solve or a question you needed to answer, but you didn’t know the best way forward?  Even your traditional brainstorming methods weren’t providing the results you needed?  Visual Thinking approaches can be very powerful for getting over those hurdles.  One of the unique approaches, facilitated sessions using photographs, was created by Christine Martell of VisualsSpeak.  Her process uses specially designed and selected photographic images in order …