Here's a template I created that provides a space for
people to write in their visionary ideas and thoughts.
Instead of providing a linear document with
blank _____ spaces for clients to fill in, why not use a
template where they can write and draw in a drawing?

Mandalas

For many years now I've enjoyed drawing mandalas, as they portray relationships in a unique way; all the symbols, curves and lines are interconnected just as humans connected to one another and to nature. Creating mandalas is an organic process that develops as the conversation or my own thoughts emerge, most often using symbols and shapes instead of written words. I begin by making a small dot near the center of page, then I slowly draw other dots in a circular pattern that relates to the first dot. I continute to draw without a design in mind or the aid of a ruler. This drawing style came to me early one morning when I was visiting the holy city of Safed, Israel. While wandering around with my sketch book, I noticed a unusually artistic light fixture. I did my best to copy the fixture's intricate design and next thing I knew, a mandala took shape. I haven't been able to stop creating mandalas since that day, almost sixteen years ago. On several occasions I've drawn mandalas for corporate and non-profit organizations as way to represent their conversations, but most of the time, the mandalas live in my sketch books. Feel free to leave me a comment about what you see in the images or tell me how they speak to you.

Tailor-Made Visual Recording Workshops

A Google employee prepares a map for a World Cafe harvest.

Visual Recording workshops help you develop a new creative skill to use at work and home:

• You can offer a Visual Recording workshop that is designed just for your organization:
  
• I offer a one or two day workshop that teaches the basic skills of Visual Recording that can be directly applied to your work: everyone can learn to take notes in Visual Record form, and we can even teach you to Record the ideas and conversations of others.
• A Visual Recording workshop will highlight the creativity and ingenuity of your co-workers as they learn to Visually Record your next meeting or conversation.
• Bringing Visual Recording skills into your workplace supports the many different learning styles in your company; over %65 percent of people are visual learners, so make sure you're reaching your whole audience at work.
• At the end of the day, each person will have created posters, Visual Records, and icons that can be used right away at work or home.
  
• After a Visual Recording workshop, you'll think even better as a team, because now you can see your collective ideas all in the same place.
  
• A Visual Record you created on your office wall is a great way to keep inspired and engaged.
  
• Create a personalized Visual Record during a workshop that you can give as a individual gift or seasons greetings card.

Students at SCAD University in a Visual Recording workshop.


Employees at Google learning to Visually Record a live conversation.

Latino Roundtable, Chicago IL

A poster I created for a presentation on "Forging the Tools for Unity: A Report on Metro Chicago’s Mayor’s Roundtables on Latino Integration."

Systems Challenge Mural: NCDD '08

The first of many images to come from our work at the National Conference on Dialog and Deliberation in Austin Texas. This mural is a compilation of comments left by participants over the three day gathering. 5 challenge areas related to D&D were chosen as themes of the conference and I mapped the issue concerning integrating D&D into our systems.

A recent Visual Record I created for a consumer products company
during a retreat facilitated by Dawna Markova and her team of
Professional Thinking Partners.

A live Visual Record created from a key note speech by
Jack Zenger at SCAD University in Savannah Georgia.

This beautiful picture is of the inter-generational group of designers who came together last weekend to create the Youth Dialogue Project Sessions that will take place at the National Coalition for Dialog and Deliberation conference in October. The 3 sessions (mentioned in an earlier post) will focus on trans-generational leadership in the Dialog and Deliberation community and beyond. There will be concurrent sessions held at the NCDD conference, one designed specifically for folks under 30 and another for a group of over 30 participants, respectively titled "Including Our Voices: Young Adult Leadership in the D&D community" and "Creating Room at the Head of Our Tables: Exploring New Mentoring Roles as Young Leaders Emerge. The third session is a trans-generational gathering welcoming all ages into
a World Cafe conversation and exploration. The designers and Woody the dog, spent two days in Berkeley getting to know one another, sharing stories, participating in a World Cafe conversations, and developing the content of the sessions. I am honored to be part of this group and want to express my gratitude for their welcoming of both my Visual Recording as well as my ideas and experiences.















Getting the mapping started for our first session.













The World Cafe format being used to support conversation
between Vergers and mentors in trans-generational dialog.













The whole group of amazing folks from left to right, front row to back row: Estuko, Abigail, Deborah, Jonna, Alissa, Nick, Mariah and in the back row Milton, Mitch and Ken. Damn, we look good.

Thought Leader Gathering: Harvest

Thought Leader Gathering: Structure of Belonging

The most recent Thought Leader Gathering hosted by Heartland Circle inspired these maps. The first map contains questions shared by participants at the opening circle, and the other maps came from conversations about community and leadership. This TLG focused on the work of Peter Block and his most recent book The Structure of Belonging. To see a larger version of any mpa, click on the image.