by | Monday, January 30, 2012

Workshop Alert – Rosviz is back!

I am excited to announce the 3rd annual graphic facilitation workshop (aka Rosviz!) in beautiful Rossland, BC, Canada, July 18-20th, 2012.

Drawing on Walls at the 2011 Graphic Facilitation Workshop in Rossland, B.C.

You are invited to this experiential workshop which takes place almost entirely at the drawing surface!

We’ll start the evening of July18th by warming up our drawing muscles and silencing those pesky inner censors. The second day, we’ll build into the basic practices of graphic facilitation and recording. We will pay attention to preparation, the actual visual work, and follow up including digital capture of paper based images. Our third day will be devoted to participatory graphic approaches, practicing and giving peer feedback. You can expect to go away with icons, ideas and approaches which you can use immediately, as well as ideas about how to hone your practice.

When might we use this practice?

Sometimes our imaginations are sparked by a visual where words fail us. Think about when communities plan and imagine their futures, when teams consider the possible outcomes for their projects, when groups create maps to track their progress.  These are all opportunities to use visuals to engage and deepen community dialogue. You can use visual thinking to improve teamwork, communications, meetings, build engagement and to plan work. Step out of the PowerPoint rut!

Who should attend?

Facilitators, project managers, team leaders and members, town planners, teachers and anyone who would like to engage others beyond words. 

Please note: You do NOT need previous experience or have to consider yourself an artist. At some level, we can all draw and use visuals to enhance our communications and engage diverse audiences.

Quick details: I will be hosting and co-facilitating with my very energetic and inspiring collaborator Nancy White.   This 2.5 day workshop begins the evening of Wednesday, July 18th and ends mid-afternoon on Friday, July 20th.  Early bird pricing before April 1st is $690.00 and is $840.00 thereafter.  Email me to register: michelle.k.laurie(@)gmail.com.

Please click here for more information

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by | Tuesday, January 17, 2012

I support the protest….keep the Internet free and open

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by | Monday, January 16, 2012

Facilitation Resource Alert

Hello facilitators and non-facilitators!

box-mockup

Where do you look for ideas, inspiration and validation when you want to design, host or facilitate a great meeting?  I have a set of people, books and weblinks that I often go to when I get started on a new project that involves facilitation of a meeting/workshop/conference/etc.    Recently, thanks to Full Circle Associates, I was led to a website that shares the Group Pattern Language Deck.  This is a deck of 91 cards describing ways to host, facilitate, and participate in an effective meeting.  The site provides nine suggested uses from preparing a facilitated event to post-event reflection and getting un-stuck.

I have never used ‘cards’ before as a method to find my preferred technique but I can already imagine how this will make my designing practice more fun (I love games!).   I also plan to use these cards when providing my training workshops on effective meetings and facilitation.  For example, I tend to use scenarios and have participants design and present on different meeting types.  The cards will be helpful for providing additional resources on the many ways to approach meeting scenarios as well as generating enthusiasm.

In general, it’s important that we look outside our day-to-day practice for inspiration, learning and new ideas.  There are many online forums to make this happen including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.  The cards are another ‘tangible and tactile’ (i.e. beyond online!) way to open the door to new ways of seeing things.

If you think the cards are a great idea, share the links above or write a blog post about them too!

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by | Monday, January 16, 2012

Thanks for commenting and more

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My icons on networks, connections and strategy

As I blog into 2012, it’s important to reflect on what I hope to achieve with my blog this year.

First, blogging is a personal practice where I reflect on work and ideas that intrigue me.  The act of blogging forces me to consolidate my thoughts, articulate them and share.  As an independent consultant, I don’t have office colleagues to do this with at the water cooler hence blogging is my metaphorical water cooler.  I hope to continue blogging and write more in the coming year.

Second, blogging is about connecting with others.  I need to connect and share with peers around the blogosphere and beyond to reinforce that despite working as a sole-proprietorship/consultant in a remote location – I am still connected!  The Internet has made working from home possible.  It has also enabled contacts and connections that I never would have thought possible 10 years ago.  Thank you to those that read, follow and link to my blog.  I particularly shout out thanks to those who commented in 2011 including Anni Holtby, Jennie Hoffman, Sylvia Currie, Beth Sanders and Isabella Mori.  Each person is someone I met outside the blog and have kept in touch with online.  I want to keep the conversation going in 2012!

Third, how are people finding my blog and how can I improve this?  The posts that got the most views in 2011 included topics of Graphic Facilitation and Planning, Collaboration, Relationship Building.  According to WordPress, I should continue to write on these topics as they have ‘staying power’.

Fourth, people find my blog with search terms such as graphic facilitation, relationship building and michelle laurie and my top five referrers include: Facebook, violette.ca (thanks), civicinfo.bc.ca (thanks to the graphic facilitation workshop I posted there), LinkedIn and kric.ca (sharing my workshop I think….).  I need to continue posting on my social networks and reach out to supporting networks.  My posts need to have tags that help people link to the posts and I should not change my name (even though I got married this past summer!).

Lastly, the infographics and metaphors used by WordPress to describe my stats were compelling.  For example: A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. My blog was viewed about 6,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people. They also used maps and stick people and photos to help tell me my story.  I appreciate this greatly as it engages me in the information and even enticed me to write a blog about it.  I would like to generate my own infographics in 2012 and tell more stories on my blog using metaphors to engage people.

Thanks for commenting in advance and keeping the connections going!

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by | Sunday, January 15, 2012

2011 in review – Thanks WordPress!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.  It’s been great to review the stats they generated including the top 5 referring sites, top blog posts, searches by visitors and more.  Thanks WordPress for all the great info!

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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by | Thursday, December 22, 2011

DIY Wall Board for Graphic Facilitation

A few months back I posted a question on the International Forum of Visual Practitioners Linked In Group asking:

Has anyone made a portable ‘wall’ (that fits into a car) to bring to meetings that don’t have great walls and if so, do you have tips or a guide to share?

People shared loads of ideas including buying walls from Neuland or Athenaeum as well as home made ideas such as using foam core, gatorboard, and rigid insulation to name a few.

I spent time visiting the local hardware stores, sign making shop and office supply store trying to find my material of choice.  I knew it was experimental so didn’t want to spend too much money.  In the end, I came across some 1/4 inch foam core that had been printed on one side for a project but had errors so was destined for the landfill.  The backside was plain white.  Aha – my chance!!

Due to odd sizes of the 4 foam core boards, I cut them to fit a 4×8 piece of paper and taped it together with white duct tape.

The widthwise seams are solid and don’t fold as one is on the top section and the other is on the bottom section.  The center seam is taped on the back and foldable so it fits in the back of my car.  The best place I found is in the backseat, straight up and down, leaning against the seat.  It also fits in the hatch back on an angle.

I clip paper to the edges of the board rather than using tape which is great and keeps the paper looking nice.  To date, I have leaned the board against the wall on top of a table and stretched across to write or use it simply to tell a story via a pre-drawn mind map or something.  It’s a little flimsy for a tripod which may be due to the less-than-thick nature of the board.

I am somewhat satisfied with the output as for a practically free experiment, its useful for holding visuals where the walls aren’t great and a good back-up to bring along when you aren’t sure of the room you are going to work in.  I am pleased to say I used it last week when I encountered mediocre walls in a condo meeting room setting.  I leaned the board (holding a large mind-map ‘visual summary’) across a mantle over a fireplace  and people could view it and discuss it from different parts of the room.  It seemed to work well!  On the flip side, I don’t find it rigid enough to really write on with haste.

Thanks to the IFVP discussion group for all the ideas and motivation :-)

 

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by | Monday, December 5, 2011

Ode to Rossland

Rossland, B.C. image by freshots.ca, Steve Hilts

I work from a home office in this beautiful mountain town in southern British Columbia.  I recently wrote a post about feeling isolated so I thought it only right to also share why most of the time, I am grateful!  Here are 10 reasons why I love Rossland:

1. Rossland is a winter town – people come to town, walk the streets and are happier when it snows, including me!

2. One of the best ski hills in North America is a 3minute drive away or you can x-country ski there on the trail connecting town and the hill.  There are also 50 km of groomed x-country ski trails.

3. Ferraro Foods has everything a great grocer and health food store could supply.  Miso, chia seeds as well as the staples.

4. Affordable.  This is one of the few places young people can still buy a house.

5. Friendly people often stop to chat on the streets.

6. Gypsy at Red serves amazing high end food when you simply don’t feel like cooking.

7. Yoga, Spin Classes, Pottery…there are many extra curricular classes available.

8. Winter Carnival when the streets close to cars and fill with people, bonfires, bobsleds and rail jams.

9. A compact community where you can walk almost anywhere.

10. I met my husband here!

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