IFVP Conference Montreal 2009-08-19

This year the IFVP conference was held in beautiful Montreal, Quebec, Canada at the Hilton Bonaventure during a fantastically powerful full moon.   The energy in the city and in the conference was electric!  This was my first year at the conference, but I hardly felt like an outsider!  Everyone was so warm, welcoming and receptive.  Throughout the conference there were themes of community and support.  Everyone was encouraged to participate especially the 'newbie's (members who had never done a live recording).  It was a comfortable environment where we could all practice and experiment without pressure.  The plethora of experience in the room was outstanding and the wealth of knowledge and iconography was very inspiring!  There was time to talk about business, marketing strategies and client relations, there was time for talking about our own health and stamina, there was advice on layout, technique and design, there was a number of fascinating presentations from a wide variety of experts...the list goes on and on!  I feel full of vitality, motivation and confidence after my experience in Montreal and I owe a huge thanks to all of the other participants and the organizers of the conference, especially Jan, Becky and Launa!  It is really nice to know and feel that you are not alone in this field and that there is a wonderful network of people there to support you in your endeavours; people who genuinely care about you and want to see you succeed.  Thanks IFVP, I'm looking forward to next year!  Melanie Benn- Toronto, Ontario

 

Melanie Benn
Visual Thinker
647-407-8120
Toronto, Ontario
www.positiveculture.ca

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Final reflections....

    I feel very grateful that I was able to attend the IFVP conference with the help of a scholarship. I am new to the very idea of graphic recording and this was  a wonderful opportunity to get an overview of the profession and meet  other like minded folks. There was really a great variety of workshops, from seriously serious to playful. By far the best part was getting to know people and finding out how they use graphic recording professionally - lots of variations. I felt encouraged to meet some folks who - like me - don't work in a corporate environment and are doing well.  I would have liked another day or two- only because there were so many people I didn't get to know. The graphic jam was really fun. Now it's practice, practice, practice! (and I look forward to staying in touch!)

Deborah Page

FW: Your Business Destiny - A Roadmap to Success

 

 

Teresa Bidlake, Principal

Concepts Captured - Visual Facilitation

 

Giving ideas visibility^SM

 

PO Box 3497 | Sunriver OR 97707 | 541.815.3292 | www.ConceptsCaptured.com

 

From: Teresa Bidlake [mailto:teresa@conceptscaptured.com]
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 7:16 AM
To: 'blog4g40.ifvp@blogger.com'
Subject: Your Business Destiny - A Roadmap to Success

 

Dawn Sutherland brought us wit and wisdom this morning as she described the importance of – as well as the how to – of Networking, Courting, Selling & Delivering to our clients as Graphic Recorders. Dawn was generous with her expertise as well as great specifics on how to build business relationships.

 

Bottom line: Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. Want to build your business? Build relationships. Be authentic.

 

Gotta run to hear Chris McGoff who says, “I couldn’t do my job without a graphic recorder.”

 

Teresa Bidlake, Graphic Facilitator

Concepts Captured

 

Making ideas visible^SM

 

PO Box 3497 | Sunriver OR 97707 | 541.815.3292 | www.ConceptsCaptured.com

 

FW: Chris McGoff - Epiphanal!

 

 

Teresa Bidlake, Principal

Concepts Captured - Visual Facilitation

 

Giving ideas visibility^SM

 

PO Box 3497 | Sunriver OR 97707 | 541.815.3292 | www.ConceptsCaptured.com

 

From: Teresa Bidlake [mailto:teresa@conceptscaptured.com]
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 9:45 AM
To: 'blog4g40.ifvp@blogger.com'
Cc: 'John Blakinger'
Subject: Chris McGoff - Epiphanal!

 

Chris McGoff’s presentation on “Primes” – essential concepts for transformational change that are alive around us, but too often unnamed and therefore unused – was revealing and inspiring. The founder of The Clearing is thoughtful, provocative and well-informed while offering really basic stuff that every change agent should have no trouble understanding! An exceptional session.   

 

Teresa Bidlake, Graphic Facilitator

Concepts Captured

 

Making ideas visible^SM

 

PO Box 3497 | Sunriver OR 97707 | 541.815.3292 | www.ConceptsCaptured.com

 

FW: Final Reflections on Voices of Visual Practice 2009

 

 

Teresa Bidlake, Principal

Concepts Captured - Visual Facilitation

 

Giving ideas visibility^SM

 

PO Box 3497 | Sunriver OR 97707 | 541.815.3292 | www.ConceptsCaptured.com

 

From: Teresa Bidlake [mailto:teresa@conceptscaptured.com]
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 1:55 PM
To: 'blog4g40.ifvp@blogger.com'
Subject: Final Reflections on Voices of Visual Practice 2009

 

This rich community of practitioners are leaving for the four corners of the world, literally. Represented at the conference, in addition to the US and Canada, were Graphic Facilitators from Mexico, the UK, Japan, Australia and Brazil!!! A truly international convergence of energy, purpose, practice and vision.

 

The organizing committee, with invaluable support from Becky & Luana, showed incredible commitment in bringing it all together, putting it all on, and working to exhaustion to ensure the conference’ success. The presenters were first-rate, better than first-rate! The learnings and takeaways – even including a Process for capturing Reflections using a template(!) – left participants variously “energized, full, motivated, inspired, complete, and proud.”

 

IFVP, as a community of practice, leaves Montreal with great appreciation for the welcoming warmth and generosity of our host City, as well as for the camaraderie and relationships both newly developed and freshly renewed.

 

Join us in 2010!

 

Teresa Bidlake, Graphic Facilitator

Concepts Captured

 

Making ideas visible^SM

 

PO Box 3497 | Sunriver OR 97707 | 541.815.3292 | www.ConceptsCaptured.com

 

FW: Voices of Visual Practice 2009 - Reflections

 

 

Teresa Bidlake, Principal

Concepts Captured - Visual Facilitation

 

Giving ideas visibility^SM

 

PO Box 3497 | Sunriver OR 97707 | 541.815.3292 | www.ConceptsCaptured.com

 

From: Teresa Bidlake [mailto:teresa@conceptscaptured.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 7:08 AM
To: 'blog4g40.ifvp@blogger.com'
Subject: Voices of Visual Practice 2009 - Reflections

 

The 2009 Conference of the IFVP is concluded and all the participants have returned to their respective corners of the world. We’re each back at work – or back looking for work – and searching out opportunities to put our learnings from Montreal into practice. At a minimum, we all have a new visual metaphor for Change! I’ll definitely be using it in a trust building workshop with some public safety folks in a couple of weeks. Thanks, Chris McGoff!

 

I left the conference with a renewed sense of possibility and personal capability for the work of visual practice. The generous sharing of information by professional peers with a combined wealth of experience in the field is tremendously appreciated. Hearing their stories and gleaning their wisdom was the best validation I could imagine.

 

The absolute apogee of the event for me was the connections made with some warm and wonderful, truly remarkable practitioners. The voices at this conference were not only international, which is testimony enough to the organization: they were also authentic, thoughtful and caring. I thought I’d be the first to get invitations out on LinkedIn, but I was surprised and honoured to find invitations from others when I [eventually] got back to work [late] Monday morning. I expect the feeling of being connected to colleagues and having a true sense of professional community will help sustain me over the long winter to come.

 

To the conference committee and our extraordinary virtual administrative staff, a world of thanks for your amazing talent and unflagging commitment. For those who were unable to attend, you were missed.

 

Teresa Bidlake, Graphic Facilitator

Concepts Captured

 

Making ideas visible^SM

 

PO Box 3497 | Sunriver OR 97707 | 541.815.3292 | www.ConceptsCaptured.com

 

teaching the children!

If you were at the 2009 IFVP conference in Montreal in August, did you notice a little girl quietly working away on her own graphics during the time that Rick Payne was speaking?  The little girl’s name is Montserrat.  She is the daughter of Hector and Marcela Urteaga who came to observe part of the conference.  Having Montserrat present provided a wonderful moment of serendipity for me.  I met the family in the hall as they were noting certain aspects of a graphic that I had done.  I asked Montserrat if she liked to draw pictures.  She said she did and I talked with her about the graphic pictures on the wall and suggested she try it sometime.  When I realized that she and her father were watching part of the presentation and that she was in the back of the room listening to her I-pod, I decided there was no time like the present and took paper and markers to her.  I returned to speak with her a couple of times.  Before leaving Montserrat had drawn pictures of many beloved items she had left behind in Mexico when she and her family moved to Montreal.  Her pictures were bold and colorful, and Montserrat seemed to derive great satisfaction from the drawings and telling me about them.  She gave me a big hug (great payment!) and I do believe her step was just a little lighter when she and her Dad left the conference!  This child certainly did “get it” and she certainly was open to being educated about graphics.  How might you educate a child or ten or twenty about graphic interpretation this week?

 

JuliaSimmons

 

Dialogue Matters

Generating conversations to get the job done well!

Julia@DialogueMatters.org

 (336)657-3032

563 Rector Road

Ennice, NC 28623

www.DialogueMatters.us.com

 

Post-Conference Reflections

Heading home on the train last week, I was given a golden opportunity to exercise my 'elevator speech' muscle. I was sitting beside a lovely Irish-Canadian gentleman, and when he asked what I'd been up to in Montreal, I answered simply that I'd been at a conference. We later reached the question of what kind of conference and what I do for a living. 

I told him, "I'm a graphic recorder." Pause. 

"What's that?" 

"Well, a graphic recorder is present during a conversation to listen to and capture people's ideas in visuals, and puts them in a large format so everyone can see them..."

I could see that it made sense to him. If you believe that the most active part of a conversation is not speaking, but in fact listening, it's really interesting to imagine what might be going on at the 'receiving end'. Sometimes we feel that a connection has been made, other times, not so much. In this instance, it seemed that what I said did indeed fit into his experience, and we continued our conversation.

The train ride back to Toronto was also a perfect chance to let all the learning from the conference really soak in. I had had some pretty major insights over the course of those three days, and I wanted to give them lots of time to really land. One such insight was that when you are recording a conversation or an event of any kind, whatever you do needs to serve the client as a tool, not just end up as pretty wallpaper. Part of the reason I was drawn to graphic recording in the first place was the element of service, but as someone who does a lot of painting, I can sometimes get lost in the aesthetics. This thought had been brewing during the whole conference, but it sort of smacked me over the head during Dawn Sutherland's presentation. Graphic recording can certainly result in something beautiful, but more importantly, it is a tool for learning.

---

The IFVP conference was definitely a worthwhile experience. This year was my first one, and I will be back next year without a doubt.

Reilly

Day3: Teaching Others Our Craft w/Donna McGeorge

Some of the best presenters go last. Donna is an amazingly funny,
spirited, and skilled trainer with a generous heart and lots of energy (and
a great Australian accent to go with). She held my hand when I decided to
take the leap and "go to the wall" for the first time, coaching me
throughout the process with suggestions and encouragement. (imagine: Aussie
accent: "could you try a fork in there?" me: "a fork?" ???? (thinking a
fork in the road). Aussie accent: "yeah, a fork." Me(thinking):
!?!?!.....huh?...... Oh! A fork!!! (duh).........and yes I could, and did!
(draw an eating fork, with prongs!)

Ok, I'm off topic a bit, telling you my short story of fear-busting
with Donna's help. It just gives you an idea of her generous spirit.
Although her topic was dead serious, she presented it with tons of humor
and good will and the whole room was laughing. And, she modeled her
presentation, involving us as she went along: to set up a "Training That
Rocks", get the people in the room on your side by expressing truisms
("here we are on day 3..."), drawing out universal experience ("how many
have ever had the experience of..."), and sharing personal stories ("on the
way to the conference..."). Donna acknowledged and normalized the
learning process of hanging out in your comfort zone, sensing the anxiety
of moving into new territory, and falling into denial, blame or
justification as a way to avoid the vulnerability of moving towards the
new. The she asked us to teach a partner how to draw something. After
poo-pooing the theory of different sensory learning styles, Donna
maintained that we all take in information through all our senses, all the
time, and she offered a 4-quadrant model for a successful (rockin!)
training strategy using the following four questions in this order:

1. Why? What's in it for the participants? How will the training enhance
their identity? What will it get them? Here is where you, the trainer, get
to be the "presenter".
2. What? Sequence the steps logically, chunk it into three bites, offer
theory and references during this phase. Your role is as "lecturer/expert".
3. How? Let them experiment, make mistakes, practice without pressure
for performance. Be a "facilitator".
4. What If/Else? Debrief here, answering What Happened? So What? What
Next? and LINK the information to other relevant stuff.

Now we were invited to go back to our partners and teach the drawing
but going through the four steps above. Although it takes more time,
there's clearly a greater chance of success and a potentially satisfying
experience for both trainer and trainee.

Although I skipped out on the second teaching round due to another
pressing need, as an educator I recognize this as an effective model for
teaching just about anything. Don't assume people are motivated just
because they show up - you really need to offer (and help them identify)
and name what's in it for them. (I suspect it's a good marketing strategy
as well.) Only a few steps make for simple and easy recall, and people all
need room to experiment on their own in order to learn. Of course, wrap up
makes a difference in finding how what you've learned fits into your life
and experience. If you start with this model, have a great sense of humor,
don't take yourself too seriously, and can stand up in front of a crowd,
you will be well on your way to conducting trainings that rock, just like
this one did!

Deborah Page

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Primes are Primo

Chrsi McGoff of The Clearing presented on Primes.

Primes are essential, universal patterns that govern how organizations make progress or lose ground in the process of creating and implementing solutions.

More information is onhis webiste www.theclearing.com.

My general impression is I totally get how I can apply this idea to my work. If nothing else, I now have a suscinct definition for why should we plan - to resolve the tension between where we are now and where we want to be because there is something at stake that matters.

I now have basic images that illustrate what can be accomplished. Simple images that represent incredibly difficult efforts, but efforts that can transform an organization.

Thanks, Chris!

World Cafes and Graphic Facilitation

Day 2: Adding More Value to World Cafe Events

    Nick Payne, an independent graphic recorder with World Cafe experience shared with us his approach to recording a World Cafe Event. After leading us through a short WC (Essential Question: "Is Graphic Facilitation Essential At World Cafes?"), Nick rocked the IFVP world by saying "Content Is NOT King!". (Nothing like confusing us newbies, I just learned yesterday Content IS King!), and off we went.......

    Lots of folks at the the WC conversation tables seemed to feel GF adds value, but isn't essential to a successful WC.  For Nick, the point of  a WC is to have a conversation, and to that end he uses graphic facilitation to create a memory of time and place, identify themes and  help the group reflect.  Prior to the actual conversations, Nick roams the room graphically capturing people chatting informally - he then posts these vignettes along the base of the wall graphic. As the group progresses through 3 different sets of questions, Nick retrieves the table drawings following each set and works to synthesize and draw out themes for recording on the wall graphic. (While he synthesizes and draws themes, the group is heading into the next set of questions). By the time the group gets to the last question, Nicky is working pretty speedily in order to finish an entire wall graphic to be used for group reflection.  And I mean speedily.

     If you like the chaos of synthesizing on the spot and under pressure, this approach might be useful. I liked that Nick clearly identified the added value that an overall wall graphic can bring. Faces along the lower border reinforce eventfulness (my new fave word), and synthesizing the information for the group visually takes the table drawings a step further, and of course a large visual representation of the process offers a way to reveal the process for reflection. But this is a challenging approach and not for the timid. You'll need to be good at pulling together words/ideas/pictures from the table drawings (which by the way, will be going in all directions!) and willing to sacrifice some aesthetics as the process accelerates towards the end. It is essential? Probably not. Does is add value? Most definitely.

Deborah Page

Day 2: Al Sevin Presentation: CEU-ing

Facilitator, manager, former solo bike tourer and current Ph. D candidate Al Sevin led an afternoon presentation exploring his current research on choices graphic recorders/facilitators make during a session. He is looking at this through several lenses, including aesthetics, ethics, narrative, sensemaking and improvization - considering the practitioner, the representation and the participants.

The goals of Al's research are:
1. Make a complex phenonenom Visible; and
2. Fostering reflective practice.

Al's approach is built around CEU: Coherance, Engagement and Usefulness.

We participated in an exercise, a mock facilitation, if you will, to demonstrate the approach.

My impression? I felt like I just participated in a science experiment, and I was the test subject.

It was a bold risk on IFVP's part, and Al's, to come before the conference attendees and one that diversifies the offerings of the conference, but it fell flat.

I appreciate the work that has gone into the research and Al's efforts to create a system for evaluating the effectiveness of facilitation - and hope his disertation goes well. But from a presentation standpoint, it felt lacking to me.

Now its on the graphics jam...

Beginning at the beginning

First Day Musings.....

     Well my brain is a bit full and slightly toasty but I'll do my best to convey first day impressions. After an eight hour drive, I overslept and hit the ground  running (note to self: when setting the alarm on your cell phone, remember to turn the volume on), but thankfully I didn't miss anything. I received a warm welcome at registration and picked up my bag of goodies which included some markers, info about Montreal, a spiral bound drawing book, an eraser and art catalog from Blick, a packet about the conference's planned activities and workshops, a mug, a maple leaf made out of maple sugar (very Canadian), and a whoopie pie. Everything was in a sharp-looking black tote with "VOICES of Visual Practitioners IFVP Conference 2009 Montreal". Cool! New toys! (Now, this is my first conference and I am new to the field and culture of visual practitioners, and I am quite curious about that whoopie pie.  Hmmm.  Perhaps there is a secret significance I will discover later in the conference.....)
     Being new to visual practice I spent the day in Graphic Recording 101 and was treated to the talent and humor of Brandy Agerback and Lynn Carruthers. These two amazing women have very different but quite complementary styles, and it was great to have them working side by side. I have attended one other introductory  workshop (with Christina Merkeley, another awesome practitioner) so some of this was review for me, which was great - AND I learned a bunch of  new stuff.  Brandy and Lynn broadly addressed the basics: materials for the work and reproduction, (paper, markers, tape, digital camera) and skills needed (listening, thinking, organizing, drawing). We did some full body warm-up at the wall, and got right down to it: playing with the alphabet, faces, star and squiggle people (great imagination happening there - star people standing on their heads, leaping for joy, looking gloomy, swimming, and a few squiggle dogs and cats). We had some opportunities to visually record some TED talks.....including one specifically chosen for it's challenges. This was great for me, because  I am most liable to find fault with myself when I don't "get" something, and this speaker was terrible!!!  (I'm NOT saying who it was, of course..... ;-) ) Anyway, I couldn't follow the talk to save my life......(another note to self: make sure you know something beforehand about your speaker's style before you agree to the gig!). It was amazing to see all the different perceptions/interpretations AND common threads up on the wall. A wonderful reminder of how diverse our thinking can be, and the many ways something can be expressed, revealed, captured, synthesized. All interspersed with humor, stories from the field, tips, and positive and supportive feedback.
     I am both anxious and happy about adventuring into graphic facilitation. Being here at the conference is a fabulous opportunity to stretch my growing edge and learn from seasoned pracs. I'm looking forward to what the next two days bring. And after a good night's rest, I just might be more coherent.

from Deborah Page
    

Day 2: Panel Discussion

I understand that this is new to you, but everything I am going to do will be in service to your content. - Brandy Agerbeck

 

It's the second day of the IFVP conference in Montreal, and a panel discussion with four experienced visual practitioners has just finished. The discussion was rich in concrete examples and practical advice for those looking to learn more about the business side of this field.

I came away with a To Do - some things I've been meaning to do for a while, but haven't gotten around to, other things I'd never thought of - and I had lots of "A-ha!" moments. Get a video on your website; email those older contacts that you keep saying you'll get in touch with; get clear about how you're different; start using Twitter... like, now.

 

I'm really grateful for the openness and generosity I've encountered across the board at this conference so far, and this dicussion was another example of that.

 

Time for the next session...

--

Reilly

Bring It On!

Bring It On: Advanced Practices in the Field

The session was designed to give the seasoned practitioner what they
never get enough of at breaks and lunch: A chance to share chalkenges
and discoveries in our work.

Usually we work alone as the only one in the room who does what we do.
Once a year we get to spend three days among colleagues, friends, and
new peers, which isn't enough time to share and learn all we want to
with eachother.

Bring It On started with a Speed Share giving us a chance to talk one
on one swapping stories about where we have been challenged and where
we want to grow. Switching partners every ten minutes for several
rounds we reported out, creating an extensive list from which themes
emerged. We chose to focus the next portion of the day on deeper
discussion.

Simultaneous recording was the feature of the next phase. A group of
four
recorders chose to record the conversation while the larger groups
discussed how we talk about what we do and how to market ourselves.

Next we took time to walk the gallery of maps that the four recorders
captured. We looked at them from 60 feet away, assessing what
impressions and attentions were created from the back of the room. We
moved closer to midway and eventually gathered in front of the maps,
reflecting on how the myriad of choices impacted what the maps
conveyed. What a rare and unique opportunity to see how different
visual recorders would capture the same conversation.

We repeated this process for a second round of six recorders capturing
a discussion of a code of ethics for visual practitioners. We explored
what the benefits and needs for a code of ethics are and what might be
covered in our code. We identified three areas it would cover: Our
interactions with eachther, our clients expectations and our
stewardship of the field.

Again we galleried and critiqued the six maps from the code of ethics
conversation, looking from afar, then moving closer. We heard from
each mapper about their experience, why they did what they did, what
they were trying to do and what they would do differently.

The maps from the second round literally showed the collective
learning that was already being integrated. Time flew by and we chose
to go 30 minutes over time to complete our session and get the most
out of this rich experience. One member reflected that he had not had
this kind of energy and intimacy since the early years of an IFVP
gathering. It was a smart and savvy group of caring and committed
practitioners that cumulatively had 147 1/2 years of experience among
us.

Julie Gieseke MA
individual+group+community
www.mapthemind.org

Day 1: Check.

Following The Seeing Brain presentation, I spent the balance of the day in Graphic Recording 101.

Big Thanks go to instructors/motivators/role models Brandy Agerbeck and Lynn Carruthers for leading the session so expertly.

It was reassuring to hear (and see) the breakdown of what goes into successful graphic recording, particularly given my background as a facilitator:

• 10% Prep
• 50% Listening
• 30% Organizing
• 10% Drawing

So, there is hope for those of us who don't consider ourselves graphically blessed!

So takeaways (we'll call these Takeaways #2)

• Essential Eight: a great roadmap for building skills. These basic drawing elements provide a solid foundation to build skills: Lettering, bullets, color, line, arrows, people.
• The use of color is important. As my practice recordings demonstrated, too much/many colors takes the focus off the what was written and shifts it is how it was written. Not good.
• Did you know that in the symbol for "no" (the red circle with a slash through it) the slash starts in the upper left of the circle and goes to the lower right? I didn't. Tip: Think of the symbol as a combination of the "N" and the "O" and you'll have the correct direction for the slash.

And finally,

• Learn from everyone and make it your own: Inspriation can come from anywhere (not just at a conference full of talented graphic facilitator/recorders). When you see something you like, capture a picture of it, play with it, and make it your own. The key being make it your own. This reminds me of an old professional association call CASE. While I don't remember what it actually stood for, I do remember the working title, which was "Copy And Steal Everything". Nice.

Hopefully there will be a posted from yesterday's concurrent session "Bring it on". I know there was a lot of energy around how we market our work and a possible code of ethics.

Today, we're in one group as we tackle

• the IFVP annual meeting
• Panel discussion on The Business of Visual Practice, and
• presentations on Adding More Value to World Cafe Events; CEU-ing (Coherence, Engagement and Usefulness in Graphic Facilitation); and Visual Practice in Education - a case study

We'll close the day with the Graphic Jam reception.

All the Best!

Let the conference begin!!!

Shout outs to our board and conference organizers led to the morning presentation by Marc Schönwiesner, Professor, University of Montreal on The Seeing Brain. Graphically recorded by Melanie Benn.

Lots of great content which can be shared in other formats.

For me as the newbie/wannabe graphic recorder, the biggest take away came as Melanie was explaining what she recorded and why. She pointed out that she captured elements of the remarks that would trigger a memory for those in the room. one example was including the word/image for "clap" which triggers our group exercise on recognizing objects - as we watched a series of images flash on the screen, we clapped when an image was repeated.

I'll consider that "take-away #1"

More to come...

Melanie Benn

Welcome!
This is the first year the IFVP will have a conference blog! We have a team of people that are helping to get the participants reflections and experiences from the conference onto this blog so that many of our members who were not able to make it to Montreal, can get a taste of this year's conference. We will have photos up on this blog too, so you won't have to make up your own pictures of what is going on.

Don't forget to follow IFVP on Twitter (@IFVP) too! That will also be a stream of conference notes with the tag #ifvp09. Also, if you haven't already joined IFVP on Facebook and Linked In, please do.

Thank you to Brandy Agerbeck and Doug Bacon for getting us up and rolling on Blogger!

Welcome IFVP 2009!

It's Doug Bacon here. During our conference I'll be capturing my experiences through the IFVP 2009 blog.

Please note I did say "our", for although I've not met many members yet, I am a card-carrying member of IFVP (we do get cards don't we?).

I am new to the graphic facilitator/graphic recorder field. OK, "new" may be giving myself too much credit. Let me say this - I have recently become interested in the field of graphic facilitation. So much so that I've joined IFVP and taken time away from work and family to attend the conference.

A little bit about me. I work for The Lee Institute, a nonprofit consulting firm in Charlotte, NC USA. Our clients are typically other nonprofit organizations, government agencies, public and private foundations and community-organized initiatives in the Charlotte region. We believe that when people engage in well-designed, informed and inclusive processes, they will create authentic visions and strategies for their organizations and their communities.

My title is Associate Director, and facilitation is part of what I do.

I see serious potential for graphic facilitation in our work, so here I am - packing my bags, finding my passport and headed to Montreal.

I look forward to all that awaits me in Montreal and to sharing my experiences, and those of other conferees, over the next week.

All the Best!