JEROEN BLIJSIE, TIM HAMONS, and RACHEL S. SMITH Visual Tools and Stories from 50 Experts WorldwideTHE ULTIMATE FIELD GUIDE TO VISUAL PRACTICE.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED, WITH TOOLS AND STORIES FROM MORE THAN FIFTY PROFESSIONALS AROUND THE WORLD.

Visual practice is transforming the way people work. It makes conversations visible, ideas tangible, and decisions clear. If you’ve wondered how to tap into the power of visual practice in your team or organization, or if you’ve ever wished for meetings where everyone participates and gets energized and excited about the work you’re doing together, this is the book for you.

Learn from experts around the world who are immersed in visual practice every day: a visual coach who helps clients envision and achieve their goals; a facilitator who is passionate about hosting great meetings; a consultant who empowers teams to reach and sustain high performance; a graphic recorder who helps communities rebuild after a disaster. These stories (and many more!) are told by industry leaders—those who bring visuals to offices, retreats, schools, digital meetings, and everywhere else that collaboration happens.

Filled with rich illustrations, step-by-step guides, and examples of visuals in action, this field guide will teach you how to harness the power of visuals for your organization. Whether you’re looking to break into the field of visual facilitation, or you’re a seasoned veteran seeking to expand your tool kit with new techniques (like creating and shooting a sketch video), The World of Visual Facilitation is your go-to guidebook for all things visual.

ABOUT THE CO-EDITORS

Jeroen Blijsie is a visual facilitator, trainer, author, and founder of The Visual Connection, located in The Netherlands. Together with his team, Jeroen facilitates organizations in strategic visioning and planning, business improvement, and team building. He also educates professionals in the art of visual facilitation.

Tim Hamons is a Singapore based visual facilitator who believes that drawing is your best tool for thinking, collaborating and working through change. As co-founder of Art of Awakening, he works with groups to visualize change, and regularly speaks and trains throughout Asia on the power of visual thinking.

Rachel Smith is a Seattle-based consultant who believes that remote work can often be more effective and engaging than face-to-face work—when supported with the right visuals. She facilitates groups in all industries and at all levels, from the front lines of retail sales to the C-suite of global technologies.

PLACE FOR ISBN

FOREWORD BY DAVID SIBBET

Including ONLINE BONUS MATERIAL

DESIGN BY VISUALITY

THE WO

RLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIO

NUnlock Your Pow

er to Connect People & Ideas

Blijsie, Hamons &

Sm

ith, editors

www.theworldofvisualfacilitation.com

JEROEN BLIJSIE, TIM HAMONS, AND RACHEL S. SMITH

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

Unlock Your Power to Connect People and Ideas

The World of Visual Facilitation: Unlock Your Power to Connect People and Ideasby Jeroen Blijsie, Tim Hamons, and Rachel S. Smith, editors.

Initiator and Project Manager: Jeroen BlijsieCo-editors: Jeroen Blijsie, Tim Hamons, and Rachel S. SmithCopyeditor: Sonja StoneCover and Interior Design: Visuality.eu

Copyright © 2019, The Visual Connection Publishers. All rights reserved.info@thevisualconnection.nlwww.theworldofvisualfacilitation.comwww.thevisualconnection.nl

July 2019: First Edition

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a database or retrieval system, or published, in any form or in any way, whether electronically, mechanically, by print, photo print, microfilm, or any other means without prior written permission from the publisher.

While the publisher and the authors have used good faith efforts to ensure that the information contained in this work is accurate, the publisher and authors disclaim all responsibility for errors and omissions, wholly including damaging results for the use or reliance on this work. Use of instructions and information contained herein is at your own risk. This work contains intellectual property rights of multiple authors; it is your responsibility to ensure that your use of the material and information complies with regulations and rights.

For errors and omissions, please notify info@thevisualconnection.nl.

ISBN 978-9-082-86850-0

Visual Facilitation:

Graphic [or visual] facilitation is the use of large scale imagery to lead groups and individuals towards a goal. The method is used in various processes such as meetings, seminars, workshops and conferences. This visual process is conducted by a graphic facilitator.

Wikipedia contributors. “Graphic facilitation.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Mar. 2018. Web. 25 Jun. 2019.

WITH VISUALS

LYNN CARRUTHERS

AMY LENZO

ANTHONY WEEKS

JEANNEL KING

MIKE ROHDE

BRANDY AGERBECK

BEN TINKER RENATTA ALGALARRONDO

SAM BRADD

DEAN MEYERS

NORMA NARDI

DANA WRIGHT WASSON

TIFFANY FORNER

JERRE LUBBERTS

LAURIE DURNELL

RACHEL SMITH

TRENT WAKENIGHT

JEROEN BLIJSIE

KELVY BIRD

MARTINE VANREMOORTELE

BRIAN TARALLO

GREG WHICKER

HEATHER MARTINEZ

MARSHA ACKER

NEVADA LANE

ROSANNA VON SACKEN

JIM NUTTLE

MALGOSIA KOSTECKA

SOPHIA LIANG

JILL GREENBAUM

MARY ALICE ARTHUR

DAVID SIBBET

LISA ARORA

The Joy of Templates

Using Color

Attending to Tone

Coaching withTemplates

My Journey as a Visual Facilitator

Visual Facilitationin 3D

Initiator and Project ManagerCo-editor

Sketchnoting:Your First Step into Visual Thinking

The Value of Visual Organization

Honoring People and Process through Visuals

The Right Tool for the Job

Your Future as a Visual Facilitator (editor)

Book Design

Graphic Recording:an Improvisational Dancewith the Facilitatior

Live Digital Mapping in Teams

Graphic Formats

JULIE STUARTSensing into Emergence

Creating a Visually-ImmersiveExperience from Start to Finish

Polish Your Charts for Clarity and Impact

An Integrated Approach to Visual Facilitation of the Future

One Visual Meeting Creates One Huge Shift

Tackling our Listening Mindset

Metaphors in Visual Practice (editor)

Lettering for Legibility, Hierarchy, and Speed

JENNY TRAUTMANMulti-Sensory Facilitation Tools and Applications

Using Stickies To CreateExciting Ideas and Engaged Participants

In Defense of Meetings

Creating ImpactfulEmployee Engagementwith Templates

Creating Immersive Visual Enviroments

The FUNdamentals of Visual Language

Co-Editor

How to Get Teams Unstuck

Foreword

Connection, Collaboration, Creativity: Using Visuals for Online Engagement

Storymap Project Lessons: A Designer's Perpective

Multi-Sensory FacilitationTools and Applications

Using the Geographyof the Room to AccessCollective Intelligence

Facilitating Human-Centered Design: People Come First

Facilitating with All Hands at Play

Visual Meeting Warm-Ups

The Camera as a Visual Tool to Close a Meeting

Visuals at Large Events

Visuals Meet Mediation

Facilitating for Story

Centering Listeningin Visual Practice

MEET THE AUTHORS

MATHIAS WEITBRECHT

TRACEY EZARD

TIM HAMONS

MICHELLE WALKER

JEROEN BLIJSIE

TUL LEKUTAI

HOLGER NILS POHL

MARTINE VANREMOORTELE

MIA LILJEBERG

FRANK WESSELER

GERAULD WONG

JESSAMY GEE

MARKO HAMEL

MATTHEW MAGAIN

RENATE KENTER

JIM NUTTLE

MARA CALLAERT

LYNNE CAZALY

SABINE SOEDER

Presentation Skills:Let the Picture Do the Job

TOMOKO TAMAARIVisualization of Human Emotion

Visuals for Recovery: A Story of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake

TOMOHIDEOSHIMAVisuals in World Café

A Multilocation World Café in Japan

The Growing Edge forVisual Practicioners

Conversations thatMatter: Visual Collaboration among Educators

Better Communication withthe Empathy Forecast

A Bullet Proof Process forCreating Sketch Videos

Shooting a Sketch Video:Tips and Tricks

JILLIAN LEEFuture Heroes:Graphic Facilitation for Industry 4.0

Future Casting Our Field

Visual Selling®: RethINK CustomerConversations On Paper and Digitaly

13 Most Common Visual Selling®Pitfalls and How to Overcome Them

Initiator and Project ManagerCo-editor

What Do You Mean?! Creating PurposefulDialogue from Visuals

PHILIP GUODigital Graphic Recording, Live on Chinese Television

IMAGEning the Future

Graphic Recording:an Improvisational Dancewith the Facilitatior

Co-Editor

Graphic Formats

Agile Ways of Working

Visuals in World Café

An Integrated Approach toVisual Facilitation of the Future

My Journey as a Visual Facilitator

Visual Note TakingElements & Principles

My Journey as a VisualFacilitator

Using Color

Designing Meetings with the Clarity Framework

The Case for DigitalFacilitation

App Magic: Presentingand Facilitating UsingDigital Media

Polish Your Charts for Clarity and Impact

How to Set Up a Room for Visual Facilitation

Understanding BusinessProcesses ThroughVisualization

IXTHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

CONTENTS

Meet the Authors VIOnline Bonus Material XIIFrom the Editors XIIIForeword XVIIAcknowledgements XXIThe Book Behind the Scenes XXIII

Getting StartedVISUAL LANGUAGE AND DRAWING

Holger Nils PohlMy Journey as a Visual Facilitator 3

Malgosia KosteckaThe FUNdamentals of Visual Language 9

Kelvy Bird and Holger Nils PohlUsing Color 19

Heather Leavitt MartinezLettering for Legibility, Hierarchy, and Speed 27

Tomoko TamaariVisualization of Human Emotion 37

Tim Hamons and Jerre LubbertsGraphic Formats: Start with the Right Structure 45

Jim NuttlePolish Your Charts for Clarity and Impact 59

THE BASICSMara Callaert How to Set Up a Room for Visual Facilitation 73

Renatta AlgalarrondoThe Right Tool for the Job 79

Mike RohdeSketchnoting: Your First Step Into Visual Thinking 99

Jessamy GeeVisual Note Taking: Elements & Principles 113

Martine VanremoorteleGraphic Recording: An Improvisational Dance with the Facilitator 125

Dana Wright WassonUsing Stickies To Create Exciting Ideas and Engaged Participants 133

Holger Nils PohlDesigning Meetings with the Clarity Framework 137

Meetings and More

MEETINGSDana Wright WassonIn Defense of Meetings 147

Nevada LaneVisual Meeting Warm-ups 153

Mia LiljebergPresentation Skills: Let the Picture Do the Job 161

Rosanna von Sacken and Jenny TrautmanMulti-Sensory Facilitation Tools and Applications 169

Sam BraddThe Camera as a Visual Tool to Close a Meeting 177

LARGE SCALE MEETINGSTomohide Oshima and Sabine SoederVisuals in World Café: How to Prepare, Host, and Harvest 181

Sabine SoederCo-Creation of the First Tirolean Entrepreneurs’ Day in Austria 189

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONX

Tomohide OshimaA Multilocation World Café in Japan: Big Plans for a Big Visual Event 199

Sam BraddVisuals at Large Events 211

VISUAL LISTENINGAnthony WeeksCentering Listening in Visual Practice 221

Sophia LiangTackling Our Listening Mindset 229

Brandy AgerbeckThe Value of Visual Organization 239

Julie StuartSensing into Emergence 253

DIALOGUEGerauld WongWhat Do You Mean?! Creating Purposeful Dialogue from Visuals 263

Tracey EzardConversations that Matter: Visual Collaboration among Educators 273

Matthew MagainBetter Communication with the Empathy Forecast 285

IMAGES AND STORIESSophia LiangThe Metaphor in Visual Practice 293

Anthony WeeksIs Your Metaphor a Box or a Catalyst? 304

Anthony WeeksFacilitating for Story 305

Tiffany FornerStorymap Project Lessons: A Designer’s Perspective 315

Renate KenterIMAGEning the Future 329

TEMPLATESLynn CarruthersThe Joy of Templates 339

Jill GreenbaumCoaching with Templates 347

Dana Wright WassonCreating Impactful Employee Engagement with Templates 355

TEAM PERFORMANCELaurie DurnellHow to Get Teams Unstuck Using Visuals 363

Jeannel KingOne Visual Meeting Creates One Huge Shift 371

Beyond the Paper

VIRTUAL AND VISUALHolger Nils PohlThe Case for Digital Facilitation 381

Comparing Paper and Digital Media 387

Holger Nils PohlApp Magic: Presenting and Facilitating Using Digital Media 389

Jerre LubbertsLive Digital Mapping 395

Amy LenzoConnection, Collaboration, Creativity: Using Visuals for Online Engagement 405

OFF THE PAPERBrian TaralloVisual Facilitation in 3D 415

XITHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

Greg WhickerCreating Immersive Visual Environments 425

Dean MeyersFacilitating with All Hands at Play 431

Marsha AckerUsing the Geography of the Room to Access Collective Intelligence 439

Matthew MagainA Bulletproof Process to Creating Sketch Videos 449

Matthew MagainShooting a Sketch Video: Tips and Tricks 459

Pro Stories

VISUALS IN ACTIONTul LekutaiMy Journey as a Visual Facilitator: From Buildings to Court Rooms 471

Julie StuartCreating a Visually Immersive Experience from Start to Finish 477

Tomoko Tamaari Visuals for Recovery: A Story of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake 485

Philip GuoDigital Graphic Recording, Live on Chinese Television 491

Jillian LeeFuture Heroes: Graphic Facilitation for Industry 4.0 499

Jill GreenbaumMy Journey as a Visual Facilitator 511

Frank WesselerUnderstanding Business Processes through Visualization 517

INTERSECTION WITH OTHER FIELDSBen TinkerHonoring People and Process through Visuals 531

Dean MeyersFacilitating Human-Centered Design: People Come First 543

Lisa AroraVisuals Meet Mediation 555

Lynne CazalyAgile Ways of Working 563

Marko HamelVisual Selling®: RethINK Customer ConversationsOn Paper and Digitally 575

Marko HamelThe 13 Most Common Visual Selling Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them 587

Your Future as a Visual Facilitator

Trent WakenightFuture of the Field: Introduction 599

Mathias WeitbrechtFuture Casting Our Field 601

Kelvy BirdAttending to Tone 609

Michelle WalkerThe Growing Edge for Visual Practitioners 617

Sabine Soeder and Mary Alice ArthurAn Integrated Approach to Visual Facilitation of the Future 627

Trent WakenightFuture of the Field: Conclusion 635

About The Editors And Co-Authors 637Index 647

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONONLINE BONUS MATERIALXII

ONLINE BONUS MATERIAL

Free resources available for all readers!

To access your bonus material, visit:

www.TheWorldOfVisualFacilitation.com

DownloadsVideos

ChecklistsTemplatesGlossary

Further readingWorks Cited

And much more!

Check back often or subscribe for regular updates!

XIIITHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION FROM THE EDITORS

FROM THE EDITORS

Get a Marker in People’s Hands: The Power and Opportunity of Visual Tools

to Effect Positive Change

The co-editors, from left to right: Rachel Smith, Tim Hamons and Jeroen Blijsie

You hold in your hands a sizeable guidebook—a rich resource illustrating a rapidly expanding industry. We hope this book brings you and those with whom you work much value for years to come. As co-au-thors, we believe fully that the power of these processes (and the content in these chapters) will support you and your clients in doing remarkable work. As facilitators, team leaders, and designers of learning experiences, we are always looking for new ideas and innovative frameworks to increase the value and engagement we create during our events. We believe you’re looking, too—that’s why you’re here.

You might also share the experience that when visual tools or processes are introduced into the room, groups generally show equal measures of resistance and intrigue. Fears and challenges like I can’t draw or this doesn’t make sense press up against possibilities like I can see what you mean and we can see a path emerging. As facilitators, we need to navigate this potential mine-field and guide a group to safe passage. We introduce the following three strategies.

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONFROM THE EDITORSXIV

1. Draw Live. Of the three strategies, only one specifi-cally involves you (the facilitator) drawing. This is it. As the facilitator standing at the front of the room, you are, after all, the visible focal point for the group. So why not draw? On a flipchart, draw a simple model of your idea, and then capture participants’ comments alongside in a visual way to let them know that their voices are heard and considered. Our brains are far more engaged by information which is presented spatially than linearly, and by information which is suggestive rather than complete. This is why the “pull” of drawing on a flip chart, whiteboard, or digital surface will always win the battle of attention and engagement over the “push” of PowerPoint slides in any meeting. As facilitators and trainers, we want to demonstrate the actions we would like to see from the group. Whenever possible, be a good model and draw live. Many co-authors of this book agree. Their chapters, in particular, explore live drawing in more detail.

2. Use Templates. Templates are a great way to invite and harvest ideas and input from a group in a structured and consistent format, both as single visual frameworks, or as a series. We’ve included an entire section on templates and a chapter on graphic formats to help you get started.

3. Get a Marker in People’s Hands. This is the real magic of the work we offer as visual facilitators. While the directive is straightforward, let’s break it down a little further by looking at the keywords.

MARKER:

A marker is, in its most basic form, an instru-ment with a felt tip designed for writing or drawing—but there is so much more to it. Marker options include a variety of tips, colors, functionality, and design.

What’s significant about a marker? For most adults, it’s been many years (perhaps since childhood) since they intentionally held a creative drawing tool in their hands. There is something visceral about good quality materials for mark making—it’s an

invitation to create in an environment that supports creative expression. Putting a high quality, colorful, creative tool in people’s hands is empowering and liberating! It sends the message to participants that their ideas matter; that they will be called to create; that something different and important is going to happen here today. Getting a marker in people’s hands sets your participants up to be valuable and successful contributors to your meeting.

Make these creative tools easily accessible. Have great markers available on the table in an attractive display. Give instructions on how to use them. (You’ll learn more about markers and other creative tools throughout this book.)

PEOPLE:

Who are you working with and what do they hope to accomplish? Many of us work at ground level with teams and team leaders. These are the hands, hearts, and minds of every organization; their deci-

sions, words, and actions directly impact other peo-ple’s performances and experiences. You may work at the strategic level with key decision makers who analyze the landscape and set the direction for workplace culture and organizational transformation. Perhaps you work with coaches and facilitators, the trusted practitioners who use their knowledge, experi-ence, and tools to help groups navigate the unchar-tered territories of change. At the heart of every business, community group, or change initiative are people with ideas, hopes, and stories.

This book is filled with stories and examples of different groups overcoming challenges and identifying opportunities. Regardless of position, role, or tenure, everyone can make a meaningful contribution to and benefit from a visual process in their meetings. Many of the visual tools presented here work alongside the process facilitation models and frameworks that you already use. For those who would like to add a visual component to your meetings but would prefer to leave it to the

FROM THE EDITORS XVTHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

professionals, we’ve included a number of chapters about selecting and working with visual facilitators.

Many case studies of visual tools used in specific client situations can be found in the part called Pro Stories. Here you’ll learn about the power of visual tools to manage group bias, solve organizational challenges, support disaster recovery, celebrate key milestones, and bond together a community.

HANDS:

With so much focus on technology, speed, and efficiency in our business communica-tion and work environments, we are becom-ing increasingly disconnected from the wisdom of our bodies, feelings, and kines-thetic experiences. Our hands are busy

tapping away on keyboards, or putting together slide presentations and spreadsheets. But it’s through our hands that we bring forth and shape our ideas into physical form. Hands working together are the manifest symbol of collaboration. Hands connect us back to our bodies, ground us in our emotions, and unlock deeper intuitive connections. There’s wisdom in our hands that comes from putting things together, moving things around, sketching out an incomplete thought, iterating and giving life to our ideas.

Once people have a marker in their hands, there are so many meaningful things they can do. Our co-authors describe many impactful activities, including warm-ups, check-ins, organizational maps, large-group engagements, templates, formats, models, and more. With a marker in hand, we can visualize our challenges, the team’s vision, our organization, a change process, an ecosystem, and give tangible structure to complex and abstract systems. Placing cards with visual models on the table next to a box of your favorite markers is an invitation for participants to draw on and personalize these materials. Invite participants to complete a hand-drawn visual template on the wall, on their table, or in their learning materials to spark individual and group creativity. Task participants to

draw a simple model to introduce their objectives for a meeting or to represent a concept for discussion.

With markers in their

hands, groups become

more creative, connected,

and productive. They will

remember and follow through

more effectively, and will

have a more enjoyable and

fulfilling time doing so!

Getting a marker in people’s hands means being okay with imperfection. By extension, this means we don’t always have the right answer or the perfect picture. When we draw something, we’re giving form to our in-ternal pictures and frameworks; we make choices about how ideas are connected as we bring potentialities into being. Drawings parallel the creative process: the first humble sketch is simply a seed for a better result in the future. A simple visual form is a tangible thing which others can add to and build upon; it energizes the process and output. Teams collaborate, draw connections, see the bigger picture. Stories, narratives, and possibilities emerge and visibly fill the room.

Getting a marker in people’s hands is a philosophy—a guiding principle—which also works using other materials. We’ve worked with senior bankers who, after two days of high-level presentations on strategy, structure, and culture, exchanged their suits for painting smocks to paint a series of symbolic murals to represent the story of their new merger. Learn how to facilitate groups with kinesthetic tools like modeling clay, building blocks, writing ideas on cards, and creating signage or props. These and other three-dimensional methods are discussed at length (see the section entitled Off the Paper).

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONFROM THE EDITORSXVI

I always find it intriguing that when it’s time for an activity, participants at a table will grab a single-colored marking tool (pencil or ballpoint pen) over a high-quality colored marker. It’s a visible reminder of the power of habit, but it also reflects the habitual resistance to picking up a creative marker. These are good teaching moments: introduce the tools you have brought, explain how to use them to get the best results, and discuss the benefits they bring to our brains and our learning processes.

Watch people’s faces light up as they put marker to paper and see, often for the first time in many years, a rich olive green, teal blue, or lemon yellow, where there would ordinarily be a simple ballpoint blue or black, and a ho-hum palette of filling-in-the-blanks on plain white paper.

As everyone holding this

book intuitively knows,

our brains come alive with

colors, pictures, and stories.

Putting a marker in people’s hands activates this. It makes you, your meeting, and your message stand out as a creative and valu-able facilitator and thinking partner.

Are you ready to jumpstart your journey into visual facilitation? Hop aboard, and let’s get going!

XVIITHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION FOREWORD

When Jeroen Blijsie, Rachel Smith, and Tim Hamons organized a multiday ‘book sprint’ to create the book World of Visual Facilitation in early 2018, I knew the field of visual practice was not only established, but exploding with invention and change. Some fifty visual practitioners participated and collaborated. A good three dozen met at The Grove Consultants International; Rachel facilitated this group. Another team wrote from the Netherlands at Jeroen’s offices. A few more connected with Tim Hamons in Singapore. Check-ins at the end of the day (facilitated by Mary Alice Arthur) kept the group feeling like a whole, even though most were working on indi-vidual pieces, writing and posting through common online platforms like Google, Zoom, and Trello.

This global book writing

event had all the crackle

and excitement that people

have come to expect from

the annual gatherings of

the International Forum

of Visual Practitioners,

except this was different.

1 To learn more about the GLEN, visit glen.grove.com.

Many remarked on the value of the concentration and depth required by writing and editing.

Subsequently, Jeroen, Rachel, and Tim took on the enormous task of facilitating a massive co-editing process. Instructions and guidelines were shared through The Grove’s Global Learning & Exchange Network (GLEN)1 website. Chapters and articles were initially posted on a Trello board, with comments and rewrites continually added for more than a year. The scale and breadth of the contributions left everyone feeling amazed by how broad our field has become.

I met Jeroen around the time of the first EuViz® confer-ence in Berlin, in 2014. Many people joined this field, and some of them share a passion for providing help to others. He showed me early versions of his book. I could tell from his energy (and his graphics) that he had stepped into a world of infinite new fields waiting to be explored. He was already getting great results with clients. When I heard that he and Rachel and Tim were organizing a collaboration to create a book, I en-couraged it immediately. The results were impressive.

FOREWORD

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONXVIII FOREWORD

As contributions emerged, they began to fall into categories. You can review all the individual chapters in the table of contents, but a sweep through the themes will give you a flavor of its richness.

PART 1: GETTING STARTED This section includes chapters covering visual language and drawing, the visual facilitation basics, and roles in visual facilitation.

PART 2: MEETINGS AND MOREThese chapters cover visual meetings, large-scale meetings, listening, dialogue, storytelling, templates, and team performance.

PART 3: BEYOND THE PAPER Embracing digital work and working without paper (including LEGO® bricks, using video, and facilitating in 3D) can be found here.

PART 4: PRO STORIES This section contains a collection of cases and stories from professional practices, and discusses how visual work has begun to cross disciplines and domains.

PART 5: YOUR FUTURE AS A VISUAL FACILITATOR The book concludes with several essays on the growing edges and emerging trends of our field.

What is especially interesting are the contributions from different cultures all over the world. For example, Tomoko Tamaari’s description of Japanese cartoon contentions in Visualization of Human Emotion will be a favorite if you’re seeking to jump out of west-ern-world ruts. Matt Magain shares his secrets on making sketch videos, Sabine Soeder discusses visual-ization in World Cafe, and Kelvy Bird explores presenc-ing and the importance of tone (just to name a few).

I’ve always thought of visual practice as a kind of conceptual jazz, in that simple basic structures support complex improvisation and meaning-making through interaction and play. From this book you may well see that visual facilitation also includes other kinds of meaning-making, perhaps qualifying as opera, movie scores, or ballads. And you can’t escape thinking about metaphor; this shared understanding is at the very heart of human communication.

Visual practice is

a very big phenomenon.

When we began this kind of work back in the 1970s, drawing inspiration from architects and designers who worked visually as a central part of their professions, we didn’t even have fax machines. Now technology is transforming all of us—and this field, as well. What will it be like with immersive digital environments, augmented geophysical data, print- and projection-on-demand in every imaginable format, on every kind of screen?

But the basic interface for humans will still be the eye perceiving an object, no matter how robust the tech-nology. We are still shaped by how fast our nervous systems can adapt to new patterns. Our bodies will still be fascinated with the rich channels of face-to-face communication, and the way visual facilitators can ‘dance’ the energy of the room on non-verbal levels.

Like jazz as a movement in music, visual facilitation will be marked by invention, and different kinds of mastery in many forms, mediums, and modes. That is what is so wonderful about this book. It mirrors the emergent,

XIXTHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION FOREWORD

experimental quality of this field, and is prima facie evidence that we have just begun. It’s not all neat and organized and finalized and codified—although, all of that is happening as naturally as trees grow rings. But right now, it abounds with freshness and life, which is exactly what this way of working brings to groups.

Thank you, authors, for birthing this irrefutable statement with your words and images. Thank you, editors and designers, for the patient, laborious process of crafting first drafts into a real publication we all can use. And thanks in advance to all you

readers who find yourselves walking through the door of this guide into the wonderful world of making meaning with visualization. You act in the service of others as you listen, collaborate, and help people articulate (and face) the big problems of our time.

Best,

David Sibbet

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS XXITHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

What can I say as we wrap up a few years’ work and present The World of Visual Facilitation? Making this book was an interesting and bumpy road—bumpy in the very best sense of the word.

The saying teamwork makes the dream work was especially true for this project. The team grew to an inspired group of more than fifty people. Oh yes, and another saying (this one from Mary Alice Arthur, our wonderful ‘book sprint’ host back in 2018): “Watch out, it will be like herding cats.” Now I can say you were more than right, Mary Alice! Thank you for your leadership and friendship.

Pulling off a project like this couldn’t be done without an amazing team of co-editors. Rachel, with your focus, discipline, vision, and honesty, I was so glad you said yes to this challenge. Thank you so much for ‘herding’ the group of North American authors. And Tim, I highly value your creativity and your ability to work in the middle of the night, despite your family obligations and the client that always needed you the next morning. Above all, you’ve become great friends—hopefully for life. A special thanks to author Jill Greenbaum for her dedication and extra support to the editorial team. She stepped in to offer a fourth pair of eyes and hands. Sonja Stone, our dear copy editor, no detail escaped your critical eye—you were our indispensable teammate to edit and streamline all text from the start to the very end. Merit Roodbeen, thank you for sharing your experience by becoming my personal book coach.

And a great gratitude to all authors! We feel honored to have a gem from each of you bundled in this book. You’re true professionals in the field of visual facilitation and specialists in your own areas. None of you knew exactly what you’d stepped into, but you

did it anyway. Writing the first version of your chapter was just twenty percent of the work you ultimately gave. You really pulled through to the very end.

I will never forget the moment Mara Callaert stood in front of me during the IFVP Conference in Decatur, Georgia, in 2017. “I am going to design your book!” At the time, Mara didn’t know the amount of work she and her design team, Norma Nardi, Teresa Vetter, and Edona Balaj, would eventually contribute to this project. Their colleague, Agata Smok, blew my mind with the cover design. (I am wondering what the book will be called once it has survived its childhood: by its actual title, or maybe “You know, that book with the hand and the marker.”) Thank you, also, Avigail Klous, for serving as our fourth designer to help us get the book ready for our ultimate deadline.

It can’t go without saying that we would be nowhere without the support of our families. Working on the book sometimes felt like a second job; the good news is that it was just temporary. So thank you Craig, Irene, and Gunilla. Also, my son Rinse for giving that spark to the final title, and my daughter Mila for her focus on finalizing the world map with all the authors.

Dear reader, a final thank you for your trust by taking this book in your hands. Read, get inspired, and enjoy your work in the field of visual facilitation. We look forward to meeting you on the journey.

Jeroen Blijsie Initiator and Project Manager

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Teamwork Made our Dream Work

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENES XXIIITHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENES

Creating a Masterpiece

In 2014, while vacationing with his family in the south-western United States, Jeroen Blijsie visited The Grove’s offices, located at the beautiful Presidio of San Fran-cisco, complete with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

During David Sibbet’s coffee break, they had a ten min-ute chat. Jeroen told David he had just stepped into vi-sual facilitation. David commented, “Jeroen, our field is exploding!” At that moment, Jeroen got the idea to write a new book on visual facilitation—never guessing that one day, fifty people would join him as co-authors, and David himself would write the foreword to the book. But it was three more years before the action started. Jeroen Blijsie and David Sibbet in August 2014. David said,

“Jeroen, the field of visual practice is exploding!”

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONTHE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENESXXIV

JULY 2017: COMING UP WITH THE PLAN TO PULL IT OFFDuring the annual conference of the International Forum of Visual Practitioners (IFVP) in 2017 in Decatur, Georgia (United States), Jeroen met with story activist Mary Alice Arthur, who was hosting the conference. He shared his idea and, together, they created a plan for building the editorial team and organizing a group of co-authors from around the world. It was during this conversation that the idea of the ‘book sprint’

emerged: an intense week of writing and editing to generate content for the book in one huge push.

While at the conference, Jeroen approached Tim Hamons (Art of Awakening, Singapore) and Rachel Smith (then at The Grove, San Francisco) with an invitation to join him as co-editors of the book. They accepted, and the core team was formed!

Mary Alice Arthur and Jeroen Blijsie putting together a rough plan.

OCTOBER 2017: DETAILING THE PLANA few months later, over the course of a few weeks, Jeroen met with Rachel, Tim, and Mary Alice to put together the plan and design the book sprint. Around the same time, he began a conversation with Norma Nardi of Visuality (Brussels, Belgium) that would result in an ongoing partnership and a beautiful design for the book. The co-editing team (Jeroen, Tim, and Rachel) met remotely with Norma to create a plan for the design and layout of the chapters.

.Rachel, Jeroen, Tim, and Norma during a

meeting about the design plan.

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENES XXVTHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

JANUARY 2018: THE GLOBAL BOOK SPRINTThe book sprint was held in January 2018. The aim was to produce as many of the chapters as possible while bringing the global co-authors together (both physically and remotely) so that their combined energy would provide the mo-mentum needed to complete a solid first draft.

The sprint was organized in three regions: North America, with a physical hub at The Grove, facil-itated by Rachel; Asia-Pacific, including authors from Australia, Singapore, Korea, Bali, and Japan, and anchored by Tim in Singapore; and Europe, hosted by Jeroen and Mary Alice, in a house at Nyenrode Business University in The Netherlands.

Each region had daily check-ins and check-outs at the beginning and end of their workdays, hosted by Mary Alice. Co-authors worked around the clock with an overlapping schedule to make the most of the three-day sprint. They met at all hours—in person or virtually—to exchange ideas and receive feedback.

During the sprint, authors drafted their chapters and shared them for review, then reviewed one another’s chapters and made suggestions. At the end of the sprint, some forty chapters had been drafted and reviewed at least once, and often twice, by two or more authors. Co-authors worked in shared Google documents and used a digital kanban board (Trello) to track the progress of each chapter.

Co-authors working at the San Francisco book sprint hub, The Grove.

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONTHE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENESXXVI

Book sprint meeting with the North American co-authors.

Book sprint meeting of the Asia-Pacific region.

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENES XXVIITHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

Book sprint meeting of the European region.

Working at the European book sprint venue.

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONTHE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENESXXVIII

Brainstorming the book’s concepts.

Visual notes made by Holger Nils Pohl during the book sprint.

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENES XXIXTHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

Meeting and having fun during the editorial week in San Francisco.

Restructuring the book during the editorial week in San Francisco.

FEBRUARY 2018: EDITORIAL WEEK IN SAN FRANCISCO

Most co-authors finished up their chapters in the days following the writing sprint, and in February the co-editors gathered in San Francisco for an editing sprint. They met at The Grove and at Rachel’s house in Sonoma County. During this time, the co-editing team read the chapters, captured suggestions for the next revision, and created a plan for marketing, fund-ing, and copy editing.

During this review, the team realized that the planned structure of the book wasn’t working. In a marathon

organizational session, writing chapter titles (and topics) on sticky notes, the team completely restruc-tured the book into its current format.

In May 2018, the co-editors launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of the book, which concluded successfully with 126% funding in early June. The team was then able to hire a professional copy editor, Sonja Stone, who would play a key role in unifying the chapters and making sure the book remained consistent, despite its variety of authoring styles.

THE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATIONTHE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENESXXX

APRIL 2018 – JUNE 2019: COPY EDITING AND DESIGNThe initial plan was to complete the draft of the book during the week-long editing sprint, but it became clear (very quickly) that this was an unattainable goal. Instead, the editorial team created a more long-term plan that involved several steps:

∙ Working with the design team to create a “look” for the entire book

∙ Reading and editing each chapter

∙ Working with each co-author to finalize their chapter(s)

∙ Having each chapter professionally copy edited

∙ Working again with each co-author to finalize the copy-edited version

∙ Sending each chapter to the design team for layout

∙ Proofreading the layouts

With more than seventy chapters—all in different stages of this process—and with the team spread out across the globe (The Netherlands, San Francisco, Singapore, Phoenix, and Brussels), it was critical to select a smart system to keep track of everything. The team turned to Trello once again, creating an editor’s board to keep track of all the steps and where each chapter was in the process. It took more than a year to work through all the chapters from draft to layout.

Trello helped structure and organize the

editing and design process.

The design team working on the layout of the book.

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SCENES XXXITHE WORLD OF VISUAL FACILITATION

The result of this extraordinary

global effort is the book that

you now hold in your hands.

We, the co-editors, are deeply

grateful to all the people

involved. It is an understatement

to say that we couldn’t have

done it without all of you.