Impact
How we add VALUE
Process Graphics are a powerful tool for better meetings. Graphic Recording and Graphic Meeting Facilitation tap into a 40,000 year history of human communication through picture and symbol. By incorporating color and simple images into the meeting process, we engage non-verbal processing areas of the brain. The effect on recall can be amazing as combining images with key words dramatically increases the ability to remember information.
Did you know?
- Research indicates that human beings don’t process information (even verbal information) in a purely verbal way, and many people are primarily visual and kinesthetic learners. Everyone uses their whole brain to think.
- Process Graphics activate the visual and kinesthetic centers of the brain that we use to identify patterns, entertain scenarios, understand systems and process emotions. All of these are vital to effective decision making.
- Looking at a graphic element that combines an image with a keyword or phrase anchors the memory via multiple pathways. Seeing it later prompts the individual to recall the whole conversation that took place around it. This is just as true for “left-brain” types as for people we typically think of as creative. Visual language is especially useful in triggering those ah-ha moments that lead to breakthrough solutions, key strategies, and powerful commitments.
Set the stage for success and follow-through
Graphics help you create effective pre- and post-meeting communications that trigger response and memory. Your meeting or event isn’t isolated in time–it’s a critical element in a continuum. Effective use of your meeting record– highlights, quotes, photos, and graphics– will ensure that your event is not merely remembered, but continues to shape activity, thinking, and results for months and even years to come.
Productivity
- Harness the power in the room to handle strong emotions, complexity, and change.
- Complex Issues are more manageable when people can see everything laid out at once. Color and images help organize information, making it more understandable, and allowing patterns to emerge and new connections to be seen.
- Defuse strong emotions by capturing them on the wall. People are much more willing to let go and move on when they know they’ve been heard.
- Jumpstart future meetings by posting past charts you want to build on. People feel little need to cover old ground when they can see where they’ve already been.
- After a meeting, use your charts to communicate to others what happened, how, and why. Watch people “get it” in record time.
Innovation
- Process Graphics are not “canned” and not perfect– mistakes happen right in front of everyone and are corrected or adapted-to right on the spot. This freedom can infect the whole room… inspiring everyone to think and speak more expansively.
- High fidelity listening honors what happens in the moment. A key thought isn’t lost because it doesn’t fit the prevailing mindset… whatever has power ends up on the wall. These are the ideas and comments that lead to insight.
Results
- A meeting with process graphics matters.
- People know immediately that this is important, that what they say will not be lost, and that someone is really paying attention. People light up when their words hit the wall in living color.
- A graphic record or presentation mural is the ideal reference for telling your story… it will prompt, remind, connect, clarify, and illustrate your point.
- Later, you can insert charts or images into a host of communications media, including PowerPoint presentations. Forget bullets and annoying animations — Hand-drawn graphics will wake up your audience and add a touch of authenticity to your message.
Retention
- Remind people again and again, and they’ll enjoy it.
- Reproduce and Print charts to almost any scale, from a fraction of a page up to nearly original size.
- Post the charts to your website.
- Cut out simple images for use as clip art in your brochures and newsletters, presentations, posters, and on the Web. Seeing familiar images will help re-awaken the event, its message, and its impact months, and even years, afterwards.
- Reviewing a graphic recording is the easiest, most effective source of post-meeting communications. The more often you put your charts in front of people afterward, the more powerful and more lasting your meeting and your message will be.