Alice Edy
Graphic Recorder and Partner at Visual Friends
Graphic Recorder and Partner at Visual Friends
In this episode we are talking to a talented graphic scribe, an illustrator and visual facilitator Alice Edy about courage.
Alice dared greatly and ended up scribing for Brene Brown herself. She tells us how overcoming fear has helped her create important career opportunities for herself, shares her advice about preparing emotionally for a scribing session and gives us her tips about failing publicly and how you can’t grow creatively without making mistakes.
We loved talking to Alice about how stepping outside of the comfort zone allows you to direct and shape your career in an exciting and unique way.
Podcast notes: during our interview conversation Alice mentions Brene Brown, Heather Martinez, Kelvy Bird and Jessamy Gee.
The article was written by Natalia Tsygankova. Natalia has always loved words and talking to people. She has put that passion to good use and has been sharing people’s stories in the community radio, TV and print media for the last 10 years. Natalia is also a big fan of true storytelling events and regularly volunteers at the most famous one – The Moth, interviewing the winner. You can hear her own story of moving to Australia from Russia in 1999 here. Natalia believes that everyone has a story – So what’s yours? Contact her today to share your story.
Primary school teacher and now a part-time graphic scribe
Anyone can learn visualisation. Once you learn basic icons, fill your page and get a grasp on shading, the world is your oyster.
Matt loves his work. “I’ve always been creative and being a primary school teacher provides a creative outlet.”
Now that Matt knows bikablo®, his work has become even more interesting. And not just for Matt but also for his colleagues.
Like many of our students, Matt saw bikablo® in action when someone was scribing at a meeting. Matt always enjoyed taking notes, but this seemed to be next level. Curious, he began researching visualisation skills and came across Visual Friends.
“I saw what people can do, it’s quite inspiring. I thought it would be great to take my knowledge to the next level.”
With the support of his principal, who understood the great benefit of bringing such applicable skill to the school, Matt enrolled in bikablo® fundamentals training.
Teachers can be fussy students, but he found the course really useful. “It was hands on from the word go which is the best way to learn. I learnt to use the space in a smart way and it gave me confidence to work through a page.”
As a teacher, Matt also appreciated the research behind visualisation. “It engages all areas of a learner.” What also appealed was how easy it was to learn this skill and how much you could achieve once you understood the basic principles.
“It’s not that complicated. Once you learn basic icons, fill your page and get a grasp on shading, the world is your oyster. You can then go on and develop your own style.”
Writing as a Social Process
Matt Handley
Matt feels that’s an important part of learning visualisation or any other subject for that matter – to build on your skills and develop your way of doing things.
“I think the key is to be flexible and just draw things that stand out to you. It’s about making it your own, whether it’s using your own font or your favourite picture. It doesn’t have to be perfect. And of course, the more you practice, the better you get.”
That’s exactly what Matt has been doing.
Since completing the course, he has been giving back to his workplace, creating posters, helping with presentations and meetings. Matt’s three-meter canvas describing school’s self-improvement project journey was displayed at the school library and generated some interesting discussions.
“People have been looking at it and talking about it. Some say they wouldn’t be able to do something like that, but I assure them that with a bit of practice everyone can do it.”
Following his original interest, Matt also took his notetaking to the next level and tried live scribing at school events.
“It was stressful, but it also taught me to focus on the main points instead of trying to capture every word. Those key points are the ones that will trigger people’s memories and will facilitate the conversation.”
Matt is pleased with the feedback he’s received so far. “People comment on how easy it is to read and follow two hours worth of talking on one page.”
Journey of Learning – Matt Handley
The skills Matt has leant with Visual Friends are definitely making a difference at his workplace. Visualisation is now seeping in the way the school does things.
“In terms of transcribing and professional development, it’s been more than beneficial for our staff and school. Our principal is pleased with how it has turned out.”
Matt is pretty happy too. He has developed a long-term interest in visualisation and added a unique skill to his toolbox that will have a positive effect on his career.
“It’s definitely something I see myself using in the future, wherever my career takes me. It’s a great tool you can share with others.”
P.S. Since we’ve interviewed Matt, he has started his own business working as a graphic scribe in his spare time. You can find him on instagram @_highlyvisual.
The article was written by Natalia Tsygankova. Natalia has always loved words and talking to people. She has put that passion to good use and has been sharing people’s stories in the community radio, TV and print media for the last 10 years. Natalia is also a big fan of true storytelling events and regularly volunteers at the most famous one – The Moth, interviewing the winner. You can hear her own story of moving to Australia from Russia in 1999 here. Natalia believes that everyone has a story – So what’s yours? Contact her today to share your story.
Graphic Recorder Strategic Visualiser, Award-winning Cartoonist, Writer and Animator.
Sarah Firth is an award-winning comic artist and writer based in Melbourne. Since 2011, she has run a successful small business, offering graphic recording and facilitation, animation and event design. With the mission to help clients clarify, align, resolve, connect and communicate – through powerful visual modelling, storytelling and strategic mapping.
Sarah works across industries and sectors, with a particular interest in supporting clients navigating wicked problems, systemic change and high levels of complexity, environmental justice and social impact.
She has worked locally and internationally on projects and events with; Vienna Complexity Science Hub, Google, The Rockefeller Foundation, CSIRO, The Red Cross, Conservation Zoos Victoria, Melbourne Faculty of Business & Economics, Comedy Central, Environmental Justice Australia, SIEMENS, Vienna Complexity Science Hub, Not For Profit Law, ACMI, Aboriginal Victoria, KPMG, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Planning Institute of Australia, Ernst & Young, City of Melbourne, Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, Oxfam, PLAN International and many more.
Alongside her business Sarah maintains a professional art and writing practice. Some notable achievements have been; receiving the Talking Difference Fellowship with the Immigration Museum, being named one of Australia’s top 25 artists by Art & Australia Magazine, winning The People’s Choice Award in the Australian Shorts section of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, performing at the Yogyakarta Biennale in Indonesia, the Lakes International Comic Festival in the UK, and the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.
Most recently, she was appointed deputy chair on the board of directors for the Cultural Development Network, she received a Frankie Magazine Good Stuff Award, was a finalist in the Incinerator Social Change Art Award, and her graphic essay on complexity was listed in The Conversation’s ten best literary comics in Australia.
Sarah has a new illustrated book Badass Mums out now with Affirm Press, along with comics in upcoming publications with Allen & Unwin, Abrams Books and Picador Australia. She is currently working on her debut graphic novel thanks to the support of the Creators Fund.
Marcel combines agile team coaching with visual thinking. Marcel believes that a group of people drawing together on a whiteboard can change the world. He loves high-performing teams and therefore coaches teams every day.
Founder Loosetooth.com
This episode is a great personal career story of Brandy Agerbeck from loosetooth.com. Brandy gives an insight into her career, including how she started as a knowledge worker with the MG Taylor model and how she went out on her own as a graphic facilitator a couple of years later.
She gives insights into her work including the Brandyfesto, Draw Quad and the process of writing her new book “The Idea Shapers“.
We talk about her TEDx Talk in Windy City in 2013 and chat about the future and where visualisation heading. If you would like to learn what a sneezy green person is then listen to this episode of Visual Friends Radio with Brandy Agerbeck from loosetooth.com.
If you are interested in meeting Brandy, please join her in her Winter or Sommer Lab in Chicago. A three day immersion where you will learn from Brandy firsthand.
Marcel combines agile team coaching with visual thinking. Marcel believes that a group of people drawing together on a whiteboard can change the world. He loves high-performing teams and therefore coaches teams every day.
Hello Changemakers,
I uploaded the graphic recordings of the Spark the Change conference in Melbourne. It was a wonderful day where we learnt a lot. Those thirteen graphic recordings are a combined effort of Donna McGrath, Christiane Anderson and me over the full day of the conference. Each letter is one fabulous talk by a stunning speaker. It was a pleasure to record those talks.
I hope the recordings help to remember and make the things you learnt stick!
If you like to download high-resolution JPGs just download them from flickr directly. I would appreciate if you spread the word about Donna’s, Christiane’s and my work if using the pictures on a different platform. In addition, those drawings are not rocket science! Everyone can learn it! Please check out my bikablo® visual facilitation trainings and join in at one of the next trainings.
And here is the video to get a feeling for a one-day graphic recording gig.
Marcel combines agile team coaching with visual thinking. Marcel believes that a group of people drawing together on a whiteboard can change the world. He loves high-performing teams and therefore coaches teams every day.
Co-founder of Visual Friends
Visual notes help us to remember and to structure our thinking. A visual facilitation fishbowl combines the strength of visuals with the facilitation format of a fishbowl.
Facilitating big group discussions can be challenging. Especially when you want to discuss one specific topic in the middle. You need to be an experienced facilitator to keep the conversation running and everyone engaged. It gets even harder if the topic has many side tracks and you as the facilitator have to decide which side track is important for the discussion and which one needs to be shortened. To make this a group decision and keep the discussion flowing the fishbowl format is worth a try.
The fishbowl works with two concentric circles of chairs in the room. One small inner circle (4-6 chairs) where the speakers sit and drive the conversation and an outer circle (many people) where the audience sits, listens and thinks about new ideas .
The rule of the fishbowl is that only the people in the inner circle are allowed to talk. If you are sitting in the outer circle and would like to add something to the conversation you need to stand up and walk from your seat in the outer circle towards the inner circle. If all chairs are occupied in the inner-circle you line up and wait until someone stands up and offers you his chair. Normally that doesn’t take long. As soon as you sit you can add your point to the conversation.
It may sound a bit difficult to do but with a bit of practising the group moves its way into collaborative visual thinking!
So what is a visual facilitation fishbowl? The visual facilitation fishbowl is very similar to the normal fishbowl and all the rules apply. However, two things are different:
If you think you can’t draw – you are welcome to join my bikablo® visual facilitation fundamentals training (Level 1.1). No drawing skills required!
Discover how much Visual Facilitation can help to do discussions and achieving goals. If you are having any questions, please feel free to contact me via Mail or Phone.
Marcel combines agile team coaching with visual thinking. Marcel believes that a group of people drawing together on a whiteboard can change the world. He loves high-performing teams and therefore coaches teams every day.
Graphic Recording
When are YOU happy at work?
I am happy at work when I can use my full potential to solve problems and deliver great outcomes. Normally that means I am standing in front of a whiteboard drawing or coaching people. To be able to do so you need a work environment that enables you to and leaders who encourage and assist!
That’s why there were speakers talking about modern ways of human resource management, like James Law, brilliant minds like Kerri Rusnak talking about her journey in becoming a leader and creators of modern work environments like Angela Ferguson from Future Space.
However, a creative work environment is nothing without people. That is why Jurgen Appolo talked about modern ways of management, Jason Fox spoke about the search for meaning in life and Luke Giuliani started the Fitzroy academy of getting shit done. It’s all about WHY you do things! This gives purpose for your whole life. Luke’s final two questions: „What do you value in life?“ and „What do you want to leave behind?“
If your values are not the same as your employer’s – why not open up your own company on the side? Helen Soundness spoke about Etsy, a platform to sell your own goods. More than 850,000 businesswomen work from home and sell goods and services.
Last but not least Shawn Callahan talked about the power of storytelling at work. Stories are much more memorable because they activate our visual mind. In a story it’s all about pictures, we can image in front of our inner eye.
However, the speakers were great but the audience was awesome. Lynne and I invited the audience to start scribbling as well, so we handed out foam boards.
Have a look at their great artwork! Well done everyone!
Marcel combines agile team coaching with visual thinking. Marcel believes that a group of people drawing together on a whiteboard can change the world. He loves high-performing teams and therefore coaches teams every day.
Last week I had the honour to create a graphic recording for Activate Agile session of the Agile Australia 2014. It was a really nice day which brought students and future employers together.
Seven great and inspiring agile professionals across different companies described their daily work-life in their agile companies. The audience was mostly students and were invited to ask questions to the panel on stage. Awesome idea of the organizers to bring the graduates of the future together with great employers.
The stop-motion video below summarizes the 2:30 hours of lightning talks, question and answers sessions from the seven inspiring Melbournians on stage! Check it out!
Marcel combines agile team coaching with visual thinking. Marcel believes that a group of people drawing together on a whiteboard can change the world. He loves high-performing teams and therefore coaches teams every day.
Co-Founder Visual Friends
Almost every meeting I sit in and every workshop and training I attend – I doodle. It helps me to organize my thoughts and capture key insights I had. So why do I do it on A4 paper and not in my private notebook? Learn more about graphic facilitation and how to do notes now.
During meetings people often ask me to have a look at my notes and if I would do it in my private notebook, I guess that would not happen so often. It could be seen as lurking into Marcel’s private diary. Who in their right mind would do that? Furthermore I can just put finished A4 drawings in the middle of the meeting table to share them. I don’t need to explain, I just put them in the middle. It happened that someone started picking up the finished A4s and put them up on the wall with blue tag. At this points my note taking activity becomes a group activity and collaboration started. People refer back to the pictures.
So why not using a big sheet of paper. 1.5 meters wide and 3 meters long? I think if I am invited to participate in a meeting as a mate it could be seen as an act of overtaking the meeting or even worse – showing off what a tale poppy I am. Who in their right mind would do that? Remember you are not invited to the meeting as a professional graphic recorder – you just know the value of graphic facilitation in a meeting and want to support the meeting with your doodling!
What’s about A3? I brought A3 paper along and people asked me straight away what I am up to. It is not common to have bigger size paper than A4 on the table. You can do that next time or even better hand over the markers to a person in the meeting who is inspired and wants to participate.
Bottom line, for me A4 paper is the golden middle way . Every office seems to have unending resources of A4 paper – you can steal as much as you want from the printer next to you – At least until facility management catch you.
Have a look at my last vivid stream of thoughts..
Would you like to become a visual leader as well? Join us in the visualisation class here.
Marcel combines agile team coaching with visual thinking. Marcel believes that a group of people drawing together on a whiteboard can change the world. He loves high-performing teams and therefore coaches teams every day.
Graphic Recording Sustainable and Fair Food Festival
When the organizer David Hood told me that there will be three other graphic recorders at the festival, I was even more excited. Nothing is greater than learning from each other and inspiring each others drawings.
The topic of the “Sustainable & Fair Food” festival was “Going Local in 2020”. About 100 people were around discussing how the future of fruit farming and shopping will look like. The organizer David Hood from Doing something good guided through the evening and his team of facilitators made my life as a graphic recorder much easier.
The article was written by Natalia Tsygankova. Natalia has always loved words and talking to people. She has put that passion to good use and has been sharing people’s stories in the community radio, TV and print media for the last 10 years. Natalia is also a big fan of true storytelling events and regularly volunteers at the most famous one – The Moth, interviewing the winner. You can hear her own story of moving to Australia from Russia in 1999 here. Natalia believes that everyone has a story – So what’s yours? Contact her today to share your story.
