Common Craft Blog
VizThink in Review
By leelefever on January 31, 2008 - 1:37pm
Text and bullet points - they are dead, or at least used inappropriately. That was one of the overwhelming messages from VizThink, a two day conference on Visual Thinking. We agree.
This was the first (of hopefully many) conferences on visual thinking put on by VizThink, the brainchild of Dave Gray of Xplane. It brought together people from around the world who focus in communicating with pictures. More info on the wiki.
For example, on the first morning we sat down with three pediatric ER doctors from Loma Linda University. They often talk to parents in the ER about pediatric medical problems and a brochure doesn't work. They see visual thinking as a way to communicate complex problems in the emergency room situation. Indeed, there are near-infinite applications for visual thinking.
I wish I could mention everyone we met, but here are a few.
We had dinner with Ole Qvist- Sorensen of Bigger Picture who was there from Copenhagen, Denmark - I have a feeling we'll be hanging out with Ole before long - a great guy with lots of ideas.
Ryan Coleman of Clay Tablet Technologies turned out to be a friend of our good friend Will Pate. Ryan has started local Visual Thinking BarCamps around Toronto.
Cliff Atkinson of BBP (Beyond Bullet Points) came to our session and stuck around afterward for a chat. We really connected with Cliff - he loves being small and independent and we share a lot of the same ideas.
Speaking of our session, we had a great time and I hope the attendees did too. It was called "Solving Explanation Problems with Simple Online Videos" The session was mostly group activity where we asked teams to produce storyboards.
It warmed our hearts to hear the whole group yelling "yaay!" and
"boooo!" (appropriately) when the teams presented their storyboards. As Sachi said - it was like they were singing a song we wrote. :)
One thing I found interesting was that we didn't meet anyone else doing video. It was like the visual thinking world and the video world had not previously intersected. I hope that we inspired some of the attendees to take another look at video.
We owe a big thanks to Tom, Chris, Denise and the VizThink folks for inviting us to participate and pulling off a great conference. We'll be back!
Hi guys, Just wanted to say
Hi guys,
Just wanted to say as an attendee of your breakout session at VizThink that you guys did a great job! I'm also a little amazed that you guys were the only ones doing video there. You've inspired me to incorporate the use of video explanations in websites for clients. Again, great job! Thanks!
Nice meeting you too!
Hey Lee & Sachi,
It was great to meet both of you as well... thoroughly enjoyed your session, it was some of the most fun I had across the three days (and it was ALL fun!) ...
I've already been mulling over a lot of what we do in our business and figuring out how we can apply commoncraft principles to the stores we tell. Thanks again!
- Ryan
Our circles intersect YET
Our circles intersect YET AGAIN! You met Ole! He was my mentor at IFVP. I have to get you guys to come to that and shake things up with video!
Yaay! for Video
Hi Lee! It was great to meet you both too. Your session was a blast, and you've definitely inspired me to move beyond bullet points into a brave new world of video! Looking forward to keeping in touch! -Cliff Atkinson
VizThink
Hi Lee, Sachi and Nancy,
I also found VizThink a great gathering of like minded. A lot of inspiration (Nancy - where were you?). I liked the variety, the 20% international - and the potential future blending of the face to face (using visuals for process and learning - the social software) , the digital tools and techniques (especially your straight forward approach) and the hardware. It is all merging. The best part was the people - and I certainly look forward to more Santa Fe, Copenhagen. Seattle and Geneva meetings. take care - Ole
Inspired at VizThink!
Lee & Sachi,
As another attendee of your breakout session at VizThink, I too am inspired by your work. In fact, I spent a good part of the 5hr plane ride home to Philadelphia, working on a script for an animated presentation with suggestions on how our marketers can begin to use more visualization strategies (instead of bullet points) to explain our products and services. Just wanted to say THANKS SO MUCH for the inspiration, and a job well done!
-Jayne
Love Yor Videos
Hi Guys
Really like the way you put your videos together. I attended Dan Roam's breakout session and your work reminds me of his. Or is that vice versa?
The way you boil down the message into simple drawings and a narrative is very effective. I guess you could say I've got a case of visual envy. :))) Best of luck!
Right way
Hi, just want to say a few words.
Way you selected is surely right but don't forget other visualization tecniques. I use visual schemes based on logical blocks to clearly explain difficult structures with no importance of their nature. I try to find some abstract universal "language" to solve this problem.
Still work. Waiting for new videos.
Sounds Like What I have Heard From Seth Godin
Seth told Google in a speech about the power of using pictures in communication. On my blog and in my business I use pictures as much as possible to convey my points.