santosha

A brain based conversation about why visual thinking work

2011-12-13T00:07:26Z

capturing amazing conversations

2011-11-21T19:08:48Z

November has been an interesting month, my highlight was the opportunity to work with a small group of people trying to determine the next step for a vital project that serves to transform the way the medical community and patients work with life-threatening illnesses and end of life issues. This was the capture of the AM conversation. The afternoon brought us to the next steps in an emergent way. It was a day of flow and an honor to be included.
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Nurturing creativity

2011-10-04T15:11:30Z

Everyone is creative. It's not a limited commodity. When I am working visually with groups, I often here expressions of "I could never do that" and that somehow people are letting me express their creativity for them.

Many things can stop us from feeling our own creative muscles, whether its drawing, writing, or simply how you face each day, and all of these creative limitations are simply being human. In this TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, she offers a way to not put so much responsibility on yourself for trying to be creative but simply acknowledging that it's not at all about you....

Illustrating the National Ocean Policy

2011-08-24T13:46:40Z

Thanks to Matt Cimitile, writer/multimedia man from USGS, you can see how a visual recording unfolds over 2.5 minutes.

This short video was made at the Coastal Zone 2011 Conference in Chicago where we designed a non-traditional plenary session. In a conversational setting, participants spoke from the heart as they gave examples of work around the country that inspired the creation of the first-ever US policy on managing the Coasts, Oceans and Great Lakes. An audience of over 800 people were held attention, laptops closed, cell phones in their pocket.

The chart was posted in the lobby where people could reconnect with the content and continue discussing the ideas over the next three days.

The National Ocean Policy describes how we should manage our coastal resources for future generations to enjoy. It's a milestone for the country but making it real will take doing things differently. We'll need to be creative, inclusive and think, as Jacque Hostler put it, for seven generations out.

The entire session was 90 minutes. With some editing we could speed me up (like the wonderful RSA-style videos) and overlay the spoken content but that is a much bigger editing process.

Why I love co-facilitating learning

2011-04-27T14:55:55Z

Good fortune shined upon me recently in the form of an invitation from my friend and colleague Anne Jess (doodlebiz.com). We both graduated from the Organizational Systems Renewal (OSR) program (osr-nw.org), now housed at Seattle University and Anne has diligently pursued creating a community of practice there for visual facilitation. First step: Introduction to Graphic Recording. And I was invited to help. Together we offered our group more than just twice as much value, it felt like some exponential number. Most of all it was fun for everyone and much was learned by all who attended. I cannot wait to do it again and apply my learnings!

A shout out to Lynn Carruthers at the Global Business Network (http://www.gbn.com/people/peopledetail.php?id=159) and Sophia Liang (http://www.graphicfootprints.com/HOME.html) for all I learned in their graphic recording 101 workshop through the IFVP (ifvp.org)... we used the same TED talk, "Why I Am a Weekday Vegetarian by Graham Hill.

See photos at my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23687479@N06/

Not your Mama's Episcopal Church!

2011-04-07T18:38:43Z

I have had the honor of working with the Saint Mark's Sustainability Committee in their process of creating a plan. Teaming with Fermata Consulting, I get to listen, write and draw. I am amazed at how engaged people feel in the meetings and how the visual recording keeps us on track. They love having the reminder. Me, I get to see a whole new side of a christian community that is open, accepting and loving of all beings. They get the spiritual connection of sustainability work and it's a gift they give their entire community.

A glimpse into creating a system for early childhood learning

2011-03-11T16:39:07Z

The world of early childhood learning is new to me and the importance of this critical development time is now cemented in my brain after this event.

A visual summary of our work at the Parent, Provider Partnership retreat with the National Alliance of Children's Trust and Prevention Funds and the Washington State Department of Early Learning. What an honor to be with this group people!
NACTP_ParentPartnershipMeeting_March2011.pdf

Sustainability driving innovation at REI

2011-02-26T22:45:37Z

Was honored to attend a meeting of a new group in Seattle, Women's Network for a Sustainable Future and hear Kevin Hagen speak from REI... here's my map of the presentation.
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I (heart) carhartt

2011-02-17T18:42:04Z

The right tool for the right job, it's a great adage. And life on five acres really brings it home. I suit up in my Carhartts when I head outside to stay warm, avoid cuts and be comfy while keeping up with nature. Now my favorite Carhartt use is for visual facilitation. This toolbelt is the right tool for holding my refillable Neuland markers, my pencil and eraser. Again, all I need to keep up with the conversation! It also gives me a little bit of home when working out on the road. What's your favorite tool?

A simple map...

2011-02-12T17:51:49Z

to show the enormity and complexity of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem in the most recent Open Land from the Jackson Hole Land Trust Jackson Hole Land Trust

Another reason to love Vashon

2011-02-12T17:26:15Z

Now this was fun: A morning facilitated by Jim Dies and Bruce Anderson hearing about how people around the world make their world better by building connections and community followed by our own ideas. I was lucky enough to capture all this energy. More reasons to love Vashon!

Salmon lovers: save the date!

2010-07-20T17:35:59Z

Fabulous food, wonderful people, libations, dancing and candlelight strolls. A great way to celebration our natural heritage.

Great Outdoors Initiative - is it something new?

2010-07-07T16:54:16Z

Walking up to Garfield High School in Seattle last week, I was greeted by at least 10 welcoming students. I was there attending the "Listening Session" for the Great Outdoor Initiative, one of the stops in this countrywide tour by the Department of the Interior.

Talking to folks before the introduction began I was delighted to hear about the youth summit earlier that day. The highlights for me in the introductory remarks were the Native American blessing given by a local tribe (including a very articulate princess!) and the hilarious welcoming speech by an Garfield senior.

It felt a little different than the typical public hearing. And there was a great diversity of people there from old to young, dark to light. Nice to see our natural world has a good looking fan base.

The high school auditorium was filled with a few hundred conservation supporters, government officials of all levels, environmental groups and I don't know who else. We were divided into groups according to numbers on our name tags and that's when I exited stage left. I just wanted to see if this was going to be anything different. I'd love to hear how those break out groups went, I was just glad to see the introduction and hear some great positive news out of the mouths of high school students.

You can participate by sharing your ideas, commenting on other peoples, promoting and demoting causes online at the Idea Jam:

http://ideas.usda.gov/ago/ideas.nsf/

Yes, there's some trash-talk going on as well. But at least it's refreshing to see real conservation issues being discussed at this level. I see no word how long this site is going to be up but I would imagine until the end of August. The first report by the Initiative is due November 15.

Comments can be emailed to: ago@ios.doi.gov.

Or go analog and submit by hand: Department of the Interior, America's Great Outdoors, 1849 C Street NW, Mailstop 3156, Washington DC 20240.

Looking for a mystery font?

2010-06-02T21:41:35Z

You can sleuth down any font by going through descriptors on this fabulous website:

http://www.identifont.com/index.html

Happy hunting!

Using Strategic Visioning to move toward a Shared Future

2010-05-20T18:58:31Z

Engaging and inspiring supporters through creating a shared vision ensures individual commitment to making it happen! Strategic Visioning is a planning process that includes both creative visioning and traditional data gathering/action planning tools. This process has tons to offer the conservation community because our supporters are creative, productive and committed. I was lucky enough to present this set of strategic planning tools to a wonderful group at the Land Trust Alliance meeting and am attaching both the handout and a PDF of how the Save Our Redwoods League used the strategic visioning process to create a shared vision and game plan to get here. You can learn more at www.grove.com, or email me and let's start a conversation about how this effective and flexible process can work for your future.

SV_learningguidehandout_LTAweb.pdf

Grove Storymap-Save-the-Redwoods.pdf