You know what that means. It means I had to be there! I live in the DC metro area, so I was delighted to spend 4 days with a group of folks that love visual thinking as much as I do.
Here are 5 ways to make the most out of your next conference. I will use IFVP as an example, so here we go…
Have a Plan. Conferences can be overwhelming, especially when it spans several days. One hack I tried that worked very well for me is setting an intention each day. Each day before I arrived, I determined what I wanted to practice and what I wanted to learn from others. For example, on Day2 I wanted to practice graphic recording using my iPad. At the end of each day I felt a huge sense of accomplishment because I was focused and intentional.
Participate. The best way to learn is to DO. After all, that’s why you are at the conference. I know it’s tough, especially when sessions run one after the other and it seems like you have a IV drip of coffee. Make an effort to participate no matter how small. Ask questions during your sessions, talk with your neighbor, and jump in on the exercises and group activities. That’s what I did and it always helped me connect with the people at my table.
Group exercise for building a mobile.
Completed mobile. WOW. Designed by Team Sculptures
Make time to meet up. Conferences are the perfect time to meet up with friends you don’t see often. The best advice I have for this is to plan before the conference. Find out who is attending and connect with them early so you can make plans for a morning walk or happy hour. I was so happy to see my buddies from the #CincyTakesOnPoverty project.
Talk to the Vendors. The vendors participating at a conference can give you fresh ideas on how to help your clients. They also have insight on trends in your industry, so learn what’s hot and what’s not from them. You can usually buy supplies, get significant discounts and save on shipping.
Neuland was in the house, so that means stock up on ink and markers. I picked up my free gift too, love the marker bag!
Scribes-To-Go shared ideas on using print materials to make our events POP!
Have Fun! Look at this crowd. Yes, the photographer told us to say cheese or something like that. But we were all genuinely having FUN together. Such a supportive community to be a part of. The conference theme came true in this picture for us, United We Scribe!
What’s your best tip for getting the most out of a conference? Please share and comment below.
This week I attended my first event with Her Corner. Her Corner provides face-to-face networking for women entrepreneurs through various events. The speaker series for July focused on technology solutions for small business owners. The guest speaker was social media and technology expert Lena West, founder of Influence Expansion.
This was such a fun and informative session. It’s one thing to hear about tools, but when someone explains how they are using it… well that takes it to another level. Lena shared some of her favorite tools for getting clients, keeping clients and growing your business. I created this visual summary using my iPad.
I can’t wait to attend the next Her Corner event. I really enjoyed being in a room full of supportive women that are fired up about business 😀
See the visual summary below.
For a larger view, click the image to expand.
Have you signed up for any of these services? What was your favorite tip? Comment below.
I did some really interesting work recently featuring Adam Ostrow, Chief Strategy Officer of Mashable. Social@Ogilvy asked me to create sketchnotes of the presentation by Adam Ostrow to their agency on trends in social media.
When preparing to create visual summaries, I always do some research on the speaker. I was excited to find out that Adam was a graduate of University of Maryland, just a few miles from my office 😀
I enjoyed hearing Adam talk about the Oreo tweet sensation that happened during the superbowl. Can you find the Oreo in the picture?
See my sketchnotes that were created on the iPad below for the highlights from this presentation.
For a larger view, click the image to expand.
For the complete article on the Social Ogilvy blog, click here.
What was your biggest takeaway? Please share and comment below.
Jean Chatzky is an author, speaker, and the financial editor for NBC’s Today Show. She was featured on SmallBizChat Live, where Melinda Emerson shares live interviews with small business experts. To see the interview with Jean, click here.
Jean discussed the importance of credit and shared this funny money rule: “Every birthday, you should check for you weight and credit score.” Basically, one should go up and one should go down 😀
This rule inspired me to draw these sketchnotes.
Here are a few tips from Jean to increase your credit score:
Pay bills on time – every single one of them
It is good to have a decent mix of credit – not just credit cards but utilities under your name as well, or a good credit standing in paying a car loan.
Avoid signing up for new credit cards or closing old credit cards.
Have you hear of Jean’s money rule before? Please share and comment below.
Just got back home from a room full of fired up women entrepreneurs! I’m talking about Spark & Hustle
Tory Johnson is the visionary behind Spark & Hustle a national conference for business owners. I was delighted that one of the stops on the tour was local for me in Washington, DC. Here are a few highlights from this 2 day conference.
At the registration table there were tons of Sharpie markers in different colors to sign our badges… of course I had to take advantage of that 😀
I decided to take a break from drawing sketchnotes during this conference, so I left all my professional supplies for drawing at home. I just wanted to focus on connecting with people and learning strategies to grow my business. But… I couldn’t help myself. I’m a visual learner and before I knew it, pictures were popping up in my notes! Take a peek.
I think everyone in the room got a chuckle from hearing Tory’s networking strategy in her early days of business. The WAITERS don’t count.
Sarah Chapin from Hail Merry shared so many tips and quotes that I loved. Sarah told us “It doesn’t matter how small you start if your dream is BIG.” I also loved the chocolate macaroons that were placed at our table, compliments of Hail Merry!
Lena West and Coach Jenn Lee did a fantastic job during the pitch session. They helped many of the women in the audience iron out a crystal clear pitch. I love how they both made themselves available to answer questions even after the session was over.
Sam Horn showed us the power of using stories. Sam advised instead of asking someone what they do, say “give me an example of what you do?” She also said “It’s time to evolve our marketing” and go from explanation to examples.
During the 2 day event, Tory strongly encouraged and reminded us to sit at a new table after each break and meet new people. I took her advice and it made all the difference in the world.
We all have our own techniques for remembering things.
Some people use cue cards, repetition, or acronyms. Some use rhymes or even songs. Others use diagrams, maps and pictures to make associations. Wikipedia describes visual thinking as the phenomenon of thinking through visual processing, by seeing words as a series of pictures.
Now, let’s see what this source has to say on the matter. Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you, the Muppets, with a classic video on visual thinking.
Dr. John Medina of Brain Rules believes that the more visual the input becomes, the more likely it is to be recognized—and recalled.
We can learn and retain knowledge far more effectively by maximizing the use of our senses. So integrate visual thinking with action, verbal, auditory, tactile and motor sensory functions for better learning.
Did you know that approximately 60%–65% of the general population are visual learners? What is your learning style?
Graphic recording is a skill used to capture and summarize meeting content by using hand drawn pictures and text. Using the visuals of graphic recording helps with retention, decision-making...
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