Upcoming

Geneva workshop, originally uploaded by dgray_xplane.

Quick update: Here are some upcoming events where I will be speaking or facilitating in the next couple of months. The photo shows Laurent Haug of LIFT fame in a previous workshop that I conducted in Geneva.

SXSW 2009 — Mar 13 - Mar 17, 2009

I'll be speaking on a panel at the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. The panel is called Shift Happens: Moving from Words to Pictures. More.

VizThink 2009 — Feb 22 - Feb 25, 2009

I'll be speaking and facilitating at the VizThink conference in San Jose, California. More.

s-Lab launch8 — Dec 4, 2008

I'll be facilitating the launch of the Ontario College of Art and Design's Strategic Innovation Lab in Toronto.

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How to draw a car

How to draw a car, originally uploaded by dgray_xplane.

I just posted a short video drawing lesson on how to draw a car here. I chose a car because it's one of those things that people quite often need to draw and often struggle with.

I show how you can use simple shapes to make something that conveys the idea pretty clearly. The same principles will apply to other kinds of drawings.

Let me know if you'd like to see more of these. Enjoy!

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Good morning Amsterdam!

I'm in Amsterdam today and this evening I will be having an informal conversation with Yuri Engelhardt and whoever else shows up. If you live here I hope you will join us. Here are the details:

Thursday 16 October, 20:00-21:30
Location: Department of Mediastudies, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Turfdraagsterpad 9, room 0.04. Map here.

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Greetings Berlin!

I arrived in Berlin yesterday for VizThink Europe 08. I will be touring the city with Tom Crawford and Ryan Coleman of VizThink. If you happen to be in or near Berlin and would like to meet up with us text message me at +1.314.496.6129 and I will text back our location. Hope to see you!

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The eyes have it

The eyes have it, originally uploaded by dgray_xplane.

Actual bandwidth of the five senses, compared to the bandwidth we are consciously aware of. From The half-second delay: What follows?, a paper on learning, consciousness and perception.

Another quote from this interesting paper:
"Traditional models of affect posit that ... first we decide what we think, and then we decide how we feel about it. However, the evidence ... indicates that the real order of things is likely to be the reverse of this... what we feel about something tells us what we think."

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Five reasons to go to VizThink in Berlin

S-Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse Berlin Mitte Capital Germany, originally uploaded by holger doelle.

On October 12-14, 2008 I'll be facilitating at VizThink Berlin. For those of you who haven't heard, Vizthink is a global community of visual thinkers who believe the time is right to really engage with visual thinking as a practical way to solve problems and deliver understanding.

Here are five reasons to go to VizThink Berlin:

1. Flights are really, really cheap right now. I just got a round-trip ticket for less than $800.

2. Berlin, by all accounts, is one of the most exciting cities in Europe. The art scene there is world-renowned, with 450 art galleries, with approximately one new gallery opening every week.

3. VizThink will be one of the biggest collections of visual thinkers ever assembled in one place. If you are one of those people who feels a gravitational pull when you're near a whiteboard, you'll find an assembly of like-minded people such as you've never seen before.

4. Yuri Engelhardt will be there. Yuri is at the forefront of visual thinking research, and he's compiled the most thorough exploration and synthesis of visual grammatical forms I've ever seen. Plus you get two-for one: Christian Behrens is one of Yuri's students and a formidable figure in his own right, and he'll be there too. His exploration of visual frameworks, information design patterns, is one of the best in existence.

5. Manuel Lima will be there. Manuel is the genius behind Visual Complexity, a web-based compilation of the most interesting visual information displays on the web. He is also a senior user experience designer at Nokia, looking at the future of how we'll work with information on mobile devices.

The people mentioned above are based in Europe and don't come to the US very often, so this may be one of your only chances to see them all together in one place.

These are just a few of the speakers, and just a small number of the compelling reasons to go to Berlin this October. I'll definitely be there and hope you will decide to come too.

To register, or to get more information about VizThink, visit their website here.

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The unbook

The unbook

view presentationtags: davegray jaycross unbook xplane

Join me and Jay Cross tomorrow as we discuss the future of books:

More information here.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

10:30 PDT, 1:30 EDT

Conference Dial-in Number: (712) 432-1601
Save phone charges by using Skype to call in.

Participant Access Code: 391096#

Update: This presentation was just featured on the Slideshare home page! :)

Another update: For those of you who missed the call, Jay will be posting a recording and some other links here.

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The Process

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Nonlinear presentation tool

I just discovered this very interesting presentation tool which is being developed in Budapest.

ZuiPrezi is a zooming presentation editor which allows you to easily create dynamic and visually structured zooming maps of texts, images, videos, PDFs, and drawings. ZuiPrezi has a very intuitive interface and support for online sharing, and it works really well with tablet PCs.

This is a tool I can't wait to delve into -- I have been looking for something like this for a long time.

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Business model innovation

Alex Osterwalder does a great job of visually explaining business model innovation. He has several upcoming workshops and speaking engagements, including New York and Toronto, so depending on where you live you might have a chance to attend a workshop in the near future. More detail on upcoming events here.
Business Model Innovation Matters

View SlideShare presentation (tags: osterwalder alex alexander telco)

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VizThink Toronto 7

VizThink Toronto 7
Originally uploaded by Ryan ColemanRyan Coleman put together this excellent video of the recent VizThink get-together in Toronto.

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Upcoming events

Geneva workshop, originally uploaded by dgray_xplane.

I'll be participating in a number of events in the coming months. Here's an update on some of the events where I'll be speaking or delivering workshops.

• Visual and Iconic Languages (VaIL) conference — Jul 21 - Jul 22, 2008
  At the VaIL conference I'll be speaking about visual language. If you can make it to San Diego, there's no charge to attend the conference.
• Visual thinking workshop — Jul 25, - Jul 25, 2008
  On July 25th I'll be delivering a full, one-day workshop in Toronto. In the workshop you'll learn how to visualize your ideas so you can think and communicate with greater clarity and effectiveness. Working individually and in small teams, you will learn and practice visualization techniques that have been successfully used to improve innovation and accelerate change at some of the world's leading companies. After completing this workshop you will have a toolkit for thinking and presentation effectiveness -- your presentations of complex information and strategies will never be the same. More.
• Visual thinking in practice — Aug 19 - Aug 20, 2008
  CONNECTICUT: What's the difference between theory and practice? In theory they're the same. In practice they're different. We'll look at some proven, practical tools and techniques for turning complex or potentially confusing information into clear, concise, concrete visual images. At this event I'll give a short talk followed by an afternoon workshop. Get more info at the CAIS Summer Institute.
• IDEA 2008 — Oct 7 - Oct 8, 2008
  I'll be speaking at the IDEA conference in Chicago. The IDEA Conference is a yearly conference about Information: Design, Experience and Access that is sponsored by the Information Architecture Institute. More.
• VizThink 08 Berlin — Oct 12 - Oct 14, 2008
  I'll be facilitating at VizThink 08 in Berlin. VizThink is an international community of visual thinkers. More.
• Sarasota Design Summit — Oct 27 - Oct 28, 2008
  More than 350 designers, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and business and technology professionals, exploring how design and design thinking are transforming technology and innovation. I've had a hand in proposing some of the speakers for this one, and can promise that some very interesting people will be there. More.
• CANUX 2008 — Nov 16 - Nov 18, 2008
  I'll be speaking/facilitating at CANUX 2008 in Banff, Alberta. CANUX is a small gathering, limited to 70 participants, with a focus on practical skills for user experience professionals—web designers, software developers, information architects, interaction designers, interface designers, communications, and anyone else who's passionate about making things work well for people. More.

I hope you'll decide to join me at one or more of these events!

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London Calling!

Geneva workshop, originally uploaded by dgray_xplane.

London is calling my name again.

Next week I'll be in London for two events, July 9th and 10th.

On July 9th, from 4pm-9pm, I will be leading a workshop called Thinking visually to tackle business challenges: A creative and innovative approach to problem solving.

Statistical surveys have shown that design and visualisation have averifiable impact on business performance. Visual articulation is important when solving a problem that involves strategic goals and initiatives. At its core, it helps bridge the problem or opportunity with the solution. That is why helping decision makers to think and express themselves visually gives organisations a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Joining me will be a couple of XPLANE clients, who will share case studies of how they employed visual thinking in their organisations.

There is a fee for the workshop and a 10% discount if you register by July 2nd. You can download a pdf description and register for the workshop here.

On July 10th I will be leading an interactive session and discussion at VizThink London. That event goes from 5:30-9:00pm.

I hope you can join me at one or both events -- and I am sure there will be drinks afterward in both cases, so if you can't make the events I hope you'll join us for the drinks!

The picture above is my friend Alex Osterwalder, from one of my previous workshops.

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Who are you?

VP of NO, originally uploaded by dgray_xplane.

A comment from Cindy, a new reader, prompted a realization that Communication Nation has quite a few new readers who have recently discovered this blog.

I have met many of you over the years and found you to be a unique and fascinating community of people. You need to be aware of each other! I did this a while back but I think it's time for an update.

Tell us:

Who are you?

Even if you don't regularly comment on blogs, please consider taking a minute to tell me and the other readers:
1. Who are you? If it's not too personal, what's your name and job title?
2. What industry or field do you work in or most strongly identify with?
3. What do you most want to see happening on this blog?

And/or anything else you want to talk about.

You also might want to check out the last post like this, from March of 2006, here.

And even if you left a note the last time I did this, it would be great to know what you're up to now and what's on your mind.

So please leave a note in the comments section and introduce yourself! We'd love to meet you.

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Communication Nation named as top productivity blog

Communication Nation has been named one of the top 50 productivity blogs of the year by Evan Carmichael. Woo-hoo!

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