Whiteboards are present everywhere these days. And they are an amazing communication tool. Or should I better say: They have the potential for it?
IdeaPaint Inc., producer of a paint that can turn almost any surface into a whiteboard, says it has increased its sales of the special paint annually by 100% since the product was introduced in 2008.
With whiteboards having such an increased popularity, it is sad to see that most people still use whiteboards (or even their whiteboard walls) only for writing words. And numbers.
Why is this problematic?
Numbers, (especially high ones) are an extremely abstract substance that the human brain has difficulties processing.
Feelings, e.g. how a product feels, written in words, is extremely difficult to share convincingly with others.
Positions, e.g. in the market, defined in words, give everyone reading it a headache.
Let me show an example: Above I mentioned some numbers about the sales of IdeaPaint Inc. Remember? Had to read it twice? Visually, this information could be presented like this:
As you can see, the whiteboard helps us to simplify complexity with use of pictures that were instantly thought of. We came up with one acronym that will remind you of the feeling you will get in your meetings if you use visuals on whiteboards: FRIS (Dutch for fresh).
(keep it) F.R.I.S. (fresh)
Fast, Realtime, Imperfect, Simple.
Around these four principles, I have put together a small evening introduction workshop. We are going to host it in our office on the 29th of this month. For a one-time introduction price of 40EUR (ex Vat), including dinner by our favourite caterer (with the most delicious and sustainable food).
Join in for an evening course on whiteboard modelling and facilitation. From 18-22hrs we will give a hands on training in our office. In this introductory course we will focus on:
- The key challenges experienced when working with whiteboards
- Materials, Techniques
- Drawing basic models, people, shapes and icons
- Smart use of the basic colours
- Model- and facilitation exercises to engage groups
WHEN: August 29th, 2012 (6-10PM)
WHERE: ModelMinds, Vijzelstraat 72, Amsterdam
FEE: 40EUR ex. btw (including all materials & dinner)
SIGNUP: Email manuel@modelminds.nl (Maximum 8 People)