papershine

The Gathering is an annual meeting/conference for members of the Learning Community, a professional group that trains people on Essential Lifestyle Planning. It takes place in Portland every summer and my employer OTAC helps host the conference. This is a pupose poster I created for the event that is also being used as a logo on name badges and the like. Last night Kristin and I made a paper cut-out collage style version of the same image that’s seven feet long and eighteen inches high. If I get access to a digital camera during the event next week, I’ll take a picture of that one and post it as well. Click on the image below to see a larger version.

Edward Tufte visited Portland earlier this week and delivered a lecture on ‘Envisioning Information’ to a capacity crowd of roughly four hundred people. He spoke at length about data graphics, good presentations and how PowerPoint kills astronauts. His summary of the communication failures between NASA and Boeing during the Columbia disaster are particularly poignant today, as we are reassured by NASA that the Discovery, now docked at the International Space Station, is doing fine, despite similar problems with flying chunks of foam.
Towards the end of the day, Tufte offered some practical advice on giving presentations. While there was nothing especially new under that sun, I was pleased to hear him mention Strunk & White, the authors of The Elements of Style, the only book on writing worth reading. It’s a manifesto for clear communication. It’s also surprisingly funny.
Strunk, White and Tufte share a respect for their audiences that’s no longer in fashion. So much of today’s media holds its audience in obvious contempt. Advertisements, disc jockeys and news programs pander and insult. Movie theaters charge nine dollars for the pleasure of watching massive, jittery advertisments and music videos before the feature presentation. To their way of thinking, the audience will always be there, soda-swilling cattle in uncomfortable chairs. Odd then that the movie industry complains so frequently and loudly about their diminishing market share. Of course piracy is an issue; movie going has become so unpleasant and costly that people will risk federal prosecution to avoid the theater.
I believe that most great teachers and presenters have a great and profound respect for the audiences. Tufte said it clearly, “Audiences are precious.” Be grateful for their time and attention and engage them actively and vigorously. Always seek to elevate. Always be honest, even when you don’t have the slightest idea what the answer might be. Give respect and it will flow back to you. No matter the audience and no matter how expert I might think I am about the material I’m teaching, I always learn so much from the people I am teaching. To me, that is fundamental to respect: I am not here to give you my ‘wisdom’; we are here to share our ideas and learning.

Edward Tufte’s web site
Elements of Style

One weekend late in June I spent two days with the Youth Commission of Clark County, Washington, graphically recording their conversations about The Spot. The Spot is a youth-directed economic development project that is part hang-out, part retail venture, part recreation center for the young people of Clark County. Organized by Dane Anderson and Beth Houston of Clark County’s Youth House and facilitated by Seattle based consultant Leslie Smith, the event was a no holds barred brainstorming session about what The Spot could look like.
In hopes of inspiring their imaginations and signalling our intentions to work visually, I made this purpose poster that hung at the entrance of the room we used. Click on the image to see a larger version and my proposal for a climbing-wall art gallery.

My primary responsibility throughout the two days was to record the ideas visually in real time. By the end of the weekend, the walls were completely decked in paper. Before the brainstorming got up to speed, Dane introduced the event and invited a handful of County Commissioners and other community leaders to speak. The graphic below reflects those opening statements.

After the Youth Commissioners had finished their brainstorming, we posted all the graphics and had them vote on their top priorities. Each commissioner got five sticky dots to post wherever they saw fit. The results demonstrated a nice mix of philosophical concerns- youth run businesses and healthy foods- and fun stuff- a skate park and a performance stage. Here’s a photograph of democracy in action.

The two day event was a great success. Recording the conversations visually created a energy in the room and helped to generate and maintain momentum. When the young people broke up into small groups to develop their ideas, they all worked visually, sketching out the details or drawing schematics of proposed buildings. By keeping the graphics posted visibly around the room, we could see our progress and recall our conversations. They made it focused and fun.