Do you need to get people aligned?

Ever wonder why sometimes even the most talented group of people can’t come together to realize their goals? Everyone can see the opportunities ahead, but they just don’t function as a team.

A Clear Path

Fostering a sense of inclusion, trust and mutual respect are the deep roots needed for building effective teams. With these in place, you can create a well-defined path for achieving your goals. Consistently.

Receive 3 Free Gifts ($100.00 Value!) when you attend this VisualsSpeak training!

When you attend our 1-Day Team Building training you will learn a simple, effective approach that consistently brings people together, fosters trust and gets people beyond surface level solutions.

Sign up now to receive 2 Free Gifts!
1 visual icebreaker set ($40.00 value)
1 VisualsSpeak tote bag ($20.00 value)

If you sign up by the early registration deadline you will receive an additional visual icebreaker set ($40.00 value)

Total Value of Gifts $100.00

Save $55 by registering before September 30!
Use Coupon Code: trg2008

This is a hands-on training, which utilizes visual tools, for people who aren’t satisfied with mediocre team results.

Team Building: Unleashing the Potential of Your Teams
1 Day Training
October 8, 2008
Portland, OR, USA
Your Investment
• $295 Early Registration Before September 30)
• $350 Full Price (After September 30)

Click here to learn more about this training and to register

Hope to see you there!

This program can also be brought to your company or organization. info @ viusalsspeak.com

Next public trainings in Portland Oregon

November 7, 2008 Creating Inlcusive Programs for Success

January 28, 2009 Working with Individuals: Getting to What Matters

February 5-7 Let’s Get Strategic: Tapping Into Creativity

A white guy’s growing understanding of diversity

How can we define culture by what it is not? After all, don’t we define culture based on what it is such as our values, languages, religions, etc? Anthropologists talk of worldview, which also includes basic assumptions about how things work. Values are derivative of worldview.

I’m going to share with you how I learned a little about my European American culture through a story a friend told me recently and how I came to see my own culture a little clearer because of what it isn’t.

But before I do, let me give you some things to snack on.

A little about me

I am a European American male. 51 years old. My parents are from Irish and Scottish stock. I was raised and spent most of my life in the Northeast. Now living in the Pacific Northwest.

Verbalizing European American culture

I know when I’m asked to talk about my culture, I sometimes have difficulty doing so. I have to think about it and usually come up with some kind of generic answer. I have heard the same sorts of responses from other European Americans (EA).

For example these are some of the responses I have given and have also heard other EA’s say.

• I’m American
• We’re all Americans (When we start to drill down into this response, we don’t have to go very far to discover that there are big differences in what this means depending on who is speaking

I celebrate

• The 4th of July
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas

In my family we acknowledged our Irish background by celebrating St Patrick’s Day. My stomach still turns over when I think of all that over-boiled corned beef and cabbage I was made to eat.

Somehow all of these things leave me with a feeling that something is missing. There’s more to the story, but I can’t put my finger on it.

Lost in St Louis

As I mentioned, a friend told me a story recently that gave me greater insight into my own culture. Let’s call him Michael.

Michael is from the Northwest and holds numerous high level degrees. The word brilliant comes to mind when I think about him. A thirst for knowledge, curiosity, and making relevance of the world has been his path through life.

A number of years ago, Michael attended a professional conference in St Louis, Missouri. He decides to save money by taking a bus instead of a taxi to his hotel. Unfortunately, he finds out that the bus line ends far away from his hotel. Now he is lost and is walking around trying to find another connection to his hotel. After an hour of walking in business attire, he finds himself on the edge of Washington University. Michael has never been to this city, so everything is new.

At some point in his wanderings, he notices a sheriff is following him. What makes the act so apparent is that the sheriff is in an official car and driving at the speed Michael is walking. There is no attempt to conceal the surveillance. Michael makes nothing of this at first chalking it up to a bored cop with nothing better to do.

After two, or has it been three, hours of this, Michael is feeling panicked. He cannot understand why he has drawn the attention of this sheriff. He has no history in St. Louis, so no reason to be harassed. He is well dressed and has broken no laws. He is a professional not some street thug in need of chaperoning.

He is lost and feeling desperate. He tries to call a cab from a phone booth, but the cab company wants to know ‘where’r you at’. He doesn’t understand the question. He’s telling them the location. He goes into an Asian restaurant to get change to call another cab. The workers look at him with fear and suspicion. They nervously inspect his money and give him change. Finally someone tells him that in St. Louis, cabs will only pick up people at a specific location such as at a restaurant. Unwritten rules.

What Michael didn’t know at the time was that the county had a sort of curfew in effect. The curfew was not geared towards protecting children by ensuring they were home at a safe hour. It was a local rule aimed at keeping specific groups of people off the streets. There were no signs spelling out the curfew guidelines, so only the locals would know of its existence.

The one qualification a person had to have for the curfew to apply to them was being non-white. You see, Michael is African American. He didn’t know the rules that governed African Americans in that part of the country, because they were enforced but not advertised like so many of these types of rules..

Defining culture by what it’s not

Hearing this story helped me to understand my European American culture better not because I had never heard of this sort of experience before. It helped me, because I realized that I would never expect this to happen to me. It is not in my consciousness or part of my life experience.

What isn’t defines what is

In the art world, there is a term called negative space. It is used to describe the space around an object or form. Negative space is as important to the overall purpose of the work as is the primary focal point, because it gives the work context.

This term is not used as a value judgment. There is no good or bad, right or wrong. It is just context.

Michael’s story is, in a sense, the negative space that gives more context to my experience as a European American. It is about what my experience has not been.

A reverse view of injustice

Part of what all of this is about is coming to understand white privilege. For me, the concept of white privilege has been more about the conscious attitudes of European Americans.

What I’m realizing is that there is an unconscious aspect that has to do with what I don’t ever expect to happen to me. When I was young and had long hair, I did expect the possibility of being harassed by a redneck cop. If my hair had been short I wouldn’t have expected it. But what I never would have expected then or now is to be followed around for hours because of my skin color. It’s not in my consciousness.

I have been aware for a long time that there is discrimination for many people in housing, job promotions, getting credit, etc. Yet, as a European American I have never had the conscious expectation that any of this would happen to me.

For example, I would never expect to be discriminated against for:

• Getting a job
• Being promoted
• Buying a car
• Purchasing a house
• Renting an apartment

I know this happens to others, but the possibility of it happening to me is not in my consciousness when I go about these activities. I never think to myself ‘I wonder if this person is going to treat me fairly because of my skin color’.

No scientific poll needed

I think it’s pretty safe to say that we don’t need a scientific poll to say that many non-dominant groups have the expectation that they may face discrimination in everyday encounters.

This expectation is something that a big percentage of US citizens live with every day of their lives.

And even though we may not be consciously aware of it, not having an expectation that it could happen to us, partly defines European American culture. It’s the negative space of our culture or worldview. The part defined by what it is not.

Incremental learning and diversity

I have found that becoming culturally aware and learning about diversity is about gaining insight through many small, incremental steps. Generally speaking there aren’t a lot of big ah-ha moments, although Michael’s story might be one, because it has caused me to reflect deeply. The reverberations have been many.

For me, understanding diversity and culture is a life-long process. I don’t think I’ll ever arrive at a point where I can say I know what it’s all about. There are layers and layers to uncover. And the layers shift as societies shift. Everything is in movement. Consciousness evolves. Understanding evolves.

What’s your perspective?

• How do you define your culture?
• What is the ‘negative space’ or unconscious parts of understanding cultural?
• What insights can you share to help others understand culture?

Christine Martell and Tom Tiernan, owners of VisualsSpeak LLC, are pleased to announce that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Certificate of Registration for the trademark VisualsSpeak.

VisualsSpeak®

Reg. No. 3,435,236

Registered May 27, 2008

Owners’ Response

Co-owner Tiernan ‘s response was to say “Now we are finally in a position to challenge Microsoft’s dominance of the global software market.” When reminded that VisualsSpeak® is not involved in developing software, he was quick to point out “But we could be”.

VisualsSpeak’s® principal, Christine Martell, could not be reached for comment as she is currently luxuriating on a private island in the Caribbean awaiting the riches to roll in after the Trademark announcement.

Newsflash: arrived today

Christine and I were inspired by something we read recently about how to involve a community of people and businesses in donating to non-profits doing exceptional work. This is what we came up with. Your input about our approach would be greatly appreciated.

We are inviting the VisualsSpeak Community to donate to a good cause. And it won’t cost you a cent!

Send us your VisualsSpeak story and we will make a contribution to Mercy Corps. This Portland, Oregon based group has a global perspective. Presently they are contributing their resources to relief in China and Myanmar after the recent disasters there.

This is a Win-Win-Win scenario:

• You win – Your story is converted into dollars and then contributed to an organization doing great work on a global level.
• VisualsSpeak wins – We get your great stories to share with current and potential community members.
• Mercy Corps wins – They receive money from our community to help continue their great work.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided $1.5 billion in assistance to (more)

The Details

Send us a story* about something that happened while using VisualsSpeak. This might be about a time when there was a significant breakthrough, or something unusual happened, or new insights were inspired, or anything you think others might want to hear.

Include as much detail as possible such as:

• Who was the audience?
• What was the purpose of the process?
• Where did this take place?
• How did your participants respond?

Please include the following information about yourself: (as much as you like)

• Name
• Title/ Profession
• Company/ Organization
• Website/ Blog
• Digital Photograph (or where we can find one on the web)

How to send your story

• Leave your story as a comment on our Blog post “What’s your story?”
• Send a separate email to info at visualsspeak dot com

Show me the money!

• VisualsSpeak LLC will donate $10.00 per story
• Christine & Tom will personally contribute $10.00 per story for a total of $20 per story
• $300.00 total potential donation! (15 stories)
• Donations to be tabulated on June 18, 2008

Why?

We believe in giving back. And one of the ways to give back is to support organizations doing great work. There’s not enough time in a day to do everything, so contributing to groups that benefit us all makes sense.

* By sending your story to VisualsSpeak, you agree to give us permission to use it in various ways including but not limited to our website, Blog, and marketing materials.

Thanks for your story and for supporting an incredible organization like Mercy Corps!

More often in life, making a difference is about all of the small steps we take along the way.

Yours in service,

Christine Martell & Tom Tiernan
VisualsSpeak LLC

You are invited to attend!

If you are going to be in the Portland, OR area this Tuesday February 12, Christine will be presenting for the local SIETAR-PDX (Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research) group. Please feel free to drop by. This event is free and open to the public.

Christine will be showing how the VisualsSpeak ImageSet can be used to increase cultural awareness and cultural competency. She will also speak about how the tool can be used in other applications such as strategic visioning, diversity training, and team building.

This session will be hands-on and experiential. Bring your questions.

Hope to see you there!

Date: Tuesday February 12, 2008
Start Time: 6:30 PM Potluck snacks and drink
Where: The Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI)
8835 SW Canyon Road, Suite 238
Portland, OR 97225

For directions using Google Maps

Does the idea of facilitating a large audience (50, 100, 200, 300 people) make you sweat?

In our announcement for the VizThink 2008 conference, we have a little fun with the fact that Christine will be facilitating a VisualsSpeak process with an audience that could exceed three hundred people. She is being given a whole thirty minutes to complete this exercise. As you can imagine this is quite the challenge. There are a lot of things you need to take into consideration before taking on larger audiences such as:

• Are the group dynamics of a large audience different than small groups?
• How do you prepare for an audience you’ve never met?
• How do you make sure your program is tight enough in order to minimize disruptions?
• How do you use any tools or props?

In our upcoming newsletter, Christine will be giving you some insights into how to think about facilitating processes for large audiences.

You can sign-up for our E-newsletter here or go to any page on the VisualsSpeak website and look for the sign-up box in the left column.

Email Subscribers get product discount coupons

Occasionally we offer special pricing on our products. These offers are only made to our email subscription list. We also honor the special pricing for anyone you choose to forward our emails to.

HINT: The one year anniversary of our first product, the VisualsSpeak ImageSet, is upon us. There are rumors abound that there may be some special offers coming up in the not-to-distant future. Sign up today!

Christine Martell, Principal of VisualsSpeak LLC, will be presenting at the VizThink 2008 conference in San Francisco, California. The Conference is being held January 27-29 at The Westin San Francisco Market Street.

Christine will be facilitating twice. On Monday January 28 her session is titled “What Makes Visuals Speak?” and on Tuesday in the morning General Session she will be one of three facilitators taking the “VizThink Challenge”.

VisualsSpeak will have a booth at the conference. Stop by and say hello.

Christine will be facilitating an audience of three hundred attendees

Before I give you the details, you should know that VizThink has thrown down the gauntlet. On Tuesday morning (1/29/08) in the General Session, Christine will be one of three facilitators “put on the spot” to facilitate a process where a real-world problem about a real-world organization in front of a real-world audience (That’s a lot of reality folks) is presented to the Facilitator Three. Hold on there’s more.

The real-world problem is being held secret from these three passionate Visual Communication specialists so that we can see the stuff they’re really made of. I have it on good authority that VizThink has engaged the services of the NSA, FBI, CIA AND the Boy Scouts (Hey, they’re kids. They can hack in their sleep) to develop a specially encrypted program to keep safe the offending real-world problem to be solved by these out-of-this-world facilitators.

Now here is where VizThink made their big mistake. The other two facilitators are inviting about 18 people in total to participate in their sessions. Thus leaving Christine to facilitate the remaining THREE HUNDRED PLUS attendees (At this time there are 350 people attending). For those of us in the VisualsSpeak Community who know Christine, we scoff at this challenge. If they had asked her to facilitate an audience of three thousand maybe we would have raised an eyebrow. But three hundred…where’s the challenge in that? She could do that standing on her head. Hey, I’d like to see that!

Provide your Input and Make a Difference

If you are attending the VizThink 2008 conference we encourage you to attend the Tuesday morning General Session.

This will be a chance for you to see:

• How visual communication tools and techniques can be utilized to solve the problems your organization faces
• An array of visual communication processes being used in one spot
• What types of processes might be appropriate for your company

And this is a chance for you to use your expertise to help another organization. What goes around…

The Sessions

What Makes Visuals Speak?

Monday, January 28, 2008 from 1:30pm – 3:00pm
Christine Martell

In this session we’ll explore the elements that make visuals speak. We’ll start the conversation with photographs, exploring not only the story, but also the visual language elements that reveal less conscious aspects of what we are saying. By using a set of tested photographs, we will quickly delve into an in-depth conversation of how to utilize visual elements to their fullest. You can expect to come away from this experience with a greater understanding of how to effectively use visuals to uncover strategic vision for individuals, groups and organizations.

This session will be experiential and fun. No drawing required!

VizThink Challenge

Tuesday, January 29 from 9:00am – 10:30am
Jamie Nast, Christine Martell, and David Sibbet

Often, it’s not about the tools we use, but the process we go through to come up with visual thinking solutions. This segment is designed to show just that, and we’ve got three great people to help us with that including Jamie Nast, Christine Martell, and David Sibbet. We’re going to put these three leaders on the spot by bringing them up on stage and presenting them with a real world communications problem. They’ll have never seen it before and have no time to prepare. Their job, with your help, will be to come up with a visual thinking solution, and we’ll look at how they approach it and what they come up with. However, they won’t be in it alone. Each of the tables in the audience will work on the problem too. This segment promises to be a fascinating look into the similarities and differences between visual thinking approaches.

If You Want to Attend the Conference

There is still space available if you would like to attend. This is shaping up to be a great conference with representatives from major companies, great facilitators, international participation, and networking opportunities galore.

To sign up and receive a discount use code FCCM1 by registering here.

We have updated the Resource page on the VisualsSpeak web site.

The Resource page is located on the top menu bar.

You will now be able to find the Heart Image and Categories Template free downloads referred to in the VisualsSpeak ImageSet User Manual.

To access these free downloads:

Click here for the Heart Image pdf. This is a great icebreaker exercise that illustrates how everyone sees things a little differently. Its quick and is a good way to get the conversation started.

Click here for the Categories Template. This is a downloadable MS Word document that illustrates how the VisualsSpeak ImageSet is divided into four categories. For those of you using the ImageSet, this is a quick and easy way to explain how to navigate the set. Remember that some people are more comfortable selecting their images by category.

We apologize to those of you who have been trying to find these ‘missing’ documents. Making the transition to our new web site has been frustrating at times. Thank you for your patience!

Introducing our new Visual Energizer

Ideal for Icebreaker & Group Energizer Exercises
What would a tool that:

• Gets you clients engaged
• Builds solid connections
• Doesn’t put people in a box
• Helps build solid teams
• Is fun to use

Be worth to you?

How about $39.95?

The new Visual Energizer includes:

• 32/ 8×10 matte laminated photographs
• Suggested icebreaker & group energizer exercises
• Protective vinyl storage envelope with Velcro tab

Buy Now!
For More Information on the Visual Energizer

Our Guarantee:

If for any reason you are not satisfied with any VisualsSpeak product, you may return the unused product within forty-five days of purchase for a complete refund. No hassles. Sorry we do not refund shipping costs.

Christine Martell, Principal of VisualsSpeak LLC, will be presenting at the Society for Intercultural Education Training and Research (SIETAR) USA Eighth Annual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The Conference is being held November 7-10, 2007 at The Westin Crown Center Hotel.

Christine will be facilitating in three sessions.

Thursday, November 8 from 3:15 – 4:45

Exploring Multiple Perspectives on Conflict Using Photographs

Christine Martell

This session will explore the meaning of conflict, conflict resolution, and conflict management in personal, professional and global contexts. Using photographs and the stories that emerge from them, we will explore the similarities and difference in how individuals and groups interpret these concepts. When we see multiple perspectives clearly, we will begin to seek avenues to come together in new ways.

Friday, November 9 from 8:30 – 10:00 am

Community, Collaboration and Conversation: The Art and Practice of Blogging

Michele Martin, Christine Martell, Rob Pusch

There are more than 15.5 million active blogs around the world, with some 1 million new posts per day. The best of these are fueled by passion, authenticity and immediacy–elements that also feed our most courageous conversations. In this session, you’ll learn how this new medium is transforming how we communicate, collaborate and connect with one another. We’ll examine the the six pillars of blogging and what makes blogs unique as online communication tools. We’ll also explore the continuum of ways to participate in the blogosphere and how you can use blogging for professional development, to create community and to forge a personal or organizational brand. By the end of the session you’ll have a new perspective on the world of blogging and a host of practical tools and tips for becoming a “conversation architect” using this exciting new medium.

Christine is joined by Michele Martin from The Bamboo Project and Beyond the Glass Ceiling and Rob Pusch who will be the person leading the Communication effort for the board starting at the conference.

Saturday, November 10 from 3:15 – 4:45 pm

What Makes A Culturally Competent Professional Association?

Christine Martell ,Andy Reynolds, Peggy Pusch, Ann Marie Lei

This session will explore the factors that contribute to organizations becoming more welcoming and inclusive. Using photographs, participants will explore how we can collectively create more effective associations.

Christine is joined by Andy Reynolds the incoming President of SIETAR-USA, Peggy Pusch the Executive Director of SIETAR-USA, and Ann Marie Lei from the SIETAR-USA advisory board.