VisualsSpeak blog

New Technology: Jing a-ling-a-ling

We have a free icebreaker exercise on our website. It’s called the ‘Heart Image’ and is great for trainers, facilitators or anyone working with groups.

But before I give you the lowdown on how to get it, you’re going to have to listen to a story about a man named Jed who barely gets technology into his head. It seems”Jed” decided to create a web video today with a new service called Jing so he could tell people about a free resource on his website. This has great potential for trainers, facilitators, consultants, and a whole host of others I’m sure.

I came across a comment on a blog post by Alex Miller, who comes from a land down under. Alex is into training and technology.

In her comment she gives a link to a web video she created using Jing. In it she explains how she uses NetVibe to organize her blogs, etc. Her video is well executed and very professional. This is the link. http://www.screencast.com/t/o2dypTvgWQr

So I thought ‘This is great, I’ll create a Jing video for our free Icebreaker, the ‘Heart Image’. Easier said than done. Six hours later, and I have something to show you. I won’t say its ‘professionally done’, but I think you’ll be able to understand the value of Jing for trainers, facilitators, etc.

Here’s the link to my (I mean Jed’s) Jing video and How You Can Get Your FREE Icebreaker Exercise, The Heart Image. Did I say free? What’s wrong with me? I’m a capitalist.

Thanks Alex for the inspiration! Did it take you all of 20-30 minutes to put it together? Please tell me it was at least that long even if you have to tell a little white lie.

I just came across a blog post by Margery Weinstein on BNET titled “Late Because…” which I think you’ll get a kick out of reading. It’s about how people make up excuses (lies) for coming late to work or not coming at all. One company turned this into a contest which I think is very creative.

Since the phony excuse (ate bad sushi last night anyone?) is unavoidable, how about making a game out of it? Give workers 10 to 15 days which they can use for either personal or sick days. Then ask them to come up with the most creative story they can think of when they call in. Legally you probably can’t require them to do this, but give them an incentive by making into a contest in which awards are given quarterly for the best tardy/need-to-be-absent lie.

I previously posted about the icebreaker/ group energizer I use called “The Lying Game” in which I make an argument for giving people the permission to lie as a way to unleash creativity.
Here’s the link. The Lying Game

Tom Tiernan

Entrepreneurs have moments of insanity clarity challenge. At least I hope we aren’t the only ones. I hope it is more a characteristic of the singular obsessive focus it takes to get a business off the ground. We tend to recognize our insanity new insights by suddenly realizing some basic assumption we have been making is somewhat off.

Photograph © Christine Martell

Here is an example. I started off cutting all our photographs out of books and magazines. Due to copyright, you can’t reproduce them, but you can buy whatever you want and chop up the originals. I like cutting up pictures, especially neurotically cutting away all the background with little tiny scissors. There is a meditation in it for me. In the beginning, most of the photos I used were like this. Mind you these are laminated, so I had to cut out the paper, laminate it, and then cut the plastic. Read the rest of this entry »

Can Lying Unleash Creativity?

I have been an ESL (English as a Second Language) volunteer teacher for the past 5 years. ESL is a passion of mine and one I enjoy greatly. I better since I don’t get paid!

Recently I played a game with my class using the VisualsSpeak “Visual Energizer” set. I told my ESL students to quickly go through the 42 photographs and pick one. I gave them about a minute to do this. The reason they were doing it, I explained, was to tell the class the biggest lie they could think of based on the picture they chose.

Photograph © Tom Tiernan

This was incredibly fun. I was told about winning world class car races in Brazil and why eating bacon and eggs 5 times a day is actually good for you based on the most up-to-date research.

The goal in my English as a Second Language class is to increase my students conversational ability in the English language. The game was great for getting people to use adjectives and descriptive terms.

For those of you involved in other professions, I think this could be a great group energizer or pump up the creativity level exercise.

My Theory on why this works.
When people are asked to do an exercise about their skills or job or company, they are relying on the left side of their brain to recall facts or perceptions. There is no creativity involved. Its more of a linear process.

“Lying” on the other hand is all about being creative. Even if the “lie” is based on a kernel of truth, the potential for making up details and expounding are limitless. There are no borders or boundaries as in the process of recalling facts or perceptions.

The bottom line. Give your participants the permission to lie, to regale each other with preposterous stories, to make up whoppers without the shame of being found out. The process is fun and unencumbered and that is where creativity lives. In the place where everything is possible and limitless.

Technorati Tags: creativity, ESL, visuals

When I choose an icebreaker I am hoping to accomplish three things. First I want to create an opportunity for people to start talking to one another. Second I want them to be successful. Finally I want the activity to be related to the content of the session. Asking people to talk about photographs can accomplish all of these goals. Most people find it easy to respond to a picture as long as they can say anything they want. So, it is important to ask an open ended question where there is no right or wrong answer.

Try a question or statement to repond to that either serves to help people get to know one another, gets them started talking about something that will be explored in greater depth later, or gives them an opportunity to voice an expectation or dream.

There are endless ways to use VisualsSpeak as an icebreaker. You can ask any number of questions and have people select photographs that speak to the question or statement. For example: Read the rest of this entry »

The image categories were created to help manage visual overload. Each person approaches the task of selecting images in response to a question differently. Some want to have an idea of what general type of images they will find, while others like to rustle through a pile and see everything.

The people who seem to most appreciate the categories are seldom the same type of person who is likely to be facilitating an exercise. So even if the categories don’t seem important to you, consider who your participants are when deciding how to utilize them.

The VisualsSpeak ImageSet comes divided into four broad categories (Life, Nature, People, Things) in color-edge sleeves. On the back of the photographs, these categories are further broken down into twelve subcategories. If I were working with a group of people that included a lot of people who enjoyed structure and methodical approach, I might break out all twelve categories and put them each in separate piles. I might even put them in baskets or boxes to keep them ordered.
Read the rest of this entry »

We started our Question Contest a few weeks ago. Nineteen people participated, and sent a total of 168 questions and suggestions. We’ve been answering the questions here on the blog, and will continue to do so. At least the ones we can. Some of you came up with really hard stuff! It has been very helpful for us to know what you are interested in. We will be working on implementing all the suggestions. So, the drum roll please.

Photograph © Tom Tiernan
(Here are all the entries. Every question got one entry for the author.)

Now to insure that every contestant is assured of good karma for years to come, we enlisted the help of a monk living in the farthest reaches of the Himalayas. We sent him, via carrier pigeon, the names of each entrant and the number of times they had entered. Read the rest of this entry »

We developed a number of prototype VisualsSpeak ImageSets and watched how people used them for two years. The development team used them in sessions and reported back to us. There were a number of other people we recruited to try them in various settings.

We recorded the categories people used, wrote down feedback, interviewed users and dug deep into the literature. Through all this I wrote enough to graduate with a Masters degree (Post Secondary, Adult & Continuing Education with a focus in Training & Development) and a couple of training certificates.

We talked to potential users about what challenges they needed to solve. If you came within speaking, phone, or email distance, we asked questions and listened to what you said. Every detail of the tool was considered, reconsidered, and tested out. We learned that no matter what we did, it wasn’t going to be perfect, so we had to figure out what was must have, nice to have, and might someday have.
Read the rest of this entry »

I started with the name. Coming up with it took many months of paying attention to what was happening when I asked people a question and gave them images to spark their answers. I spent a lot of time playing with the Visual Thesaurus. It’s a great brainstorming tool for helping to find the right words.

When we were ready to start the company, the first thing we did was look for a graphic designer. Read the rest of this entry »

Testing the VisualsSpeak Tool was a long process of finding and organizing thousands of photographs. I started by cutting out and laminating thousands of photos from books and magazines. Some were squares and rectangles which I cut on paper cutters, while others were cut from their backgrounds with scissors. Thousands of books and magazines, many hours of cutting. Little scraps of paper everywhere.

Then I decided to laminate. I laminated over ten thousand pictures on my home office laminating machine. I loaded them into letter sized laminating pouches, sandwiched them in carrier pages and fed them into the machine.

I tested the photos initially by asking people to make collages of how they see their present and what they wanted in their future with a transition in between. Read the rest of this entry »