After taking the interactive visuals course in May I’ve been searching for any and all opportunities to incorporate graphics and visuals into my work. Luckily an opportunity came my way a couple of weeks ago to support Leadership Victoria and Volunteer Victoria with the Community Remix event with a custom wall template.
A custom wall template is something I create in my home office based on some information that is given to me ahead of time by an individual, group or organization. In this case, the information was the Youth Engagement Spectrum developed by YouthScape.
I had lots of fun taking the word-based spectrum and creating a visual to accompany each of the stages. This wall template was taken to the event last week, put up on the wall, and individuals and organizations were asked to place themselves on the spectrum as to where they are right now and where they’d like to be, effectively co-creating the chart. I only wish I’d gotten a picture from them of what it looked like after (!) as unfortunately I couldn’t attend the event. (Note: click the images below to see the full-sized view.)
Another way to use interactive visuals is to create a custom wall chart. A chart differs from a template in that the template is made to be partially filled in live with the participants or audience at the meeting or event. Alternatively, the chart is pre-filled with all information offsite, and then brought to the meeting – in this case, the marketing class of my Fundamentals of Event & Conference Management class that I’m currently teaching – and used as a facilitation tool.
The nice thing about doing a custom wall chart is that it’s an interesting way to present information to the class, but to also encourage activity and interactivity. In this instance, I first briefly presented the information on the chart and clarified some points on it and then divided the group and asked them to come up with examples from their experience of other things that could be added. Since I was teaching in a Camosun classroom and the chart was taped to a white board, I simply added the classes responses in and around the chart on the whiteboard surrounding it. I love the non-linear way that you can use a custom wall chart to facilitate information sharing. It’s something that simply can’t be done as easily with PowerPoint.
Let me know if you’ve got a need for a custom wall chart or template in your work in Greater Victoria. I am looking for more opportunities to expand my skill in this area, and at this point am offering this service pro-bono as I have time.
