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According to leadership coach, speaker and author, Oscar Trimboli, we spend half of our days listening, yet most of us aren’t equipped with the skills for deep listening:Multiple academic studies have shown that between 50% and 55% of your working day is spent listening, yet only 2% of people have been trained in how to listen.
Trimboli states that for the most part, the average person listens to reply and not to understand. Of course, that is far from the truth for a graphic recorder or scribe. At Innovation Arts, we spend most of our time working hard to listen deeply – engaging with content in it’s spoken form so that we can properly translate into into visual metaphors. This requires a lot of training and practice on the part of our graphic recorders.
When Trimboli contacted us to find out more about how graphic recorders hone and utilise their deep listening skills, we were happy to share as much as we could. Sarah Manley and David Christie sat down with him to talk “listening to content” through the lens of scribing. Good listening, for a graphic recorder, filters content into the essential – bringing the meaning of a conversation to the service and preserving it in visual form.
We really enjoyed being part of the recording of this podcast, and reflecting on our own methods and process with Trimboli. If you are interested in the podcast and learning more about graphic recording please have a listen!
You can download the podcast for free on iTunes or listen below:
This year, the theme was “bold moves” and showcased the bold endeavours of a diverse group of teenagers. Promotion for the event read:
“We have never been more connected, more innovative, or more resourceful. We have also never felt the weight of the present and future more than right now.”
Accordingly, there was a serious but hopeful tone to the talks. We heard from youth grappling with prejudice, mental illness, isolation and death – sharing stories of what it means to be a teen, maturing and learning to cope with realities from which we are sheltered as children.
Each one of the speakers had a positive strategy for dealing with personal and global pain. We heard from a young Syrian refugee who, despite odds and parental hair-tearing, managed to carry her school books across borders to ensure her education. We heard from a young girl, mercilessly bullied and abused, who had channelled her experience into the creation of an app that allowed other isolated youth to find peers to sit with at lunchtime. We heard from a self-taught computer-scientist who’s personal experience in Afghanistan inspired him to create artificial intelligence for improved breast cancer detection.
The event opened with a reflection upon every participants place in a historical chain:
“We are here today, in this moment on this planet, as a result of decisions that humans have made every year, month, day, hour, minute and second that have come before.”
It was only fitting then the day should conclude with a voice from the past: Ben Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremburg Tribunals, joined via skype to share his experiences, fears and hopes for the future. He addressed his audience directly and with respect, speaking to them not as children but as bourgeoning adults about to take on a world of responsibility. Ferencz metaphor of passing on the torch of humanity and progress to this new generation had a clear impact. From the speakers we had the pleasure of listening to that day, we can think of no better a group of young people to rise to the challenge Ferencz’s described.
Participants congregated to share research, explain current initiatives and ideate new solutions for the needs of children on the move as well as means of prevention against the many risks these children face. Among participants were humanitarian organisations like UNICEF, government representatives, the United Nations, intergovernmental agencies, universities, private sector companies, Save the Children’s many international offices, and many more.
It was inspiring to see the spirit of collaboration and collective action that permeated the event. There was incredible energy as attendees shared their work, ideas and passion for change.
We were asked to graphic record throughout the day, capturing output from talks and workshops. The graphic recording was galleried in the main hall so attendees reflect upon the content from the day, and discuss plans for future action.
We created an infomural that wove together the output of the event into a visual story. There was a powerful narrative running through the event – the journey of young refugees, migrants and displaced persons from risk and turmoil to hope and opportunity, supported by the collective initiatives of all those represented by the event – and we wanted to bring it to life.
As part of the event, Save the Children nominated 20 inspiring young people, all currently or in the past considered “children on the move”. These incredible young people were strong advocates for the rights of their peers, contributing music, legal aid, philanthropic support, and more to the cause. We shared their stories in visual form and were thrilled to see them respond effusively, laughing and taking photos of each other.
It was a pleasure to collaborate with Save the Children and we were inspired by the stories we captured during the event. The strength and positivity that was generated during the two days of talks and workshops is much needed. There is a lot of work to be done but huge hope for the future.
The full-colour Infomural can be found just right of the front doors of the museum. Created live over the course of the one-day event, it captures the cumulative vision of thousands of participants. During the festival, attendees where asked “What will transport in London look like in 2040?”. Participants shared visions of a greener, more connected and sustainable world – with the occasional hover car thrown in for good measure. These ideas are elaborated upon in the text surrounding the infomural within the museum.
The festival was a wonderful opportunity for us to work with the public as a whole. We can’t be happier to be included in the London Transport Museum!
The Shell Accelerator was a one-day event during the festival that accelerated thinking and team-building through collaborative workshops interspersed with engaging talks and pitches from keynote speaker. We sent James and Jordana over to capture the content from the Shell Accelerator through graphic recording.
If you want to read more about the event or see some of the amazing exhibitions that featured click over to their website here:
http://www.shell.co.uk/energy-and-innovation/make-the-future/london.html
How do you suppose a four-year-old might envision transportation for London in 2040? If you suspected flying cars, bubble buses and bunny scooters you are remarkably right. We asked four-year-olds, 90-year-olds and everyone in between that very question at Transported By Design – a TFL festival that took over Regent Street this past Sunday.The festival was part of an ongoing initiative to educate and involve the public in the design of TFL services. It presented TFL designs from the past and present and imagined how these designs might be reinvented for the future. Partnering with ARUP, we brought public projections of the future to life with graphic recording.
We asked the public carefully crafted questions about how transport might look in 2040 and as the answers came in, we got to work! Scribes Jordana and James captured the individual ideas in two tessellated grids, while Eddie distilled the information into one incredible Infomural.
It was an amazing day – working collaboratively with thousands of people is a rare opportunity and we relished it!
Plus, we woke up this morning to this surprise! Take a look at Eddie on the BBC today:
If you want to read the full BBC write-up of TBD festival you can find it online at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-36698617
The reversal is indicative of the changing investment climate for Fintech, the fastest growing industry in the UK. Many start-ups are sceptical of Venture Capitalists and investors backed by large institutions. The nature of their business allows start-ups to get prototypes off the ground without huge investment backing. However, as the industry grows, working with a larger institution can offer its own rewards. Insight, managerial support and infrastructure are as useful to start-ups as money and VC’s are willing to offer expertise as well as capital.
As a highlight of London Tech Week, the talks made clear that banks and VCs are taking greater notice of Fintech. It’s a booming market with increased investment, at the forefront of innovation. As one of the UK’s strongest business prospects, we are sure to see Fintech start-ups grow quickly from their humble roots. We sent Jordana to scribe the output of the day through graphic recording.
If you want to learn more about London Tech Week and Innovate Finance’s talks for the week look no further: http://londontechnologyweek.co.uk/event/money-talks-vcs-take-stage/