Visual facilitation is a process that uses visual language and basic design principles to create images either physically or digitally in different formats to trace individual or group  thinking and discussion.  David Sibbet of The Grove first developed this approach, and Tony Buzan and, more recently, Dan Roam have given this whole brain approach greater visibility in the business world.  A visual facilitator maps relationships between ideas, feelings, and processes either as a facilitator or as partner in a facilitation process, enhancing collective intelligence and organizing complex processes.  Meeting productivity goes up as participation becomes more active and engagement more complete thanks to visual reinforcement of  what is being said.  The process is valid for classic meeting scenarios as well as World Café or Open Meeting approaches. 

I use visual facilitation  to make meetings more productive using a variety of techniques -- mindmapping, mind-scaping, knowledge walls, concept mapping -- in a variety of media - markers and pastel on paper, collage and drawing for co-creation, and digital recording on a graphic tablet,.  All can be captured digitally and enhanced using Adobe Photoshop or other software for use in presentations, reports, websites, and other communication media. 

You can also learn to do this yourself in one of my workshops on visual meetings.  And if you want to start right away, check out Tony  Buzan's mindmapping books, David Sibbet's "Visual Meetings",  and Dan Roam's "Back of the Napkin".

More to come in a few days!