Do you think visuals help you and others learn more easily and engage and retain more? If you said “Yes,” I agree with you! Learn how to transform the teaching of your Brilliance with powerful visuals
In this nugget, I talk about a book called “Rapid Viz” by Kurt Hanks and Larry Belliston, and I share several powerful examples of visualization in action. And, no, superior artistic abilities are not necessary.
Transcript
In this nugget, I want to talk to you about transforming the teaching of your brilliance with powerful visuals. I’m going to show you a few examples.
But first, I want to tell you about a book I read called Rapid Viz – a new method for rapid visualization of ideas. Kurt Hanks and Larry Belliston wrote it. I feel very affirmed by reading this book.
These two authors say that visuals form a unique mental image (see chapter 6). These visuals also provide a general overview of your information and simplify concepts. Exactly. It was so interesting that they say they create mental order. I couldn’t agree more. Let me show you three examples right now, real quick.
Example 1: It Becomes So Much Easier To Teach Your Expectations
How would you like to get this slide as a way of teaching? What are your expectations in your business?
Alternatively, how about this? Better Right? You see, at a glance, there are seven expectations. You can change the slide to say seven vital expectations and get their attention. Plus, you see them at a glance.
Each of these items has a badge, a symbol. You could use that badge on subsequent slides to indicate now we’re talking about punctuality, and you put this symbol here. Now we’re talking about work ethic. We’re putting the corresponding symbol on that slide. Now you’re keying that additional information to that original overview slide. That’s the first example.
Example 2: A Health Program Becomes More Clear And Gets A New Logo
I’m working with some amazing people to create a program called BEAT-IR2 to beat insulin resistance and chronic inflammation. The team consists of Dr. Molavi, Robert Donnell, Dr. Joely Gardner, and myself. This endeavor started off with 70 source scientific articles by the medical doctor in our team, Dr. Molavi. How would you like to read those 70 articles?
This is the overview graphic we designed. Looking at all this, I realized that six components work together in synergy, and we have four critical pillars to help a person implement this program. We arrived at the idea that this is a six-by-four program. That recognition even led to us changing our logo to brand this program.
That’s the power of visuals. Not only do you make it clear for others, but you make it clearer for yourself as you put things together.
Example 3: A Complex Software Flowchart Becomes Much More Tangible
I stared at this flow chart explaining a sophisticated piece of software for quite a while. I thought to myself, “What does this mean?”
The inventor and I worked on it. Then we figured out that one could simplify it into this new graphic.
- You have a marketplace where you can get plugins.
- You have an editor, which is the primary tool for editing, but you have these other characters. We assigned characters to the program’s functions, making it much easier to comprehend what was going on.
- Then you have even the librarian retrieving information from a database so you can work on it. The librarian also puts it back when you are done.
Example 4: A Process Becomes Visible And Clearer Than Ever
Another situation is one where there isn’t anything. The information is all in a person’s head.
- There are no articles.
- There are no even rather rudimentary PowerPoint slides.
- There is no flow chart, neither simple nor complicated.
The brilliance is trapped in the brain of the expert.
I will show you one more example, one that covers that scenario.
When we did the extraction, we extracted this process from the person’s brain. It looked a bit raw, but it made the invisible visible.
Afterward, we could whittle the information down and make it into the process it was meant to be. Drum rolls, please. This is what happens. Wow. Now you have a five-stage process with two decision gates.
As you can see, you have a yellow light, and then you get a green light. Here’s where you start. Here’s where your milestone is. It goes from one to the other. Each of these blocks here has a training module behind it.
At a glance, you see the entire process this (entertainment) company uses to deliver its amazing service. That is the power of visuals.
I hope you see from this that visuals are very important. They form a unique mental image. They provide a general overview so people know what’s coming. That is often missing when an expert is left to their own because it’s challenging for them to provide enough context. The context is so second nature to the expert that they don’t even think about giving that general introduction and overview.
Then visuals simplify, and they create mental order.
All of this leads to a much improved absorption of the information in the persons you teach. It leads to much better retention and engagement and, therefore, a much more successful you.
What does this inspire you to do?
I’m Curious
What do you take away from this nugget? What is one action, however small, you will take based on it?
Dr. Stephie
P.S.: I appreciate you commenting and sharing this with others. Thank you!
