The quaint town of Rossland, B.C. where the Workshop was held.

It’s nestled in the mountains. I had a nice view from my hotel window.

On the last night i was there i walked around the quaint town snapping photos of things that caught my eye – this clothesline brought back memories of my youth.

Here i am standing in front of a poster i was creating of icons.

Nancy White – the fabulous facilitator for our 2 1/2 day workshop.  She generously shared tons of techniques, ideas, inspiration and supplies!  We all received a goodie bag when we arrived of felt pens, coloured chalks and pencil.  Nancy helped dispel the fears we may have had around graphic facilitating and stepping up to the wall to record a session.  Of course she taught us incrementally how to do this.  Nancy’s down to earth and funny way of sharing helped put me at ease!

Michelle Laurie – organized the entire event – she thought of everything right down to the refreshments – coffee, tea, juice, water, cookies, chocolates and more!  Michelle was super organized, kept everything on track and tried accommodating everyone’s needs.  Quite a feat indeed! She has a passion for collaboration and creating an understanding through the use of visuals.  Here Laurie is showcasing the Agenda – what a great way to illustrate the agenda.  It’s so much more fun than a boring written agenda.

Sylvia Currie was the Social Reporter – a title I had never heard about before the event.  Sylvia had the role of recording everything we did – visually – through photos and videos as well as blogging.  She tweeted, mentioned events on Facebook and used Flickr to document the entire workshop.  She did a wonderful job!  Thank you Sylvia!  If you want to see most of the images please check out Sylvia’s Flickr site. If you are interested in checking out all of the goings on of the conference on twitter – just search for #rosviz.

One of the first exercises we did – learning how to make large circles and straight lines using our bodies – that was fun!

As you can see the papers on the wall were rather large.  Here some participants are busy adding the final touches to their pictures with coloured chalk. The chalk helps add pizzazz and interest to the pages.

Two participants working on their Graphic Facilitators toolbox image.

Wow – what an incredible 2 1/2 days we had.  We learned tons – stretched ourselves too!  I was surprised at how intimidated and shy I was when it came to drawing in public. I am so used to drawing alone that this was a stretch for me.  Also I’m used to drawing on 8 1/2 x 11 pieces of paper so drawing BIG and DARK was a challenge.  Making my visuals and words easy to see from a distance is something i need to work on. 

Participants came from a variety of different backgrounds, some were from the local college – instructors, therapists, there were a few coaches, and some came from the corporate world.  One of the participants was a former art therapist transitioning into coaching. Many people already knew each other.

My experience with workshops is mostly creative artsy retreats so i naively brought some postcards, magnets and bookmarks of my art to trade and share.  That’s what you do when you attend art retreats or connect with other artists anyways!  So it was funny watching myself, waiting for an opportunity to trade – that opportunity never came because this wasn’t THAT kind of workshop! I had to laugh at myself!  I did manage to give a few postcards and magnets away and collected a couple of business cards. 

I think i need to get out more and mingle, I’m becoming very introverted.

Now I have to practise drawing LARGE and synthesizing the information that I hear quickly (quickly is the operative word here as you record conversations and dialogues as they happen).  The message that was driven home during this workshop was the power of visuals to tell a story, to engage and enrol people and help create an understanding of the issue being documented.  Great Stuff!

Well tomorrow i will post more photos of the workshop – there is just WAYYYY Too much to share in one day!

See you tomorrow!