At Sketch Group, we believe that sketching can be transformational. Our sketches solve problems, bring stories to life, and simplify the complex. Here's a snapshot of what we've been up to lately. No Images? Click here Drawing out the good in the worldTable of Contents
Andrew Fyfe holds his signed copy of The World of Visual Facilitation Hi there! We’re so happy to see some sunshine in Melbourne, even if it is still a little chilly. Is it possible that winter is finally packing up and moving? It's been a while since our last newsletter, so we’ve crammed two months worth of updates into this issue. Bear with us—we promise it's all good stuff. This issue we’re unashamedly bragging about the good we’re doing in the world: sharing knowledge, supporting worthy causes, and amplifying important stories. Enjoy! Sharing a world of knowledgeA new book for those interested in visual facilitation hit the shelves last month: The World of Visual Facilitation: Unlock your power to connect people & ideas. It's actually an enormous 655-page monster of a thing, completely packed full of wisdom from over 50 authors. I was honoured to be invited to contribute three chapters. City of Moreland: Moreland Integrated Transport Stategy (MITS) The book was launched on centre stage at the annual International Forum of Visual Practitioners conference, held late July in New Jersey, USA, with over 20 of the co-authors present. The World of Visual Facilitation: 655 pages of expert advice—plus it doubles as a door stop! In Australia, the book is available via Graphic Gear, and retails for $130 (including free shipping). Obviously I'm biased, but I genuinely believe this is a worthy contribution to the field. With contributions from pioneers such as Brandy Agerbeck, Mike Rohde, Jessamy Gee, and others, as well as a few fascinating international case studies of collaboration in Asian countries, the book really does contain something for everyone. And if you ask nicely, I may even sign your copy before we put it in the post! IFVP Conference 2019 reportCoinciding with the book launch, I made my annual pilgrimage last month to the International Forum of Visual Practitioners conference, which was held this year in Montclair, New Jersey. As per usual, the week was filled with copious amounts of inspiration, education, and connection. An extraordinary graphic record of Rob Evans' keynote presentation, as captured by the team at OGSystems and by Brandy Agerbeck It was terrific to see spend time with friends old and new, and take time out to work on some of the skills that are so important to the work we do at Sketch Group—listening, facilitating, drawing, storytelling, leadnig, collaboration, and more. And of course to sneak in a cheeky Broadway show or two while we were there! Matt rides in a New York City cab with Brandy Agerbeck and Jill Greenbaum.
Amplifying important storiesWe've had the good fortune to partner with several non-profit organisations this year to help them get important messages out there. For over 28 years, Lighthouse Foundation has been providing homeless young people who have experienced long-term neglect and abuse with a home, a sense of family, and around-the-clock therapeutic care that is individually tailored, trauma-informed, and proven to work. We were delighted to package up their amazing story into this short video. An Australia free of violence against women and their children is an Australia where women are not only safe, but respected, valued and treated as equals in private and public life. That's the world that the team at Our Watch are building, and the four-part video series that we created for them raises the awareness of non-physical violence and the various ways that it is so often perpetrated. The videos are not "feel good" videos—they are deliberately raw, uncomfortable, and we're very proud of how they turned out. And because each story is different, we used a different illustrator (each with their own style) to create the videos. You can view all four videos on the Our Watch website.
VizConf 2019: learn from the bestThere are still early bird tickets available for a few more days to VizConf 2019, the annual conference for Australia's visual thinkers and doers. And if your new financial year came with renewed budget for professional development and learning, why not consider signing up for one of the six pre-conference workshops? I'm even teaching a couple myself! Here's a rundown of what's available:
The inaugural VizConf conference last year really was a blast, and had something for everyone. We'd love to see you there this year! All you need to know is on the VizConf website.
Giving back: how you help us change the worldDid you know that for every video, poster, or live sketch that we sell, we support a charitable project? We do this through our membership with B1G1, a marketplace connecting not-for-profits with companies wanting to embed a culture giving into their business. As a sample of some of the projects we give to:
There are a bunch of other ways that we contribute every month—you can read all about them on our Giving Back page. To date, thanks to our customers, we've made 164,962 life-changing impacts. That's pretty astonishing to read, and certainly makes us feel good. I hope it makes you feel good too!
How can we help you to draw out the good?We'd love to help you find clarity in your world—we find visuals are super effective at achieving that. Get in touch if you think we might be able to help you capture an event, a video project, or you'd just like to sketch out some ideas that you've got kicking around. Cheers
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