The Graphic Facilitator's Guide: How to use your listening, thinking and drawing skills to make meaning [Paperback]

Brandy Agerbeck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 29, 2012

Graphic facilitation is serving a group by writing and drawing their conversation live and large to help them do their work. It is a powerful tool to help people feel heard, to develop a shared understanding as a group, and to be able to see and touch their work in a way they couldn’t access before. Through the 25 guiding principles in this book, you will develop your ability to listen deeply, think critically and draw swiftly to make great work happen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Congratulations to Brandy Agerbeck, who captured all the key information, all the more subtle tacit knowledge and tons of helpful hints all in one clearly-presented book. I predict that Agerbeck's book will eventually be referred to as the Graphic Facilitation Bible." - Nancy Margulies, author of Visual Thinking and Mapping Inner Space

"The Graphic Facilitator's Guide is a wonderful reference book for anyone who wants to take capture notes visually. From managers at a whiteboard in a meeting to professional graphic facilitators. This book is a must-have." - Nancy Duarte, author of slide:ology and Resonate

""Brandy, in her inimitably accessible, fun style, has created a great sourcebook for graphic recorders, illustrating all the little tips and tricks that make documenting meetings successful." - David Sibbet, author of Visual Meetings and Visual Teams

About the Author

Since 1996, Brandy Agerbeck has worked as a graphic facilitator, creating conceptual maps of conversations. These large-scale images—drawn live—help clients navigate the complex territory of their meetings, workshops and conferences. In the field, Brandy is known as a spatial superstar and a synthesis zealot. A lifelong drawer, she is most enthusiastic about drawing as a thinking tool. You can learn more about Brandy and find many more resources on graphic facilitation at GraphicFacilitator.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Loosetooth.com Library (February 29, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615591876
• ISBN-13: 978-0615591872
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > Business & Investing > Skills > Running Meetings & Presentations
  • #74 in Books > Education & Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Reference

More About the Author

Excerpted from Permission: A Guide to Generating More Ideas, Being More of Yourself and Having More Fun at Work, co-created by Pamela Meyer and Brandy Agerbeck

Brandy Agerbeck is a lucky ladybug. She does her two favorite things for a living: thinking and drawing. As a graphic facilitator, she creates live, large-scale conceptual maps of conversations. These images help her clients navigate the complex territory of their meetings, workshops, and conferences. Brandy loves getting clients' ideas out of their heads and onto paper - so they can see what the heck they are saying. She has been called a spatial superstar with her strength in seeing connections between thoughts and organizing them into the bigger picture. Since 1996, she has facilitated groups from two to one thousand across industries. She's been drawing since age two and is thankful her childhood love has become her livelihood, enabling people to do better work.

Brandy teaches people the power of graphic facilitation and how to use drawing as a thinking tool. Learn more at her site: www.Loosetooth.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Guide I've Been Waiting For! It's all there! April 19, 2012

By Tania L. Von Allmen

Format:Paperback

She's not called Brandy "The Draw" Agerbeck for nothin'. Brandy Agerbeck has clocked her 10,000+ hours of mastery in the world of Graphic Facilitation and put together the definitive guide for anyone wanting to be a graphic facilitator or meeting maestro. Her writing style is as straight-shooting and fun as her meeting maps. She "chunks it down" on multiple levels that both novice and experienced practitioner can understand and appreciate. This is a MUST HAVE for anyone wanting to learn about the profession or wanting to take their practice up a notch. I gulped it down in two sittings and now I can't wait to put it into practice. Everything I ever wished I could have asked her in person is in there. Wish I had this 4 years ago!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic resource for the beginner and the experienced practitioner alike August 24, 2012

By Rachel S. Smith

Format:Paperback

As other reviewers have attested, The Graphic Facilitator's Guide is packed cover to cover with useful information and tips that you can take right into your next gig if you're already practicing. For those who are just starting out, or even just thinking about changing careers, the book will give you an excellent idea of what it's like to work in this field. Read it through and follow Brandy's tips, and you'll be way ahead of the game from the moment you step foot into the first meeting you record.

The way the content is organized -- with sections on Listening, Thinking, Drawing, Practicing, and being In the Room -- helps to break down the complex set of actions and interactions that take place while doing this kind of work. I found the chapter on thinking to be particularly useful, especially the very practical ideas about how to be more reflective about the work I do. The Guide includes a framework reflecting on the kind of thinking that happens during graphic recording and facilitation. This kind of reflection is critical to improving one's practice, but it often gets overlooked in the moment, with everything else that goes on during a job.

The Graphic Facilitator's Guide is a solid, accessible introduction to the developing field of visual practice. I recommend it highly to any practitioner, most espeically to those who are thinking of entering this vibrant and growing profession.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a thorough and transformational resource August 20, 2012

By A. Johannes

Format:Paperback

As a facilitator and leader, I've had the pleasure of working with graphic facilitators and am always excited by what they bring to the room - what they draw is what the participants agree on, so the "mind of the room" becomes clear to everyone, which allows a more conscious process and also leaves behind documentation of what was discussed. The group is more ready to move forward and more clear about what they are moving on. After toying with various forms of graphic facilitation and co-facilitation myself, I decided to take my own work as a graphic facilitator more seriously over the last year and learn more. This has gone well but I was looking for some kind of rocket-booster-powered-rapid-release-formula that would bring what I've learned over the last 20 years together into something more workable and this book really does that job of synthesis. Other reviewers have talked about how nicely it breaks down the craft of making big public drawings into "chunks" and also tackles the kinds of interactions that occur, from a really masterful viewpoint - Brandy is sharing her hard won experience as one of the most successful people in her field.

However, what she also does I think is bring a rather brilliant and questioning mind to the deeper concepts of what "graphic facilitation" is and could be, as a role. The idea that it's not just about "big pretty charts" gets thoroughly explored as a matter of choices for the graphic facilitator - who can act as a recorder, a thinking conduit or a kind of intelligent resonator for the facilitator of the group, without becoming "the facilitator." It's quite fascinating as a kind of quiet and useful leadership role, and I feel lucky to have a very different sense of what the possibilities are in the field, as I stand up at the paper - thus, thorough AND transformational!

We are teaching a co-facilitation course next month and I look forward to introducing those who are interested in the graphic facilitation aspect to Brandy's work and to this singular book. I would love to teach a longer term class using this as the text.

aaron