The following is an excerpt from Draw Forth: How to Host Your Own Visual Conversations Without Having to Be a Professional Artist or a Full-On Facilitator, available at Amazon.com.
One of the most common questions I am asked [as a graphic facilitator] is: “How do you know what to do with the paper during a visual conversation? After all, you don’t know what is going to happen as the conversation unfolds, so how are you able to make things work perfectly on the page?”
This question always reminds me of a class I was in, where the instructor had us “play conductor” as we listened to a gorgeous and dynamic piece of music. Later, one of the instructors came up to me and said, “I was watching you during the ‘play conductor’ session: you were so in the flow of the piece, you must have heard that song before!” As it turns out, I had not. I did, however, share with him that I was raised to think like a musician. You see, my dad was a jazz musician who taught me how to see the patterns in music, and, because of this, see what was likely to come next.
So the best answer I can give for the question, “How do you know what to do?” is this: It is just like Jazz.
Jeannel’s Jazzy Strategy for Playing with the Blank Page
Everyone has different approaches for working a blank page during a visual conversation. As we learned in the last chapter, some of these approaches are shaped by a visual template or spatial strategy. For example, if you want to talk about the history of an organization, you can use a timeline template to shape the conversation. However, the real art of visual conversation comes into play when you start with the blank page. This is where you get to be a jazz musician. Learning and mastering these five tenets of jazz will help you also master how to approach the blank page.
Tenet 1: Know the Basics
Knowing how to play your instrument allows you to improvise well with others. You don’t need to be Miles Davis to be able to jam with others. You do, however, need to know how to play your instrument. In this case, “playing your instrument” means enjoying a fair level of competency in drawing out ideas in real time so you can keep up with the conversation.
One of my favorite memories growing up is of my dad accompanying silent movies on the organ. Interestingly, he was not always familiar with a movie’s plot (and this was in the days before one could simply look up information about a film online). Sometimes he only had a general idea at best. What he DID have, though, was the ability to play the pipe organ and an ever-expanding library of music in his head as a jazz musician. So as each film’s story unfolded as it played on the giant silver screen over his head, my dad could adjust his music to fit the mood and message of the movie. Of course, the more he did it, the better he got at it!
It is easier to improvise when you have a certain level of mastery over your skills. On the other hand, it is hard to improvise with others when you don’t know the musical rules of the road, so to speak. For example, if people are going to play jazz in the key of B-flat and you don’t know what the key of B-flat sounds like, or how to play within this key, it will be difficult for you to play well with others. Mastery kicks in when you don’t have to think about how to play in B-flat: you just do it. Likewise, mastery kicks in when you don’t have to think about what you draw: you just draw it and trust that it is the right thing to do in the moment.
Tenet 2: Know the Patterns
Music follows a certain structure, just as conversations do. Musicians know if a set lasts 90 minutes, they have to figure out how many songs during the set and work from there. . . improvising as needed.
Similarly, the length of a conversation can provide clues to its structure. If you know you are going to be in a conversation for a certain about of time, or that a section of a conversation is going to last for a certain amount of time, you can plan you blank sheet space accordingly. Would an 8.5 x 11″ sheet of paper be enough to draw out an hour-long conversation? What about a 4′ x 8′ sheet? Just as music has sections, conversations have sections and you can plan you use of blank space to accommodate these section needs.
Sections also have different levels of importance. The trick is knowing which sections are important to remember from the conversation. For example, a conversation may be scheduled to last all morning and the first half hour or so will be focused on introductions. Time-wise, this is over 16% of your meeting (30 minutes from a 3 hour meeting time). Do you allocate 16% of your white space to capturing what is shared during the introductions? It depends. If the purpose is to build trust and connection within your team, then these personal details and personal shares may be extremely valuable to remember. In this case, this section of the meeting has a heavy weight of importance and you would allocation space for it accordingly. Then again, the introductions may simply be a formality for everyone to know who is in the room and what they bring to the table, with the really important stuff coming during the meat of the conversation itself. In this case, the introduction time is of a lower level of importances as compared to the rest of the meeting and you may not need to dedicate much page space to it at all, if any.
In jazz, you can take liberties around the melody (or core content), and you can even put your own style on it, riff off into a blazing jazz solo, or even do a round of solos with your band. But the melody – the core content – holds the highest level of importance. Knowing the core content and purpose of the conversation is your guide.
Tenet 3: Know How to Listen to Others and Follow the Melody
A jazz version of a song can sound like it has a set melody when you start to listen to it; then, before you know it, it takes on a life of its own. Well, the same thing can be said for conversations. You may think you are going to spend a certain amount of time talking about topic A, but once you dig into the conversation you discover what we REALLY need to discuss is topic B, and this requires a different amount of time – a shorter or longer conversation session. Being able to listen to others and pick up on these changes in conversation as they occur allows you to adjust your plan for working the paper. You may decide to chuck your initial design strategy, morph it into something else, or even get another sheet of paper to work on, all while staying true to the original purpose (or melody) of the conversation.
Tenet 4: Improvise!
You have probably heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect”. Well, let’s take this saying to a higher level: “Practice makes pleasure”! This phrase can justas easily be applied to your conversations as it can be applied to playing jazz.
Let me explain: The more you do something (whether it is playing jazz or drawing out a conversation), the more familiar you become with how it works, and how you work with it. Practicing by yourself and with others allows you to hone your skills and really jam with the group. When you feel more on top of your game, you can realax and be free to enjoy the process more!
Tenet 5: Play the Wrong Note Twice
There is an old adage in the Jazz world: “If you play a note wrong once, it’s a mistake. Play the wrong note twice and it’s jazz.” In other words, own your own unique approach to music and run with it!
Again, this tenet of jazz can also be applied to visual conversation. In conversation it is about owning your abilities and playing your paper. If you make a mistake, keep going and make it work for the conversation. Use it as a moment to clarify what is being discussed and check for understanding. Or catch the mistake, correct it and keep on going with the conversation.
“Jazz stands for freedom. It’s supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don’t be a perfectionist–leave that to the classical musicians.” –Dave Brubeck
As always, I cannot wait to see what you draw forth!
