An Idea Mapping Success Blogs Weblog
June 2009 Blog Stats
1 Jul 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Idea Mapping Blog StatsI’m fascinated by watching more and more visitors come to this blog. Last month the Idea Mapping Blog had the highest number of visitors and page views since its launch in 2006. There were 11,574 page views and 4,978 unique visitors. Wow!
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CPPIB (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) - Part 3
30 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Idea Mapping Workshops, Portrait DrawingsOn June 5, 2009 I began to share about a recent workshop I taught at CPPIB in Toronto. Part two was posted on June 26, 2009, and today is part three.
As part of the Idea Mapping Workshop, participants are taught skills they don’t think they perform so that they have to come face-to-face with their disbelief. I use a learning model to then help them break tasks into manageable pieces. To learn more about the purpose of this activity see the first portrait drawing that went up on this blog in June 2007.
These drawings are among some of those who were able to finish within the 40-minute timeframe. Some of the instruction comes from the work of Betty Edwards. Daniel Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind”, took the week-long Betty Edwards class (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain) and he talks about that experience in his book.
To see more portraits from workshop held for other organizations (like Boeing, Mayo Clinic, Larimer County Government, OTPP, etc.) search for the word “Portrait” within this blog.
CPPIB (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) - Part 2
26 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Idea Mapping WorkshopsOn June 5, 2009 I began to share about a recent workshop I taught at CPPIB in Toronto. Jason Koulouras (Director of Data Services) saw a posting I did last year about a similar organization in Toronto, OTPP (Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan), and had just recently been introduced to the Mindjet software. Long story short, Jason brought the Idea Mapping training to CPPIB.
When participants are learning to create idea maps, one of the ways to expedite this process is to have them share the maps they’ve created. This way they see a variety of applications and how they might capture similar information in completely different ways — and both can be correct.
There are tons of other workshop photos from other Idea Mapping Courses at companies like Boeing, BP, Mayo Clinic, Ford, University of Warsaw in Poland, etc. Or my Flickr Photostream has quite a few as well. More idea mapping examples can be found in Flickr as well.
Idea Mapping Book - In Top 10 For Project Managers
21 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Project Management, Webinars, idea mapping bookHere’s an ironic story…
Last month I was one of the speakers for the sold-out New Jersey PMI (Project Management Institute) Annual Conference. This is the second largest chapter in the USA. The morning started with a great spread of food and attendees strolled the bookstore and the vendor booths. I noticed that the bookstore was selling my Idea Mapping book. They sold out quickly. After my session in the afternoon, I did a book signing and also sold out of the case of books I had Wiley ship to NJ in advance.
Last week my editor at Wiley sent me a screen shot off of their computer system showing us that Amazon has re-ordered more Idea Mapping books (because they sold all their stock). On the screen shot that only looked at the 12 or so most recent orders, I noticed that a company called Project Management Bookstore had placed a rather large order. They are owned by RMC Project Management, one of the largest project management training and development firms in the world. Currently the bookstore carries about 130 titles from many of the industry’s best-selling authors, and offer books on a range of topics including Fundamentals, Virtual Teams, Program Management, Communication, Time Management, Leadership, Requirements, and PMOs — along with some soft-skill areas.
When I googled them I discovered that they were looking for authors (whose books they sell) to do webinars for their clients. Since nearly all of my clients use idea mapping for some part of the PM process, and I’ve done webinars for PM’s before (450+ Boeing PMPs for example), I popped them an email. I got a very quick reply from a gal that said she was laughing when she read the note. She was from the same bookstore that was working the PMI New Jersey event last month! Now to my point. She said that since the inception of the bookstore mid 2007, the Idea Mapping book has been in the top 10 best sellers. Pretty cool! So if you are a project manager (or even if you’re not) and looking for some additional help, maybe the Idea Mapping book is just the thing for you.
Social Networking - Part 2
20 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Social NetworkingSeveral days ago I started posting about my journey into social networking. Once I got a basic understanding of Digg, Squidoo, Flickr, LinkedIn, I added other bookmarking and networking sites such as Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Reddit, Propeller, Google, Slashdot, and ThisNext.
I went in kicking and screaming when I was told by my web designer that I needed to have a presence in Facebook and on Twitter. I’m now in over my head. All I know how to do in Facebook is to upload my blog postings there. Besides that I’m pretty clueless. What are snowball fights and all the other silly things that people do there? I think I need to take a Facebook class. For now I’m only using Facebook for business purposes. If I want to connect with people, I prefer to call or we can go to lunch.
Finally we come to Twitter. It’s a hot place to be, but I just don’t get it. One of my certified instructors, Liz Kimura, is using it all the time and generating business from it. This is where I definately need some education. How could any one person keep up with all the Tweets? Am I the only one that is struggling? …and yes, I will tweet about this posting (smile).
Glenn Stennes’s Portrait Drawing
18 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Certified Idea Mapping Instructors, Glenn Stennes, Idea Mapping Workshops, Portrait Drawings
Glenn Stennes is a CIMI (Certified Idea Mapping Instructor) who owns a consulting company in Macedonia. He went through the Idea Mapping Certification Course in April of 2008. As part of that workshop participants are given a brief set of instructions and a technique to recreate a portrait of a human face. To learn more about the purpose of this activity see the first portrait drawing that went up on this blog in June 2007.
A few weeks ago, Glenn ran across his finished portrait and sent me a jpg of it. On the left side is the original portrait he chose to draw and on the right is his finished version. Pretty impressive, eh?
Social Networking - Part One
16 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Social NetworkingI was first introduced to the world of social networking three years ago by the owner of Urban Verve — the company that designed my website and this blog. I started out slowly by learning to digg, got linked in, built a squidoo lens, and put idea maps and workshop photos into flickr. My digg submissions bookmark various pages of interest. Like many of you, I joined LinkedIn and now have nearly 200 connections. I followed that by building my first Idea Mapping Squidoo Lens (I now have a second lens), and finished phase 1 by creating two photo streams in Flicker. The Idea Mapping Photo Stream currently has 99 Idea Mapping Examples (and growing), and the Idea Mapping Workshop Photo Stream has 46 photos from companies like Boeing, OTPP, CPPIB, Larimer County Government, Ford, (and growing) and many others.
For those of you who are struggling with the learning curve of social networking, find a friend who is saavy in this area and learn from them. I’m still stuggling in many of these areas and will share more about that in another posting.
Idea Mapping in Brazil - Summer 2009
14 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Idea Mapping Example, Idea Mapping Workshops, Mind Mapping Examples
Liz Kimura is the only Certified Idea Mapping Instructor in South America. She has three upcoming events that you won’t want to miss if you live in and around Brazil. Liz is one of the best Mind Mapping and Idea Mapping Instructors in the world, and her participants are more successful as a result of attending her workshops. I’ve spent a week with Liz on two separate occasions several years apart. I highly recommend her as a facilitator. Following is both an Idea Map of these events and a description. Details are also listed on her blog.
On June 27, 2009 from 9am - 6pm Liz will teach a one-day Idea Mapping Course in Sao Paulo for R$ 800,00 per person. Materials, lunch, coffee break, and a certificate of attendance is included in the fee.
On July 2, 2009 from 2:30pm - 4pm Liz will give a FREE lecture in Sao Paulo on the Benefits of Idea Mapping.
On July 4-5, 2009 from 9am - 6pm Liz will teach the two-day Idea Mapping Course in Sao Paulo for R$ 1.430,00 per person. Materials, lunch, coffee break, parking, and a certificate of attendance is included in the fee.
If you would like to have Liz teach at your organization or register for any of these events, contact Liz via email at Liz(at)IdeaMappingSuccess(dot)com or call her offices at (+55-11) 3271-9336. Visit her website or follow her on Twitter.
Planning for Medical Residency - Idea Map #156
11 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Idea Mapping Example
Meet Ashay Gharat. He is a process expert and helps organizations become more successful by increasing revenue and reducing cost through effective program and service delivery management. He focuses on leading organizational change by defining the road map for change and actually following through the execution. Currently he services pharma clients including Novartis Pharmaceuticals. He is part of the management team at Elangeni Consulting.
- First it solves a real concern.
- It breaks the mind mapping laws and truly becomes an idea map that fits his unique purpose. (I’ve discussed this issue on my newest Squidoo Lens.)
- The time line in the map is creative and clever.
- I like the stethoscope around Dr. Rashmi’s neck in the central image.
- I love the fact that the celebration is included!
Idea Mapping Website Becomes an Authority Site in Google
8 Jun 2009 Author: jamie nast In: Web StatisticsI find the whole online world a fascinating space. My Idea Mapping Website went up 3 years ago this month. At that time I knew NOTHING about creating a website and hadn’t heard of blogging. With the guidance of Cornel Ivanescu (Founder of Urban Verve — ranked one of the top 10 web design companies in the Midwest), the amount of traffic coming to my site has soared in the last 3 years. I’ll give you some examples:
In June of 2006 (first month of existence) we had 834 unique visitors view 10,362 pages within the site. We had 49,553 hits and 145 referrers that month. In June of 2007 I had 4,256 unique visitors view 11,514 pages within the site. We had 223,621 hits and 751 referrers.
In June of 2008 we had 16,627 unique visitors view 66,434 pages within the site. We had 365,432 hits and 1,321 referrers. We closed out 2008 with over 1/4 of a million visitors. Last month we had 44,748 unique visitors view 159,061 pages within the site. We had 599,087 hits and 2,902 referrers. We are on track for over 1/2 of a million visitors this year!
Last month Google made the Idea Mapping Website an authority site. This is an honor. I’ve learned so much in the last 3 years and I want to personally thank Cornel for being such an important business partner in this area. In today’s world, if you don’t have a presence on the internet, you won’t be found. I also want to thank you — the readers of this blog, the website visitors, and the many, many workshop participants over the years. Your willingness to share idea maps, mind maps, portraits, and suggestions is what makes this community valuable to all.
If you want some expert assistance on developing a blog or a website, I encourage you to contact Cornel by visiting his site - UrbanVerve
Idea Mapping Blog
The purpose of this blog is to share idea mapping examples and related learning from my Idea Mapping, Memory, Speed Reading, and Certification Workshops. This blog is dedicated to my Certified Idea Mapping Instructors, my clients, Mind Mapping and Idea Mapping practitioners around the globe.