In an article on Mediate.com “Graphic Facilitation Focuses a Group’s Thoughts” Geoff Ball defines Graphic Facilitation as "a type of “explicit group memory” – a way of capturing the thoughts of group members in real time and making those thoughts available to the whole group. Practitioners of graphic facilitation (called graphic facilitators or graphic recorders) use felt marking pens and large (4-feet-high and 10-to-15-feet-long) sheets of butcher paper, sometimes in combination with pre-made templates, for organizing group member’s thoughts.
Many people commonly interchange the terms Graphic Facilitation and Graphic Recording. We prefer to keep them separate since they involve some very different skills. Graphic Faciltiation is an active interaction with a group, where a group facilitator plans the work and facilitates the group. They draw out the ideas and concepts and uses Graphic Recording techniques while they facilitate a group.
Graphic Recording, however, is a passive recording of concepts using words and visual images as a group works separately. The Graphic Recorder basically acts as the group scribe. They receive the words and concepts that get translated into graphic representations. The map above was done by a Graphic Recorder in the back of the room at an IAF conference while a large group talked about what we did as facilitators. Here are some Graphic Facilitation Report Examples.
Training
Articles
The History and Evolution of the Graphic Facilitation/Recording Field
Shift-It Coach (Christina Merkley) Articles
The Benefits of Using Graphic Facilitation
Books
Graphic Facilitation: Transforming Group Process with the Power of Visual Learning, David Sibbet, The Grove Consultants International, ISBN: 1-879502-57-7, 2006, $60.00
Visual Thinking: Tools for Mapping Your Ideas, Nancy Margulies & Christine Valenza, Crown House Publishing ISBN-13: 978-190442467 2005 $25.15 (Amazon.com)
Beyond Words: A Guide to Drawing Out Ideas, Milly R. Sonneman, Ten Speed Press, ISBN-13: 978-0898159110, 1997, $13.57
Mapping Inner Space: Learning and Teaching Visual Mapping, Nancy Marqulies, Nusa Maal, Zephyr Press 2nd Edition, ISBN-13:978-1569761388, 2001, $28.35
A Picture's Worth 1,000 Words: A Workbook for Visual Communication, Jean Westcott & Jennifer Hammond Landau, Pfeiffer Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-0787903527, 1996, $33.30
Web Resources
International Forum for Visual Practitioners
The Center for Graphic Facilitation (Blog)
