Another extremely humorous flipchart presentation from Bec Hill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On May 18, 2019 I blogged about An extremely entertaining flipchart presentation by comedian Bec Hill. There is another very humorous YouTube video from a year ago of a four-minute presentation titled This page is the first and also the last… The popup dragon at three minutes is very impressive! And there is another video of a Die Hard Pop-Up Book (by Bec Hill and Jonnie Common).

 

The flipchart image was adapted from one at OpenClipArt.

  

Whiteboards or flipcharts are more powerful than PowerPoint for a boardroom presentation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At her Maniactive blog on July 18, 2023 Laura Bergells has a post titled Ditch Your Slides! Draw on the Power of Whiteboard Talks. She describes the impact of a whiteboard talk (rather than the PowerPoint you might use in a larger room) these four ways:

 

Showcase your personality

Amplify engagement

Visual storytelling

Flexibility and adaptability

 

With a small audience you can do a more spontaneous and interactive presentation by drawing on a whiteboard or blackboard. But a flipchart is arguably better than either, since you can answer questions by going back to a previously drawn page.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no magic rewind button on a blackboard or whiteboard. One you erase, it is only a memory.  

 

Back on October 21, 2019 I blogged about the Impact of audience size on presentation style. And way back on January 16, 2008 at The Extreme Presentation Method Andrew Abela blogged about Ballroom vs. Conference Room Style Presentations. A large (ballroom) versus small (conference room or boardroom) is a useful distinction for venues.

 

On July 15, 2015 I blogged about Is a small audience one where the speaker doesn’t need a microphone? In that post I mentioned that:

 

“There are two types of people – those who divide things into two categories, and those who don’t.”

 

I belong to the second type, and mentioned different audience sizes classified by powers of 2 from zero (two people conversing, perhaps in a phone booth) to twenty (a visit from the Pope with an audience of 1,048,576).  

 

My two images were modified from those of a boardroom and a historical blackboard at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Planning a speech on a flipchart (or whiteboard) using sticky notes or note cards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My previous post on February 22, 2023 is titled Use a flipchart, a whiteboard, or a napkin to capture your ideas. What do you do next to shape your ideas into a coherent speech or document? Back on March 17, 2011 I blogged about how to Use a storyboard to organize your presentation. A storyboard is a shorthand visual script. If you have a flipchart or a whiteboard, then you can write each idea down on either a 3” x 3” sticky note or a 3” x 5” sticky note card (as shown above). Then you can easily move those notes around until they tell a clear story. There is an old but excellent article by Marie Wallace at LLRX back on November 1, 1997 titled Guide on the Side – The power of Post-Its: Picture your speech.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you can’t keep a flipchart or whiteboard free, then you instead can use the smaller 1-1/2” x 2” sticky notes inside of a file folder, as shown above (and in my 2011 post). Bert Decker and company have a tool and system based on this called the GRID (a trademark). It is discussed at length in his book You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard. They have a four-page .pdf download about it that mentions the acronym SHARP which stands for Stories, Humor, Analogies, References (and quotes), and Pictures (and visuals). They have a blog post on June 20, 2018 titled SHARPen Your Edge, and another single-page .pdf download titled Decker SHARPS - Your cheat sheet & guide.

 

Use a flipchart, a whiteboard, or a napkin to capture your ideas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I usually think of a flipchart as a tool for presenting a speech for a small group. But it also can help you think up new ideas, when you begin writing a speech.

 

I saw an article by Jeffrey Gitomer titled Sales Truths or Sales Consequences. They’re up to you! #656 which contained to following wisdom:

 

“FLIP CHART GOLD

 

I always use a flip chart when I have a new idea or start a new project.

 

The flip chart helps you define and outline ideas and concepts in ways you hadn’t thought of before. As you write each point, you’re spurred on to the next point – and you think ‘Oh, yeah’ while you write furiously. The flip chart is the perfect medium to make a concept transferable to the prospect.

 

NOTE: Flip charts are cheap. They cost between $50 and $200. Are you waiting for the boss to buy you one? Major clue: You have your own money. Start to invest it in the most important person in the world: you.

 

What’s one idea worth? What’s an idea that you capture worth? How many ideas have you lost because you didn’t write them down? The flip chart captures. The flip chart communicates, expands and solidifies plans. The flip chart preserves so you can see what you’ve done and revise your plans.

 

The flip chart is not an option."

 

That advice had appeared in the Grand Rapids Business Journal on November 15, 2004 in an article titled These Nuggets of Wisdom Smooth the Sales Process. You also might use a whiteboard, and then capture an image with the camera on your cell phone.

 

There is another article  titled Waiter, can I have a napkin please? There Jeffrey talks about reading Dan Roam’s 2013 book, The Back of the Napkin. That book is subtitled Solving problems and selling ideas with pictures. Jeffrey expanded it to be Capturing thoughts, creating ideas, clarifying ideas, solving problems, and selling ideas with pictures and words. Another June 2, 2008 article by Mr. Gitomer titled Napkin thinking. Paper power. says that he wrote the initial concept for his 2004 The Little Red Book of Selling down on a napkin, and then clarified it on a flipchart. See more about the back story here at Google Books.

 

I blogged about Mr. Gitomer back on May 14, 2012 in a post titled Who invented the flip chart? and also on October 21, 2013 in another post titled A thumb up for Jeffrey Gitomer.

 

The flipchart stand was adapted from Openclipart.

 

Is that a flipchart or a whiteboard?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decades ago it was easy to distinguish a flipchart from a whiteboard. A flipchart was a pad made from flexible sheets of paper that were written on using permanent markers. Conversely, a whiteboard was a rigid, shiny surface that was written on using dry-erase markers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today there is an overlap where there are special erasable flipchart sheets from suppliers in several countries. From Pacon in the U. S. there are 25” by 30” GOwrite dry erase easel pads. And from Wipebook Corporation in Ottawa, Canada there are 24” by 30” Wipebook flipcharts. Also, from Magic Whiteboard Limited in Worcester, England there are 60 cm by 80 cm (23.6” by 31.5”) Magic Whiteboard sheets. From the Netherlands there are MOYU Flipstone with 65 by 100 cm (25.6” by 39.4”) sheets and Bambook Flip-ever with 59.4 cm by 84 cm (25.4” by 33.1”) sheets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you do not have the lead time to order these special sheets, then you can make your own dry-erase sheets by putting strips of clear packaging tape over standard flipchart paper.

 

How long have erasable flipcharts been around? I found them described in a Training 101 article at the October 1993 issue of Training & Development magazine. A section by Shawn L. Doyle on page 18 titled Ten Tips for Fabulous Flips said under #2:

 

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could reuse the same charts over again? You can. Here are several options: 

If you have a limited number of charts, frame them in clear plastic frames and use a grease pencil to check off major points. After the session, you can wipe off the pencil marks with a soft cloth.

 

Cut long strips of acetate (transparency material) and glue or tape them to the flipchart pages in the areas you want to mark on. Again, use a grease pencil so that you can wipe off your in-class work. The acetate strips are not visible from a distance.

 

Take your flipchart pages to a laminating company and have them laminated. This creates a slick, erasable surface.”

 

Are you missing an unexpected ingredient (a visual aid) that could significantly improve your presentation?

There always is more than one way to present information - many types of visual aids. On December 8, 2019 I blogged about how Toastmasters press releases confuse a fear of public speaking with a social phobia. In that post I quoted the detailed diagnostic criteria for social phobia from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. That quote is way too detailed for an oral presentation. I could have created a PowerPoint slide with a list of three bullet points, as shown above. Instead, in the blog post I began by showing a Venn diagram, as also is shown above.  

A flip chart is another unexpected ingredient. On February 28, 2015 I blogged about Don’t make things any more complicated than necessary, and discussed how in his Start with why – how great leaders inspire action TEDx talk Simon Sinek drew concentric circles, as is shown above. For a larger audience you could instead build a PowerPoint slide (or even better a set of three PowerPoint slides), as also is shown above.

Another unexpected ingredient is a simple prop. On March 8, 2009 I blogged about “Show and Tell” with a simple model of a product feature. As shown above, I used an oatmeal container to represent the water outlet from a fire sprinkler head - and show two possible types of seals.

This post was inspired by thinking about an appetizer. Hummus usually is made from garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) flavored with tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, and salt. Years ago I saw a hummus recipe from Sunset magazine which got the sesame flavor from a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil - instead of a quarter or half cup of tahini.  

Making a flipchart easel or banner stand for your Toastmasters club

When you look at web sites like Amazon or Wayfair, you will see that you can buy a bewildering variety of flip chart easels for prices ranging from about $60. Fancier ones also have whiteboards (as shown above) and may even be magnetic.

But if your club has more time than money (and some crafty members), you might prefer to make rather than buy. At YouTube I found a four-minute video by Andy at westvalley411 on How to make an easel for a flip chart (and why) for $20.00 in 30 minutes. He mentioned it might be useful to have the legs fold. The Brushy Fork Institute at Berea College has instructions for Building a folding flip chart easel. If you prefer plastic, PVC pipe also can be used. At The Owl Teacher there is an article on using 3/4” PVC pipe in a DIY easel for your classroom.

Toastmasters International sells a $110 black portable stand (Item 324) for holding a 35” wide by 47” high club banner. Our club instead uses a $25 banner stand bought from Amazon. At the Instructables Living web site there is an article on using 1 /2” PVC pipe to build A simple banner stand. That design uses a five-way cross fitting that you can buy from Formufit to make an x-shaped base. District 53 Toastmasters has another base design using only tees and elbows. To find their .pdf file just search on Google for the phrase “Toastmasters_Banner_Stand_Instructions”.     

Images of a flipchart easel and a crosscut saw came from Wikimedia Commons.

  

An extremely entertaining flipchart presentation

On February 21, 2019 I blogged about how Flipcharts can be funny. I just found another brief YouTube video by comedian Bec Hill titled What this girl does with a flipchart will SHOCK YOU!

The music is a song whose lyrics she demolishes in another YouTube video titled Bec Hill translates “Non Je Regrtette Rien” (Edith Piaf).

Bikablo – using visual dictionaries to make serious cartoons for getting your ideas across

Over a decade ago a German consulting group in Cologne produced a visual dictionary book for training people in how to do graphic facilitation. In my last blog post titled Getting your big ideas across by using simple cartoons – learning from graphic or visual facilitators I noted that an introductory web page from Brandy Agerbeck defined:

“Graphic facilitation is the practice of using words and images to create a conceptual map of a conversation. A graphic facilitator is the visual, usually silent partner to the traditional, verbal facilitator, drawing a large scale image at the front of the room in real-time.”

As is shown above, that visual dictionary was a spiral-bound block of picture cards (a bild karten block). A typical German description would be to string together those three words into a long compound one. Instead they mercifully just took the first few letters from each, and trademarked the word bikablo.

A three-minute YouTube video titled Frank Wesseler’s quick demo of the bikablo method shows how bikablo works.

It contains an example of how to represent an idea, solution or inspiration by drawing a light bulb - which you can easily remember via the letters U, Z, M, and O, as shown above. That’s excellent for making flip charts of putting into PowerPoint.

There is a web page describing the first book (Bikablo 1), a downloadable 21-page pdf description (with a keyword index), and a German YouTube video whose description translates to:

“Bikablo® 1 is your ticket to the world of visualization: Martin Haussmann has put together hundreds of successful pictograms and keyframes and sorted them into 120 pages. This visual dictionary is specifically tailored to the needs of visualizing trainers, facilitators and consultants. The drawings are so simple that you can easily mark them with felt markers, vary them and recombine them on the flip chart. In the latest edition, we have completely revised our bestseller and adapted to the current, once again simplified drawing technique.”

There also is another web page describing their second book (Bikablo 2.0), a downloadable 16-page pdf description (with a keyword index), and another German YouTube video whose description translates to:

“The successor to bikablo® 1 continues the success story and expands the visual vocabulary with new image motifs. It starts with tips and tricks for quick visualization, followed by the most popular figures, graphics, pictograms and poster layouts. The main part consists of keyframes on dialogue methods, situations in team and leadership, personality and organizational development up to project management and IT. So if you are looking for simple yet sophisticated image ideas, bikablo® 2.0 should not be missing in your moderation case.”

There is yet another web page describing their third book (Bikablo Emotions), a downloadable 11-page pdf description, and yet another German YouTube video.

I had not heard of Bikablo before I found a web article at The Illinois Model by Lou Hayes, jr. on March 2, 2019 titled Presentation Hack: Death by Bikablo.

Getting your big ideas across by using simple cartoons – learning from graphic or visual facilitators

An introductory web page from Brandy Agerbeck defines that:

“Graphic facilitation is the practice of using words and images to create a conceptual map of a conversation. A graphic facilitator is the visual, usually silent partner to the traditional, verbal facilitator, drawing a large scale image at the front of the room in real-time.”

In 2012 she published a 306 page book titled The Graphic Facilitator’s Guide: how to use your listening, thinking & drawing skills to make meaning. You can find an excerpt.

Simple cartoons like Doug Savage’s Savage Chickens can convey lots of information. For an example, see this 2013 one about those nasty interview questions on your greatest weakness. Cartoons can wind up either on flip charts or in PowerPoint presentations.  

As shown above, how to draw is demonstrated in a 4-1/2 minute YouTube video titled Learning Graphic Facilitation – 7 Elements by Bigger Picture. Two follow ups are a three-minute video titled Learning Graphic Facilitation – Tools by Bigger Picture and a four-minute video titled Learning Graphic Facilitation – 8th Element by Bigger Picture.

How can you begin learning this pared-down style of drawing without attending a training course? There is a free 89-page Visual Facilitation Cookbook from 2016 by Torben Grocholl, Deniss Jershov and Kati Orav which is described in a web page and can be downloaded. Pages 31 to 35 are very useful illustrations of visual vocabulary for concepts. Goodreads has a web page with a list of 42 Popular Graphic Facilitation Books.

Flipcharts can be funny!

You can find YouTube videos on almost any topic. Here are three examples of comedy with flipcharts. The first one of Demetri Martin shown above (from 10 to 18 minutes in) came from an hour and five minute long video at Stand Up Show. At 41 minutes he also shows us some fliers for bulletin boards at coffee shops.   

Second there is this seven-and-a-half minute video by Ed Andriessen at Princeton Toastmasters on The Art of the Chart. Among other things he covers line, bar, pie, and flow charts.