The World Domination Summit in Color
Packing for the World Domination Summit in Portland, I hesitated to pack my watercolor crayons. I wasn’t sure I would be able to take visual notes at WDS.
I had other things on my mind: giving a presentation there on Sunday, sharing news of my novel with people I met, and getting in the proper mindset to deliver my book writing workshop later that week.
But I had to capture notes. It’s what I do. It helps me focus and it brightens my world. My notebook goes everywhere with me.So I packed my Caran d’Ache watercolor crayons and a fresh Moleskine Japanese album.
My 2012 WDS notebook
During the sessions, I scribbled notes, made doodles and smeared the pages and my fingers with color. I listened, laughed, cried and felt the conference’s messages move through me to the page.
On the flight from Portland to Denver, I finished the notebook, adding color, line and words. I wasn’t happy with the results. The pages were messy, crowded and chaotic. The colors were exuberant and slightly feverish.Typical self-doubt pecked at me and I had to fend off disclaimers I wanted to make. I struggled to overcome my judgements of my pages. When I step back to look at the entire notebook, it’s an explosion of energy. It’s bright. It’s imperfect. It’s full and dizzying, just like WDS, the conference for world changers.
Invitation to a visual narrative
This visual narrative invites a different way of absorbing information: a more engaged way.
A visual – an image that instantly conveys something. (drawing, icon, photograph)
A narrative – a linear story told with words. (story, essay, blog)
A visual narrative - neither one nor the other; a fresh blend of both.
When you first see the spreads, it can be overwhelming. There are visual elements but they don’t immediately communicate something. There are words but they don’t tell a linear story.This visual narrative asks you to participate more in reading. You have to decide where to start. You get to follow your own curiosity as you read.
Can you slow down enough to allow your eye to wander and receive instead of scanning bullet points to quickly grasp something? Which pieces capture your attention?
I fill these journals because they help me slow down and receive. They help me engage with what’s directly in front of me. They help me forget all the other things I need to do and be here now.
Later, they provide a way for me to remember not just the words from the conference, but the energy and vibrancy of being with more than 1,000 people united to change the world.
I’ll be posting the pages over the next few weeks. Enjoy my version of WDS. (Click images to enlarge.)
Please ask questions and leave comments.
