Beyond Words: A Guide to Drawing Out Ideas

by Milly R. Sonneman

This colorful, offbeat business guide—sort of THINKERTOYS meets SARK—shows how to add zip, interaction, and excitement to just about any kind of meeting or presentation. The author has helped everyone from engineers to corporate planners create stunning visual presentations, showing them how to use visual symbols and color to map out ideas, plans, projections, and the like. Even if you can't draw a straight line, this book will have you doodling away like a pro in no time flat, and turning the most boring planning sessions into whiz-bang think tanks. Even the most pinstriped project teams have found these tools useful when mapping out strategic plans, capturing vision sessions, depicting project designs, or making training programs fun and memorable. Real-life success stories and step-by-step drawing hints make this the must-have book for managers, facilitators, trainers, and anyone who helps groups work together.

Genres: Business

176 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

Reviews

[Carlene Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for building confidence giving examples and ‘how to”s. The 4 star is because much of the writing is superfluous and thus irritating
Would be nice to have this connected to online resources/ videos

[Donitello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milly R. Sonneman has really done it: written a book that demonstrates in easy, concrete steps that anyone can draw well enough to enhance their communication skills!

Sonneman takes you through initially simple and then progressively more advanced steps that can teach any person--in spite of self-doubts--how to make compelling drawings that will clarify ideas and make them more interesting. If you have any doubts that this book can help YOU, just have a look at the reader reviews on amazon!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about visual brainstorming and recording for group conversations. I really love visual representation as a teaching/learning strategy, so I had hopes for this book, but it's more "how to" that I was expected. I need inspiration, not a technical manual! (not the book's fault though--good for beginners).

[James Pritchert · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are a visual person, this is the book for you. When I worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs we began using visuals to record meetings, events, and training. It was an excellent method of presenting information in a way that remains memorable.

[JayeL]

1/1/2008: I am interested in learning about mind mapping and my friend, Natalie, got me this book as a way of getting me started, I think.

[Arif Vakil]

I'll be diving into this book today. Flipping through it, it seems to have great examples and principles when it comes to taking Sketch Notes