SXSW: Book Reading: The Back of the Napkin

One of the many new additions to SXSW this year was Book Readings. Select authors are given 20 minutes to discuss their new book while attendees relax with coffee, friends, and food in the Adobe Day Stage Café.

The book reading we attended was called “The Back of the Napkin” written by Dan Roam, a “professional visual thinker” who helps executives solve a variety of complex business problems with pictures. According to Roam, any problem – no matter how complex – can be solved with visual thinking. His book illustrates the many ways simple pictures can take the place of excel and powerpoint to sell an idea or solve a problem. He discusses the different ways people see, the built-in tools we all have to communicate, and how to draw for your audience. Also, artistic ability doesn’t matter – it is the process that is important – how you look, see, imagine, and show. Drawing is the last piece of the process.

Here some reasons why drawing can be a great way to present your ideas:

1. It will be clear to everyone in your audience that the drawing is a work in progress and meant to be discussed and revised.


2. You don’t need special software or special skills to draw and everyone in the room will be able to understand it.


3. Everyone can draw – they don’t have to be good at it – which makes it easier for your audience to participate in the process.
   The moment they take the pen and start adding to or revising your drawing, you’ve won them over.

So, the next time you have to give a presentation, forget the powerpoint slide or the excel spreadsheet and just grab a pencil and a napkin!

For more information about Roam's book, visit http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/

SXSW: Interesting SXSW Notes to Check Out!

Thanks to Jen K. for the tip to these note sketches by Mike Rohde. Susan and I will try to fill in any blanks and/or add commentary with our own notes shortly.

SXSW: Frank Warren--PostSecret

Frank was Monday's keynote speaker. With PostSecret, he pioneered the idea that a website can serve as an anonymous online confessional. His story touches all aspects of humanity--it shows that courage is contagious and if you share, others will share. This touches on the relatively new but overwhelming interest in social networking. We all are intrigued to listen to other's stories, to know what motivates them, to hear their most innermost thoughts. Check out some of the videos that are on the blog (they're hosted on YouTube)...here's one he showed during his presentation. He's published three books of postcards to date.

Frank started PostSecret as an art project by inviting people to mail back postcards he handed out. After the intial ones came back, he was surprised by the "soulful" artwork and the volume of secrets he's received...and astonished by the frailty and humanism of everyday people living their every day lives.

Two interpretations capture his presentation well. After he went through his agenda, he opened up the floor for people to share secrets. The first was a marriage proposal...and it took quite a while for the young lady to surface so the poor man was shaking (She said yes!). The second was a woman confessing she was scared for her sister, who has a disease no one knows about. And she wants people to support her through her blog...she mentioned it was debutante, but I'm having trouble finding it. Also, a woman who worked in healthcare thought these would be a great way for both people who work in the field to let go of some of the "secrets" they see and don't talk about as that is the environment they work in. But even better was to give a patient a postcard to fill in as to she felt it would be cathartic for them to let go of any baggage.

These two images are by Marilyn Martin (above) and Sunni Brown (below), official SXSW graphic recorders.