Whether you’re trying to create a more interactive experience for learners, brainstorm solutions to complex problems, imagine a vision for the future or simply reinforce learning, they are all made easier when you can actually SEE what you're talking about. Graphic facilitation is a technique that leverages the use of hand–drawn words and imagery to harness your essential content and bring it to life in real–time during your sessions. These methodologies support greater participant engagement, planning and understanding while providing a visual record that can support reflection for years to come.

In this program, we’ll demonstrate how graphic facilitation is used, discuss the value that visual methodologies bring to participants, and provide some simple frameworks you can use right away to put your learners in the spotlight. You will also have a chance to practice some simple, fun yet practical techniques to unleash your own creativity even if you think you can’t draw a straight line! No prerequisites necessary — merely a sense of curiosity!

Facilitator: Deirdre Crowley

Based in Washington, D.C., Deirdre founded Crowley & Company in 2004 and has since facilitated strategic planning processes and conducted workshops throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. She has become a recognized leader and innovator in the field of graphic facilitation and strategic visioning through her commitment to helping groups move from an understanding of current realities to the ultimate achievement of their goals and visions.

Deirdre's government client list ranges from the US Department of Defense to the National Institutes of Health, the President's Cancer Panel, the Ministry of Education of Guatemala and the Ministry of Health of Tanzania. Deirdre also works with a broad range of private sector clients that includes Nike, Deloitte, Mars Incorporated, Ford Motor Company and Hilton Worldwide. She and her associates at Crowley & Company have also worked with non-profit organizations ranging from The Nature Conservancy to the National Breast Cancer Coalition and UNESCO. Crowley & Company's communication design work has been used in presentations to Congress and to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and has been reproduced in multiple languages around the world.

Deirdre has been instrumental in advancing the standards of the graphic facilitation profession, creating The Graphic Facilitation University program for the Mid–Atlantic Facilitators Workshop in 2008. She is also a founding partner of the Philadelphia–based consulting firm Strategy Arts; a senior associate with The Grove Consultants International in San Francisco; and an associate staff member of the Center for Evidence-Based Education in Princeton, New Jersey.

Deirdre received her BA in Education and English from Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. She worked for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Citizens Bank prior to four years of service as a volunteer and trainer with the US Peace Corps in Jamaica. She entered the field of graphic facilitation in 1994 while working for David Sibbet and The Grove Consultants International in San Francisco, California.