Mind mapping?? I had never heard of it before. Initially, I was apprehensive. Did I have time to learn something so foreign to me? Would it be like learning a new language? Was I equipped to do it? I was ready to find out.
After a few attempts at it, I noticed […]

Mind mapping?? I had never heard of it before. Initially, I was apprehensive. Did I have time to learn something so foreign to me? Would it be like learning a new language? Was I equipped to do it? I was ready to find out.

After a few attempts at it, I noticed some things. The first thing I realized was that in the past a lot of useful information had been slipping through the cracks. Second, was that so many great ideas were unrealized, being that I was unable to capture them or fully explore them. Third, it appears, in certain aspects of my life I was already a natural born mind mapper, just without the mind map. All in all, I was underutilizing my natural creative thinking process.

Most of us use mind mapping for organizing, collaborating, managing projects and brainstorming, amongst other things…things we do professionally and personally, on a daily basis without even realizing it. It’s natural, whether calling a friend to run some problem by them, taking mental notes on their input, then consulting another friend, and so on. To stay organized we create our to do lists, circling priorities, drawing lines from one item to the other, leading our minds in an effort to stay on track while at places like the grocery store. We brainstorm on beverage napkins… pushing our ideas further through the doodles we draw, mulling over our ideas.

So this raises the question… who is a candidate for mind mapping? Everybody is! And with Spinscape, a tool that encourages forward thinking, you can turn your everyday problems into solutions. Before, you were simply creating a personal to-do list; with mind mapping you manage the monthly schedule for your entire family. Before, you were getting advice from a friend over the phone. Now, you are getting instant input and ideas from colleagues across the country. In the past you were individually contacting every parent involved in the Christmas Bazaar. With a mind map, you can easily manage the progress and updates of your professional team or again….and, in your spare time, that Christmas Bazaar.

There are endless opportunities both personally and professionally where mind mapping plays a key role… Because let’s face it, aren’t we all natural born mind mappers?

For Your Eyes Only…
We all know what that means. Okay, well beyond a sweet James Bond movie and a hit single by Sheena Easton. For Your Eyes Only: It’s not meant for everyone…only for you. You get the point. You have something that you want to share with only a certain individual or a specific […]

For Your Eyes Only…
We all know what that means. Okay, well beyond a sweet James Bond movie and a hit single by Sheena Easton. For Your Eyes Only: It’s not meant for everyone…only for you. You get the point. You have something that you want to share with only a certain individual or a specific group of people. You want to choose who sees what and when.

“You see what no one else can see…” So I can’t sing it like Sheena Easton. Well I think I can but only if I’m driving, the windows are rolled down, and the music is blaring. I CAN tell you that Spinscape facilitates Private Sharing. Ummm…you know we’ve just switched gears to the professional or educational world, right?

Private Sharing in Spinscape…
Use Spinscape to map out your project, your event, or your research paper. You want someone to look at it and give you some feedback, maybe tell you if you’re on the right track. With private sharing in Spinscape you can share your ideas, information, and tasks with an individual of your choice. Now say it becomes a group project, a company event, or a team research paper. You can select and share with a group of people. YES! Yes you can! Still, this is a group of users you have chosen. And nobody else has any business–and literally no right–being in your business!

You can even decide if you want the user to be a viewer: look, but don’t touch! Or you can let the user be a collaborator: go ahead, share what you’re thinking…get your hands in there and do what you like. You’re getting the picture. You have complete control over who does what with your stuff.

You can change permissions from viewer to collaborator and vice versa, at any time. If someone drops out of the group or gets kicked off of the team (you know it happens!), you can stop sharing with an individual as needed. You can also stop sharing with everyone all at once with the simple click of a button. That means when you say “when”, the sharing party is over.

In Spinscape, when we say Private Sharing, we mean PRIVATE. You say who. You say what. You say when.

Did you know you can even add a private node to a map you have shared…and that node will be for YOUR eyes only, no matter who has what permissions on your map??? Mmmm hmmm. But that is a topic for another blog…

The creative atmosphere has always been my calling, but the templates we use for planning, brainstorming, client presentations, RFPs, etc., just don’t require too much creativity. So how to turn my spreadsheets, calendars, lists, etc., into creative fun, while still being organized and professional?
The answer took some time, and to be honest a big […]

The creative atmosphere has always been my calling, but the templates we use for planning, brainstorming, client presentations, RFPs, etc., just don’t require too much creativity. So how to turn my spreadsheets, calendars, lists, etc., into creative fun, while still being organized and professional?

The answer took some time, and to be honest a big push, because I was quite hesitant to try something new. But one day I got so bored with building the same old planning calendar that I said funk it, and gave this whole mind mapping thing a try. Not to be a lame-o or anything, but it was pretty damn exciting!

The first mind map I did was our 2010 marketing plan. Being that I am a very visual person, I decided to start brainstorming ideas on the page: different events, campaigns, video ideas, banner and print ideas, social media, etc., to see the many channels of marketing that are available. It’s amazing how one idea leads to another! I was able to move nodes and ideas around to build a hierarchy of priorities and costs, then stem off nodes and ideas from one another. I was even able to insert video clips and pictures supporting my ideas. Before I knew it, I had painted a beautiful marketing picture.

As a marketer and creative soul, what really sold me on mind mapping is that I was able to make this LIST of ideas into a colorful piece of art! When I met with the sales manager and the president to present my proposed plan they were in awe of the actual presentation. It was not the normal black-and-white squares-and-graphs presentation, but a digital map that revealed lots of surprises hidden inside…inside each node of course!

While I am no expert mind mapper yet, I have found that with Spinscape, I am able to exercise the creativity that sits inside anyone passionate about what they do.

By: Katie Kremhelmer