Happy summer everyone! As we mentioned in the June episode, we’re taking a break from full episodes of the Forge. That doesn’t mean we’re not still working crazily behind the scenes though!

With visual thinking, as with a lot of topics, there are multiple ways to accomplish a task. Often times when getting ready to create a video or develop a graphic it helps to step back and determine all the parts and pieces that are needed. I typically make a list and write down the thoughts that come to me. Easy and straight forward.

Early this year I had the privilege to attend the Visual Literacy conference near Detroit, MI. There were amazing facilitators, and I had the privilege to be in the group. That’s where I met Brandy Agerbeck prior to interviewing her on the Forge. In addition to Brandy, I met Jamie Nast. Jamie is the author of Idea Mapping: How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Success in Business. She taught some of the basic of mind mapping at the conference as well. I’ve dabbled with mind mapping in the past, but Jamie really help to unlock it for me.

The great thing about mind mapping is it allows you to really get the ideas in your head out, and to naturally organize them.

It turns out Jamie is a fan of Snagit, so we invited her to TechSmith. While Jamie was visiting, we did a quick Forge interview. In this video, Jamie lets us in on some of the basics of how to effectively mind map. Whether you’re using it to make sure you get all the points of your video captured, to creating grocery lists, or capturing meeting notes – Jamie has some great ideas on how to make mind mapping effective.

Can’t see the embedded video? Watch it on YouTube.

You can get tips and learn more about ‘idea mapping’ from Jamie’s blog here.