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Mappy Awards 2015: June ~ July ~ August ~ September
(Winners so far: Business / Education / Personal / General / English / Kids / Fun / Drawn)
(Click HERE for readable version*)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: Frédéric’s colourful mind map is a thoroughly practical tool to make sure you don’t forget anything important when staging… important events!
It’s funny because, like many things you take for granted, it’s incredible when you actually understand the planning that goes into making them seem effortless.
I have no doubt that if I were an events planner I’d keep this with me at all times, probably adapted a bit to suit my needs but what a useful guide. And it could be a model for any number of other similar events with lots of little, eminently forgettable things which need to be kept track of. And I like the word ‘stuff’!
* Unfortunately, some of the text is very small, so once you’ve clicked the image above to enlarge it, right click it again and open in a new window for a readable version.
Author’s Comment: Unfortunately, Liam from Biggerplate (the Mind Map Library where this map was originally posted) sent me this sad message shortly after I had awarded Frédéric with the October 2015 Business Mappy Award for his excellent Events Emergency Tool Box mind map:
Hi Sab – thanks for your continued work in sharing some of the best maps from our library and community. We thought we should just let you know that this particular map is from a member of the mind mapping community who is sadly no longer with us. ‘French Fred’ was a key supporter and enabler of Biggerplate’s early ventures in France, and acted as the host for our French conference back in 2013! Sadly Fred lost a short battle with cancer later that same year, and he is greatly missed as a source of humour, voice of wisdom, and overall support at Biggerplate. He would no doubt be delighted to see that his maps live on, and continue to provide use for others in the mind mapping community! We thought we would respond here on Fred’s behalf, as he was a huge believer in mind mapping, and the value of sharing and open collaboration. We posted a small tribute to Fred on our blog when he passed away, if you would like to learn more about this wonderful man who sadly left us too soon: https://goo.gl/0bWfcI
Web Addresses: Biggerplate ~ Fred’s Thinking Zone
(Click HERE for readable version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: Just discovered the magnificent mind maps of Mr. Kavanaugh and I’m sharing his Educate Your Brain with you here as the October 2015 Education winner.
To be honest I find it rather overwhelming – there’s so much to take in. But it’s a great example of two things: 1) just how much information you can cram into one of these things; and 2) what a great tool it is for summarising the contents of an entire book, in a glance, on a single page.
I was chatting today with Liam from Biggerplate (where you’ll find the original iMindMap file to download for free…) and some other mind mappers here in Paris today. One of the points that came up was quite relevant: just how much information should you put in a mind map?
The conclusion was roughly that it depends on what (or who) you are making the mind map for.
In this case it will be very useful for someone who has read the book in question and for whom each key word on each branch will bring back an entire paragraph, section or chapter. Impressive Tom!
Author’s Comment: First, thank you, so much, for my award! It’s really awesome knowing someone received some benefit from this map! Yes, you’re right, it is somewhat overwhelming when you first look at it; however, if you read the book, it’s a complete review tool which is designed to help any student know the material in the book that much better.
This map was uniquely different than most of my maps; in that, there are four major sections to the book and then the chapters are contained within those sections. Hence, why there are only four major colors used in the map, representing each “section” of the book. And, you may notice that each section color matches a color contained in the “Lazy 8’s” figures on the title page of the book (one of the many ‘subliminal’ attachments to information in the book)
Each map I create is basically a reflection of the way the author of the book presents their material, and the way in which I perceive it. If you’ve looked at other maps I’ve listed on Biggerplate, (what a great site for the Mind Mapping Community to share; Liam and Barney have done an outstanding job in creating this incredible site!) you’ll see how each map of a book is uniquely different in its structure; based simply on how the author structures the information in the book!
Educate Your Brain was an interesting challenge for me to Mind Map because of the density of the material contained in the book. I find that some books are the result of an author’s life work, and other books are the result of an author’s continuing education on a subject in a series of installments, or on different subjects. Kathy Brown’s book, Educate Your Brain, is the former. Each author has their own style of writing and presenting their information, and I do my best to reflect that style in the maps I create. Kathy Brown is a renowned Brain Gym Instructor, and she has presented a formidable body of work in her book, Educate Your Brain; and, so I attempted to honor that level of commitment to sharing her knowledge with the world by creating such a densely populated Mind Map.
Thank you, once again, for the honor of having this map chosen for the October, 2015 Education Award.
Massive Success, Always,
Tom
Web Addresses: Biggerplate ~ Facebook ~ New Training Strategies
(Click HERE for readable version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: I don’t know what I like the most about Wojtek’s creation: his clear presentation of the fascinating theory of our 16 basic desires, or the colourful wiggly lines and the funky frog pictures!
Some of them are quite obvious, like food and the family. Others are more thought-provoking, such as honour, the need to be loyal to the traditional values of one’s clan, and vengeance. the need to strike back and to compete.
I’m a fan of this sort of mix of serious and smile-raising, I feel it allows important messages to come across more readily.
Musing about my motivation for working on Mind Map Mad, and what I desire to come of it, I couldn’t help wondering which basic drives applied to my situation. Can you guess which they are?
Well, many didn’t apply – they were too personal or simply not relevant. But three did strike me as close to the mark.
Curiosity, the need to learn. I’m continually learning from all these wonderful mind maps I publish and honour here.
Independence, the need for individuality. If a mind map doesn’t strike me as individual, stemming from its creator, I think an opportunity has been missed.
And finally, social… contact, the need for friends! Even if they are virtual ones, touching people through these great works is a pleasure indeed.
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it!
Web Addresses: Biggerplate ~ Facebook
(Click HERE for readable version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: I was drawn to Kari’s Dog Training: DOWN mind map because of its practical (for dog owners) subject and thoroughly cheerful presentation.
She’s illustrated it fully and chose a pleasingly earthy green colour scheme.
I had a dog once, not so long ago, I loved that dog, it’s a sad story, so anything about dogs and devotion always get me right… there..! Nice one Keri. She’s also done a more general one on the same theme called A Dog’s Mind, here. Done any others Keri? Show us in the Mind Map Mad Discussion Group if you have!
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it!
Web Addresses: Biggerplate
(Click HERE for readable version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: This one really caught my eye on Biggerplate as I was roaming around looking for this month’s English language winner.
At the moment of writing this I don’t actually know the real name of the author, but I’ve seen a picture and it’s a ‘she’ by the looks of things, so ‘she’ has really used her imagination as well as her knowledge of English to produce a useful and compact resource for the elementary English student.
As an English teacher myself (did you know I was an English teacher myself..? It’s true, look!) I appreciate any effort to make learning the language easier and more fun and this certainly helps I would say. I’m not sure if she’s done anything similar for any of the other tenses, but that would be useful too!
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it!
Web Addresses: Biggerplate
(Click HERE for readable version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: OK, I’m changing the goal posts again folks!
I was only suggesting software-created mind maps for all categories except the Handmade section. Unfortunately, that’s not working too well for a couple of reasons.
The first reason is that I’m having real trouble finding mind maps I like enough to give an award to in certain categories. The second reason is that I feel I’m missing out on highlighting some truly great hand-drawn mind maps. Doing them by hand is after all the original spirit of mind mapping.
This is especially true in the kids section. I’ve included both mind maps by children and for children done by adults in this category, but I was feeling extremely limited if I stuck to software-produced efforts, unfortunately.
So I’m going to relax the rules and allow hand-drawn maps into categories other than Handmade if they are related to the relevant theme.
The mind map above is a good example. I’m not sure if it was done by an adult or a child but it’s clearly for kids, probably a language lesson, and is pleasing in its simplicity.
Many maps are heavily loaded with stuff and this can actually be less useful for children trying to remember things.
When around seven items is supposed to be the most we can immediately retain, a map like this would be ideal for learning a new topic or season-related vocabulary set. There’s also still space to add new items like ear-muffs or jacket as they come across them.
It’s sweet because the clothes have actually been drawn on little pieces of paper, coloured in and stuck on, cute.
I’m afraid I don’t know who did it but I do have the web site, so maybe they’ll reply and tell me a bit more about it. Brrr, it reminds me that chilly days are on their way where I live. Time to get the winter woolies out again!
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it!
Web Addresses: English Village
(Click HERE for readable version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: I chose to feature George’s splendid little I Doodle Because mind map here in the Fun category for various reasons.
The most obvious being… it’s fun! Lots of lively colours, funky branch styles and pleasing pics. Great.
But there’s more to it than that. Mind mapping is more than that. If you click on the link to George’s pages, Hubaisms, below, you’ll discover a fascinating soul.
I’m sure George won’t mind me including a little (edited) clip from a recent blog post of his I stumbled across:
✪ I have dementia, probably still in early-mid or mid stages. Every morning I spend an hour or two obsessing about what color ink to put in my fountain pens for doodling later in the day…
✹ I’m still contemplating at almost noon today showering, getting dressed, and shaving.
✪ I don’t think all that well — ideas are coming in very fast but being ignored because I cannot grab an important one…
✹ I start to mind map at mid-morning. With the window to iMindMap open, I start to pull together some ideas… after an hour of great indecision.
✪ Within 10 minutes I am generating ideas and typing them into a map. The ideas come rapidly but not too fast to get into the map (80% of the time).
✹ I shut out anxiety, irrelevant troubling thoughts, distractions.
✪ I typically produce a map… in about an hour or less.
✹ I save the file. I close the window. Pretty soon the ideas I have in the map will almost certainly escape me…
What really draws me to George’s work and approach is his positivity and desire to share and help others, sufferers or not, both understand and deal with this debilitating and devastating condition.
And finally, I hope he’ll appreciate winning the Fun category as opposed to one of the more ‘serious’ ones, despite the sad subject matter of his output. Those who tackle their problems with determination, creativity and even humour are to be applauded greatly, so say I!
Do visit his extensive web site and have a look around at all his fascinating articles and mind maps of course. Let him know what you think too; I’m sure he’d appreciate it!
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it!
Web Addresses: Hubaisms ~ Biggerplate
Mad Mapper’s Muse: Coming soon…Jane’s site is a treasure trove of stunning mind maps, but I’m jumping the gun.
I was instantly attracted to this piece thanks to its beautiful colours, wonderfully clear layout, fantastic drawings and of course the brilliant treatment of an important topic for today.
Phew, that’s it, I’m all out of over-the-top adjectives for this article!
To be honest, and just between you and me, I had to ask Jane if this really was ‘handmade’ to qualify for this category and this award. She assured me it was, although she does occasionally ‘tidy things up a bit’ on the kompyouta afterwards. Hey, who doesn’t! That amazingly clear text I suspect might not be all her own work either, but it wasn’t produced using a mind mapping software program so I’ll give that as today’s definition of ‘handmade’!
As I mentioned at the start, Jane’s Connecting With Nature mind map is just the tip of the iceberg and I strongly recommend you follow the link below to her site and discover some of her other marvels ?
Author’s Comment: We (my mum and I) created that mind map awhile ago. What inspired me to create that mind map was my love of nature. Nature can re-energise us and lift our spirits when we are feeling down. I also believe if we can foster a better connection with the environment we will more likely want to protect it! ?
I love mind maps because they are such an easy way to understand information. And they look so awesome!
Web Addresses: Learning Fundamentals
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