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Mappy Awards 2017: January ~ February ~ March ~ April ~ May ~ June
July ~ August ~ September ~ October ~ November ~ December
(Winners so far: Business / Education / Personal / General / English / Kids / Fun / Handmade / French / Spanish /Mind Maps)
(No BIGGER version found…)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: At first I published this as by ‘A Mystery Mapper’, being uncertain as to its provenance. Happily now, after a great deal of tireless research and investigation into the darkest corners of the internet (ok, I sent a quick e-mail) I’m happy to reveal that it’s by one of the true pioneers of ‘learning by mind map’ and publisher of the wonderful Using Mind Maps magazine, Faizel Mohidin!
I’m on something of a quest for simplicity and elegance at the moment, and this one fits the bill admirably. Instead of lugging some hefty business plan writing tome around with you in case inspiration strikes, you can simply have this Business Plan ‘cheat sheet’ with you and the entire outline is there for you.
Strangely, I have very rarely if ever completed a comprehensive business plan, but obviously there are many domains where this particular document in indispensable. It would be nice to see and feature more of these ‘in a nutshell’ business maps which could then be used to sell the concept and power of the things to the decision-making powers that be. I’ll be working on it!
By the way, if this map interests you, be sure to check out Faizel’s site and magazine which is a true treasure trove of information and resources for mappers with a special emphasis on education and learning righter – bravo ?
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it…
Web Addresses: Using Mind Maps
(Click HERE for BIGGER version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: It’s no exaggeration to say that I’m very excited to be presenting this exceptional Roman Numerals Mind Map almost exclusively from my friend and mapping maestro Philippe Packu.
I say ‘almost’ exclusive because although it hasn’t been ‘officially’ published or publicised yet – Philippe offered me this honour – it was one of the featured works in the very recent and rather prestigious mind mapping exhibition – the first of it’s kind I believe… in Egypt! Not bad, huh?
I did Philippe’s excellent 2-day course in Belgium last spring (a trip which directly inspired my Tangled Web of Terror mind map by the way) and he gave us a sneak preview of his Roman Numerals Mind Map which is only now seeing the light of day. Phil’s been a busy boy of late methinks!
He promised us something special and he didn’t disappoint. I need to stress that Philippe Packu takes the principles of truly effective mind map use very seriously and is one of the stanchest proponents for exploiting this powerful tool properly and not just sticking words on branches and pretending it’s more effective than a boring list just because it looks prettier.
I’ll say just two things more about Philippe Packu’s Roman Numerals Mind Map.
Joking aside, Philippe is very generous with his work and ideas and I strongly recommend checking out his efforts and offers over on his association’s web site, Dessine Moi Une Idée, if you don’t already know it. He’s based in Belgium and as I said runs a popular two-day training course called “Apprendre en Classe avec le Mind Mapping” and if I had the time I’d do the course all over again, just for the hell of it!
Thanks a lot Phil, power to your branches and maybe you could not make us wait another year for your next mind map, what do you think?!
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it…
Web Addresses: Web Site ~ Facebook ~ Biggerplate
(Click HERE for BIGGER version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: This is a fine mind map I reckon, and that’s on a couple of levels.
Firstly I like Cristian’s use of colours and pictures – they really liven up the presentation and make you excited about discovering the content. And then there’s the content.
I’ve long been a fan of Brian Tracy, ever since I discovered his work in the self-help arena through his short but seminal book ‘Eat That Frog’, which is about… eating frogs, of course! Since then I’ve often looked at his books and even now I enjoy what he’s doing on-line and still learning from it.
Cristian’s impressive mind map deftly encapsulates what looks like some sort of seminar Tracy gave on his ‘Success Secrets’ and even the map is a fascinating read, so I can only imagine what the whole presentation must have been like.
Thanks for this Cristian, it presents a lot of valuable life-optimising content in a concise form and illustrates the powerful book-summarising potential of mind mapping amongst other things. Done any more?
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it…
Web Addresses: Biggerplate ~ Facebook (non-confirmed)
(Still looking for a BIGGER version…)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: I don’t actually think this lovely mind map is by Olga Koshelev but I found it on a Russian web site called Home & Work as part of an article by this lady and that’s a good as I can do for now.
In any case it’s a super piece because it’s clear, cheerful and charming. Whether it was done just for the exercise of making a one-off mind map or is a regular weekly activity is unclear but whoever did it certainly has the artist’s touch.
It’s the sort of map that makes you think: I wish I could do mind maps like that, or maybe, I wish I had the time to make mind maps like that!
I’m terribly behind in my own mind map making and this is going to inspire me to get going again just for the pure pleasure of it, which is one of the reasons I started in the first place. Thanks for a bit of back to basics beauty, mystery mapper. ?
Author’s Comment: Welcome any time!
Web Addresses: Home & Work
(Click HERE for BIGGER version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: This powerful hand-drawn English language map comes from a blog called Learning English, or maybe Apprendre Anglais, which is French, but whatever the case it hasn’t been updated since 2009.
So whether or not it was created by the author of the article, given as Jonathan Lewis or not, I like it! Why do I like it? Because it takes an important concept in English – that of necessity and permission as expressed through modal verbs – and explains it clearly and colourfully.
The technique the author uses is perfectly suited to a mind map and this can be repeated for many language situations. He asks questions where the answer is (usually) Yes or No. Then, depending on your response, you continue along one branch or the other.
Very quickly you get to the actual language you need, along with some useful examples to get you going and productive quickly. Sweet!
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it…
Web Addresses: Learning English Blog
Mad Mapper’s Muse: Great! This is very clear and very similar to a map I did for my son Léo where each spoke is a daily chore or event, such as brushing his teeth or going to bed, with a time attached. Does it work? Yes and no! Sometimes we’re way off for various reasons, but often enough it’s he who tells me when we’re running over schedule. This certainly wouldn’t be the case if the map wasn’t there as a reminder of the ground rules.
Some would say this map doesn’t follow common guidelines about one work per branch, with is true, but it’s certainly one idea per branch, clearly illustrated with an image at the end which is easy for the kids to understand, especially when they are still learning to read.
Additionally, it’s quite good for new readers to see words in sentences and not in isolation so they start to understand how everything fits together.
As a teacher myself, I might be tempted to replace the redundancy of each sentence starting with ‘Learn to…’ with more varied and personalised language, such as ‘Weed grandma’s garden’, ‘Make a tasty salad’, ‘Fold towels nicely’ or ‘Replace loo roll when finished’!
I should also mention that as well as being a member of our Mind Map Mad group on Facebook, Nic is the author of a book called One Trillion Stories for Kids, which I haven’t actually seen yet, but which you can discover on his web site, linked to below. Thanks Nic!
Author’s Comment: Hi Sab, thanks for the opportunity. The activities are from a set of age appropriate activities devised from the Montessori school program, it’s something the institution put together probably by observation. I guess the message is more about the activity itself, as it promotes self confidence and independence.
The activities don’t necessarily have to be mirrored, they can be adapted accordingly to what the child can handle, but it’s more about the participation which I think is important. I’ve featured all the age mind maps on the One Trillion Stories blog section.
I really do think there is benefit sitting down with your kid showing them the mind map structure and see if they can carry out the task, this way you promote the learning of mind maps and the importance of these types of activities! Thanks…
Web Addresses: One Trillion Stories ~ Biggerplate
(Click HERE for BIGGER version)
Mad Mapper’s Muse: This is EXACTLY what I love getting in my inbox direct from our fantastic, friendly mind mapping Facebook group! Karl was on a course earlier this month with me called Applied Innovation run by Chris Griffiths and the team at OpenGenius and boy did we learn some cool stuff during those four days. Now to put it into practice.
Karl is very active on the Belgiun mind mapping scene and I hope we get some synergy going in 2016, seeing as I’m just around the corner in Paris, France.
I love the way he’s played around with the branches to make them into the letters of Mappy New Year (you did see that, right?). Then he’s found some inspirational words to get us starting next year on the right foot, or branch perhaps.
Fantastic – keep ’em coming Karl, looking forward to your next creations!
Author’s Comment: It is a honor! First of all I found the word play “Mappy New Year” (probably it already exists 🙂 but I wanted to do something with that.
I love to play with the blue dots on the branches in iMindMap 9. It stimulates my creativity. That is the reason why I made this one, to have a creative hour (fighting with dots and branches).
As a ThinkBuzan Licensed Instructor (TLI), I am an ambassador of mind mapping in Belgium. Together with 2 other Flemish TLI’s (Ilse Bal & Marina De Roover) I started Belgium Is Mindmapping this summer (it is a Flemish website). We share experiences. Mindmapping helps me improve my creativity, self-management, project management, business development, …
As an official TLI trainer I focus on the use of mindmapping and iMindmap software in both professional and personal ways. Mindmapping as a tool, not a goal!
Web Addresses: Facebook Page ~ Quattro Development ~ BelgiumIsMindMapping
Mad Mapper’s Muse: I stumbled across this lovely colourful and positive mind map as I surfed around the internet, and let me just tell you: surfing for mind maps is one of the most dangerously time-consuming activities known to man, which is my excuse for this article being published nearly three months late, but anyway!
The delightfully named Thaneeya McArdle has not only produced a great map, but she also explains exactly how she did it on her Art Is Fun website.
Thaneeya is a really wonderful artist and it’s a pleasure to browse through her site to see some of her colourful designs and stunning pictures. Make sure to check out her photorealistic and composite realism work, as well as her abstract and whimsical stuff, her owls and of course her… sugar skulls!
If only, oh, if only I hadn’t gone down the ????? route – well, that’s what looking at a site like Thaneeya’s can get you thinking but you have to be happy with what you’ve got and what you’ve done I suppose otherwise you wont’ get anywhere, right?
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it…
Web Addresses: Art Is Fun ~ Thaneeya McArdle
Click HERE for BIG version ~ Black & White Version
Mad Mapper’s Muse: I’m delighted because I’ve just discovered a great French mapper called Vincent Damato from Isère – hello Vincent!
As I get more and more into the effective use of mind maps in education (especially here in France) I’m constantly on the lookout for cool new stuff. It doesn’t have to be revolutionary (hehe) at all, just enthusiastic and useful, and that’s certainly the case here.
Vincent uses fun colourful mind maps to summarise lessons for his students. He generally creates one mind map per major topic, such as here where he covers the French revolution and the arrival and actions of a certain Napoleon Bonaparte.
I love his cheerful use of images and his original way of describing the year 1789. He shows that you don’t have to slavishly follow traditional mind mapping conventions to the letter if you want to present some of the information differently.
UTTER LACK of Impartiality Disclaimer: Vincent also happens to be is one of a whoopingly wonderful group of ‘positive psychopedagogues’ (psychopédagogue positif in French), to which I too belong, who promote brain-friendly, learner-centred teaching methods.
We have been trained and certified by Audrey Akoun and Isabelle Pailleau, the best-selling authors of Apprendre Autrement avec la Pédagogie Positive (Learn Differently with Positive Pedagogy/Education) and creators of La Fabrique à Bonheurs (“The Happiness Factory” – cool name!).
In particular we adhere to their tête-coeur-corps (head-heart-body) approach which considers the mental, emotional and physical aspects of a learner to all be essential elements in effective learning, and not just the intellectual side as often happens.
Bravo Vincent, I look forward to discovering more of your great teaching maps in the future!
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it…
Web Addresses: Facebook ~ A Pas De Fourmi
Mad Mapper’s Muse: So actually I don’t know who did this, and that’s a shame, because mind maps are very personal and I like to acknowledge the original authors but so be it.
I chose this Spanish ‘physical description’ mind map because for one thing I’m still discovering where to find cool Spanish mind maps and this was one of the first I found and liked.
And for two things I thought its layout was extremely clear and nicely illustrated.
You couldn’t get much simpler in fact. There are only two main branches, for the verbs ‘be’ and ‘have’, more or less. The former leads off to adjectives such as ‘to be tall/short’ or ‘to be English/French’. The latter deals with less ‘permanent’ features or characteristics that can change, such as ‘to have glasses’ or ‘to have a beard’.
The pictures are really cute and very uniform and once again (see the French category on this page) it gets me itching to so some more creative English language learning mind maps of my own. Maybe this will be the year. Watch this web site!
Author’s Comment: Thinking about it…
Web Addresses: The ¡Animate! series ~ Some similiar sample maps
Click HERE for BIG version ~ Even Bigger!
Mad Mapper’s Muse: I found this fine mind map when searching for mind maps for business, and that’s the section I was going to put it in. Then I realised that it fits perfectly into the new Mind Maps category even if it is extremely useful in a professional context.
I like it because it’s clear, cheerful and useful. Honestly, I’m despairing a bit at the number of so-called mind-maps for business which are unbelievably boring and no more than lists of text stuck on branches. Sorry.
This map was made by someone in a British company called Illumine Training and the seem to do mind map training and other stuff for businesses and education too. I haven’t been in touch with them yet so maybe they’ll comment and let us know more about their map!
I’m often asked by people who like the idea of mind mapping but can’t see an immediate concrete application: Yes, but what can you actually do with it? The Uses of Mind Maps from Illumine Training can help answer this question in a really easy to understand say.
Of course, you will need to supply examples of each of these areas to back up your claims but it’s a jolly good start – nice work chaps! ?
Author’s Comment: Having discovered mind maps in 1978, they were just something I used – all the time – as an Accountant and later as a Management Consultant. In 1996 I set up Illumine Training and, having trained with Buzan, the first course we ran was on Mind Mapping.
This map is a (non-exhaustive) summary of the uses of mind maps – all of which I’ve personally used Mind Maps for. It is a shame that mind mapping is often so badly taught that people don’t ‘get’ the enormous value from them that they should.
Of all the tools and techniques, programs and apps out there, mind maps remain, for me, the most effective – and most versatile – of the lot.
~ Clive Lewis, Director of Training and Founder, Illumine Training
Web Addresses: Illumine Training
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