Each July, BigBlueGumball takes the show on the road to a magical place called Silver Bay on the beautiful shores of Lake George in upstate New York.

For over 90 years, business leaders have been meeting at this unique retreat to discuss the most pressing issues of the day and contemplate the importance of leadership at what is now known as the "Leadership Forum at Silver Bay."

What is leadership?  How has leadership changed over time?  What is the value of leadership in today's business world?  And how do we instill leadership qualities in the the next generation of leaders?

Those are just a few of the "big picture" questions posed at the conference.

 BigBlueGumball had the opportunity to deliver a fun and thought-provoking interactive workshop in which we collectively reflected on our leadership journeys past and present, and envisioned our individual leadership legacies as we drive towards the future.  We were inspired by everyone's stories... the lessons learned... the choices made... and the obstacles overcome.

A huge thank you to all who make this special conference an incredible experience, and thank you to our fellow conference speakers (listed below).

We look forward to returning in July of 2014 when we get to revisit our stories, share our experiences, and continue along on our journey.

Until then... happy and safe travels to all....  BigBlueGumball

Our fellow 2013 Conference Facilitators:

Bryan Mattimore - author of best-selling creativity books Idea Stormers and 99% Inspiration

Ron Ashkenas - author of Simply Effective, coauthor of The Boundaryless Organization. Managing Partner of Robert Schaffer Associates

Jeremey Donovan - Group Vice President, Gartner Research, author of How To Deliver A TED Talk

Sean Brawley - has worked for 20 years with Tim Gallwey, the author of The Inner Game series of books including the classic, The Inner Game of Tennis. Co-founder and lead trainer of the Inner Game School of Coaching.

Bob and Gregg Vanourek - authors of Triple Crown Leadership

Neerja Bhatia - author of Art of Resilience and Bliss is in Knowing the Self

Diana Brooks - longtime Leadership Forum member and terrific coach

Just to be clear... we're not declaring war on PowerPoint itself.  PowerPoint is simply a tool.  And like any tool, it can be used well... or it can be damaging.

With that clarified, we have declared war on crappy PowerPoint..!   We're determined to rid the world of horrible PowerPoint one presentation at a time.

To mark the occasion, we kicked off the revolution last night with the launch of the Power Presenters Meetup Group, and our first public workshop on creatiing more effective PowerPoint presentations...!  

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to support the revolution and carry out the first mission.  For pictures of the event and all of the fantastic, smart, insightful, and attractive attendees, click here.

A big thank you to our favorite coworking space New Work City for hosting and co-sponsoring the event.

Please join the Power Presenters Meetup Group for infomation on all future events - which will focus on all aspects of effective presentation and communication.

Viva La Revolution....!!!

This December, BigBlueGumball was happy to deliver our first workshop for the UJA Federation of New York.

As professionals, we all need to influence in some way.  And, since Visual Storytelling is such a powerful means of communication and influecning, it only made sense to deliver a workshop on Influencing Through Visual Storytelling.

So what does that look like?  See the presentation here:

At BigBlueGumball... we have a dream... that one day... everyone... will recognize the power of visual communication.

As communicators and presenters, we all recognize the power of words.  What is often overlooked though, is the added impact that visuals have on an audience.  The power of visuals not only comes from the things we see, but also from the things we hear.  When Martin Luther King, Jr. told us that he "has a dream," he painted his dream for us using vivid language, metaphor, and tone that automatically turned our minds into a canvas for our imagination.

Last week, Todd and I had the opportunity to be guest presenters for VizThink NYC.  Through a series of interactive exercises including VizProvization, VizBiz Pictionary, and sketch-noting, we explored the power of visual communication, and unleashed the power and creativity that existed in all who attended. 

VizThink events tend to attract incredibly creative, talented, insightful, and friendly people from around the globe, which always makes each event a fantastic experience.  Last week's event drew people from as far away as Sweden, California, Westchester, Long Island, and the Upper East Side...!

To more fully engage in the experience, please check out the following links:

VizThink.com (event write-up)
http://vizthink.com/blog/2011/04/02/the-power-of-visual-communication

Pictures on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/merrybrain/sets/72157626408290350

Visuals For Change (blog post with sketchnotes)
http://www.visualsforchange.com/blog/2011/03/31/vizthink-nyc-presents-the-power-of-visual-communication-with-bigbluegumball/

Present Your Story (blog post with sketchnotes)
http://www.presentyourstory.com/blog/2011/4/5/vizthink-nyc.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Special thanks to VizThink, MJ Broadbent, Ray DeLaPena, Amanda Lyons, Nolan Haims, and Liquidnet.

Last week, VizThink NYC hosted another fantastic event for the visual thinking community.  As always, I'm thrilled to be a part of the VizThink NYC crew, and thrilled to be associated with such great people. 

Here are a few excerpts from the post-event recap:

No, the picture on the right is not from some ritualistic cult ceremony or a crazy torture experiment…it is from the February 2011 VizThink NYC event entitled “Drawing for Thinkers Workshop” led by guest presenter Liz Burow.......

“Draw like a robot…or a caveman” were among the mantras for the evening, as participants honed their skills to increase effectiveness and confidence to communicate ideas, visualize problems, and create stronger human connections....

For the full event recap, please check out the post on the VizThink blog:

http://vizthink.com/blog/2011/03/01/drawing-for-thinkers/

And please let us know if you'd like to be informed of upcoming events...!