VISUALIZATION    Challenge & Selection:   I am a marketing profession and work in an organization where our team members are  based in different offices and different time zones (Asia & US).  We do a lot of conference  calls to update each other about on-going project. These are all voice calls so there is no  way to know if they are paying attention or understand the contents through facial  expression. We usually talk either early in morning means night for the other team  members who are tired from the working day.  Calls are usually 60 minutes long so we  need to manage the amount of information presented and discussion between the  members.    To ensure that the other team members that are on the conference calls have an  accurate understanding of my contents quickly, I present information using visualization.     Application:   Following are the guidelines I apply when I prepare presentation:

•  Use of images, videos, charts, infographics, tables, etc.  They capture the team’s  attention and simplified complicated information.

•  Slides in bullet points instead of long paragraphs so that they will listen to me,  instead of reading the slides.

•  Keep the number of slides to minimum.

They have been effective for me to communicate my thoughts and bring everyone onto  the same level of understanding effectively.  By using such tools, they also stimulate the  right brain thinking and set the stage for creative thinking.

Insight & Approach  The appropriate selection of images and videos is important. Since there is culture  diversity within the team, an image that’s very popular in Asia may not means the same  in US.   Also, I have to be mindful about the amount of information that I want in a chart  or infographic. Sometimes, I put too much in one and questions that were asked are  more than I could handle.  I feel that I didn’t manage to go deeper into some questions  and uncover those unarticulated needs.     Moving forward, I would also prepare open ended question that would help to solicit  comments.  It is important to focus on creating new possibilities, rather than constraining  the team to give feedbacks that are within the existing solutions. Time management is  key as well.  Where necessary,  I would extend the calls to 90 minutes in order to achieve  quality conversations, rather than rushing through the contents and dicussion in 60  minutes.

