Maybe you are like me and are slightly uncomfortable selling your skills to others. Every time I think that I am getting more comfortable with it—I weird out again. (Sigh!) Don’t get me wrong—I know that I know my stuff, I have amassed a lot of experience and I am genuinely a good teacher.

But saying it—is hard. (Sigh!) I am always forcing my participants to play in areas that are out of their comfort zones, so that is what I did this week by sending out a message to my network. It went like this…

Won’t you be my neighbour?
I have always wanted to have a neighbour just like you I've always wanted to live
in a neighbourhood with you
…Since we're together, we might as well say
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbour?
— Mr. Rogers (one of my idols)

This photo above is from my neighbourhood—actually just a few blocks from my current home in Tampere, Finland. I would like to invite you to spend some time here learning with me and other wonderful humans from around the world with the help of technology. Here are 5 reasons why you should Zoom on in!

01
SHARING IS CARING! I WANT TO USE MY EXPERIENCE 
TO HELP YOU TO THRIVE IN THE DIGISPHERE.

I have been working digitally and pushing the boundaries of the both/and space of digital & analogue methods for a long time—and I want to share that knowledge with you! There is no perfect app or software out there for visual practitioners—so I have learnt to bend the tech to my desired outcomes and I will share my hacks with you with love. 

02
I CAN HELP YOU TO DEVELOP YOUR MINDSET & COMMUNICATE THE POSSIBILITIES TO YOUR CLIENTS

Of course you need to know about & be able to use technology, but moreover you need the right mindset. Focussing on WHY & your client’s goals will help you to provide them with the right choices. You might have supported clients in the past a certain way, but you need to let your work change and adapt to the current situation, being future-oriented.
I have experience supporting and hosting virtual, hybrid and face-to-face meetings. I will openly share concrete examples with you & the thinking behind my choices. READ MORE ABOUT MY THINKING BEHIND THE WORKSHOP

03
YOU NEED TO CREATE UGLY WORK AND NOT BE AFRAID TO FAIL IN A ENVIRONMENT THAT IS SUPPORTIVE AND CHALLENGING

If everything you are creating right now looks beautiful, then you are not making anything new. Reread that last sentence and think about it! Experimentation, exploration and serious play is what you need to be engaging in to find YOUR new ways of doing things. I think I have made every mistake there is and have every experienced every tech disaster—and I will share them with you so that you will know what to do IF or WHEN they happen to you! READ MY OTHER BLOG POSTS TO SEE SOME OF THE THINGS I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT…

04
IT TAKES A NEIGHBOURHOOD! 
KEEPING UP WITH THE TECH, THE PLATFORMS, THE SHARING OPTIONS…YOU NEED TO BE PART OF A SHARING NETWORK IN ORDER TO THRIVE

One of my purpose-driven goals has been to convene community around learning. It has brought me so much joy to see that after my workshops people have started meeting without me and supporting & challenging each other. 
I have also been happy to convene alumni around different themes from time to time. I try to keep communication flowing through free access to the material we have created during the workshop & that I (or participants) update from time to time even when the workshop is over! I love researching and finding agile ways of working.

05
THIS IS JUST WHAT I THINK—SO READ FOR YOURSELF WHAT PARTCIPANTS ARE SAYING ABOUT MY WORKSHOPS

“Best professional development workshop EVER! ”

— LESLIE SALMON-ZHU, CONFERENCE ARTS AND INSIGHTS

“I was awed by your brilliance, Raquel. It’s one thing to see your work, but another to see you doing your thing. I had a lovely time with everyone learning and sharing, making connections and playing together. ”

— SUNSHINE BELBELKACEM, PRESIDENT OF THE IFVP, THAT GIRL SHINES

“This class is a game-changer. Do it!”
“So much great learning! I was inspired by your approach and work. I sold a new deliverable for a team too that blended images and text, so the workshop already paid for itself. 

— NEVADA LANE, LANE CHANGE CONSULTING

“I’ve now taken 3 workshops with Raquel - two in person and one online - so I consider myself highly qualified to sing her praises. And I will sing them loudly and with gusto, because Raquel is one of the most gifted, generous, creative and imaginative teachers I’ve ever learned with. For starters, she knows a ton about almost everything to do with digital graphic facilitation, and what she doesn’t know, she learns overnight. She is also so infectiously enthusiastic about every geeky aspect of the work that you can’t help getting caught up in her enthusiasm even if you can’t imagine how you’ll use it. (You will.) Even more, Raquel has an endlessly curious mind and an improvisational mentality that sees every roadblock as an offer, and never met an app she couldn’t hack to make it do things its designers never imagined it doing. Most of all, she has a generosity of spirit that is unmatched, sharing her knowledge openheartedly, showering her students with resources, and continuing to make herself available long after the workshop is over. If you want to learn digital graphic facilitation, sign up right now for any course Raquel offers. You will be glad you did, and you will undoubtedly want to come back for more. I may yet find myself signing up for a fourth…”

— AVRIL ORLOFF, OUTSIDE THE LINES

“I can really only recommend to go on this journey! Raquel is the best teacher you can imagine, and brings out the best of the, at times overwhelming, amount of possibilities that we have in digital scribing and facilitation she creates a wonderful, creative and experimental space, where it is also possible to work with any fears/insecurities etc around working digitally. I can just say: GO GO GO!”

— MONA EBDRUP, VISUAL CONFIDENCE

“Thank you for everything!! I have been talking about your workshop NONSTOP!! Your creativity and passion for what you do was so inspiring!! Thank you for creating such a great incubator for all of us to share and learn and to learn and to meet so many fabulous and talented women!! ”

— LYNNE DALGLEISH, VISUAL TALKS (THIS WORKSHOP TURNED OUT TO HAVE ONLY WOMEN PARTICIPANTS)

“So much freaking fun... and learned so much!”

— LEAH SILVERMAN, DESIGN BY LEAH

“It was a fun 4 days with lots of learning from Raquel and co-learning and sharing with cohorts. Well worth it. Raquel Benmergui, I still don’t know how you flipped from one app to another, you Goddess you!”

— ROSANNA VON SACKEN, ADVANCED CONSULTING & FACILITATION  

“ It was an absolutely wonderful experience that opened up several new lanes for me.”

— JULIE STUART, MAKING IDEAS VISIBLE

“I’m so glad to be finding ways to bridge the great analogue-digital divides. Workshops were both incredibly rich. Thanks to the amazing Raquel!”

— EMILY JANE STEINBERG 

“Highly recommended - my time with Raquel was transformational!”

— ANGELIQUE MCALPINE, DRAWING IMPACT

“Raquel's workshops helped me feel confident and skilled pivoting to fully remote graphic recording work!”

— KARINA BRANSON, CONVERSKETCH

“Highly recommended! This workshop is a gamechanger ... not only to use different approaches on how to draw digitally but also on how to create a different innovative process using and mixing different technologies with ease.”

— SABINE SOEDER, COCREATIVEFLOW

Reading the words that my colleagues, colearners and lifetime neighbours have written motivate me to keep sharing, talking about my work and finding new people to learn with.

So, there. I did it. Still feeling slightly uncomfortable, but if I am not feeling any discomfort I am not growing. So now it is your turn.

Do something to further your own goals…that might make you feel uncomfortable! Don’t overthink it! GO!❤️

Hi Beautiful Nerds!

I am trying my hand at sharing some “how-to” videos online as I am getting requests & so many questions. In this strange and challenging time, people are having to suddenly start working online & digitally.

I have been working digitally for a long time, but I have never abandoned beautiful paper & other wonderful tools like pens, markers & post-its. So what. does it mean to work “digitally”?

Right now, I think the focus should be on trying to work online or remotely. When you frame your thinking in that way, your thinking can open up to a world of possibilities and you can build on your strengths.

So, use your strengths. If you are adept at drawing on paper, then find ways to incorporate that skill. Don’t just abandon it. If using a tablet can better serve your purposes, then by all means use it—but it is not the only solution. Think both/and, not either/or.

In the video above, I show you how to use markers & paper in a Zoom meeting & project your graphic recording instead of your face. There are other solutions as well, like the one @tusamotus has found.

My focus has always been on supporting understanding, furthering dialogue and spreading joy. If I keep those 3 things in focus as I work remotely, I remain committed to not letting the tools available limit me or my creative problem solving.

As always, there are workarounds. Any software or platform you use will have strengths & limitations. Breathe. Take a beat. Remain playful as you discover new tools online and find new ways of working. But don’t abandon everything you know.

Take care & stay home ❤️

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I am a both/and-kinda person.

I love paper!! I grew up keeping a diary as a child & I still use notebooks on a daily basis. I am definitely a pen, marker and pencil nerd. Aaaad at the same time I love working digitally! Embrace both/and-thinking & you will unleash exponential possibilities in your work. That is one of the takeaways I know that the participants got from my workshop in Chicago in October.

It was such a great gathering of yet one more group of curious professionals who are open to a mindshift as to how they are working and thinking visually. I have been experimenting with digital, analogue and blended methods for many years now and it was fulfilling to share what I have learnt. If you are interested in learning more, keep a lookout as I am in the midst of scoping places in the San Fransisco Bay Area for my next workshops in 2020 in January/February and in March in Amsterdam.

In the meantime, here are 3 tips from the many I share in my workshop:

1. Let the tech change the way you draw.

I went through a difficult time in my life at the same time as I got my first iPad. It was a 1st generation iPad that you had to draw on with a rubber-tipped stylus or your finger. I downloaded some drawing apps and settled on working with the Paper53 app & started drawing in a way I had never drawn before. Because I could not do what I had always done on paper, I simplified my drawing style and I discovered a new way of expressing myself. What should have been a limitation actually became a newfound freedom. It was a possibility to do things differently. So, I used colour, basic shapes and began to draw these autobiographical moments of holding on, recharging and finding resilience. In a period in my life that was fraught complexity and taking care of a family member—I found comfort in simplicity. The images above were all drawn on that 1st generation iPad. I called them Electric Doodles and posted them on my Tumblr!

So, play with the brushes, pens and tools available in your app. Stop wanting it to be like your trusty marker & paper! Let your drawing style adapt, evolve and change.

2. Explore what YOU CANNOT do on paper
At times, analogue methods & tools can be the most innovative or most suitable for the intention of the meeting. Other times, digital tools can provide engaging options. And when you have learnt to use both you can choose the option that best serves the context.

When you work digitally, you can:

• use the photo, video & audio recording functions of your devices to create part of your visuals

• capture content you might want to use later to double check the content of your visuals (during the breaks, for example)

• take advantage of images that you have predawn to enable you to work faster live (See one of my older blog posts for more on this.)

• create quick & easy animations
  or gifs of content for added impact

When working digitally really go for it. Don’t fight it & see where that road takes you!

3. Adopt a both/and mentality.
You do not need to think that you have to choose between working digitally or working analogue. There is so much you can do in the interesting liminal space that exists between both mediums.

You don’t need to draw on a tablet to use digital methods. For example, you can break out your watercolours and project your drawing live & large with the aid of a document camera. I use an Ipevo. You can record the whole thing and edit the video after the event!

You can print your digital work using on or offsite printers or bring your own portable printer. Making your digital images analogue can serve a different purpose,

4. Get curious & experiment!

There are no rules. The goal for you is to serve the people in the room. That could mean helping your client to obtain their desired outcomes, being a critical listener, furthering understanding or any number of reasons you have been asked into the space. How you do any of these things is up to you!

Maybe you can find inspiration, meaning or a metaphor in the actual venue? Perhaps it is in the setup of the space? The way the speaker moves or interacts.

It can also be the technological possibilities that provide the new possibility of meaning-making.

Stay present. Stay open. Offers are everywhere. Say yes—and build on that.

P.S. A peek into my personal digital sketchbook
As I look back on some of my own professional development opportunities in 2019, I thought that I would include a few of the digital visual captures I have made for myself. Walking the talk, as they say.

The images below are from Kelvy Bird’s workshop at Briar Cliff Manor; USA in February 2019.

And these last images are some of the ones I made at this year’s IFVP Conference in Montclair, New Jersey, USA. (July/August 2019)

Next time, I will be reflecting on a three year project called Beyond Text, funded by the EU that ended this autumn—where my goal was to go for fail and discovered an enormous amount in the process!