PIctures worth thousands of words

The use of whiteboard presentations, especially for short presentations  seems very useful in getting the gyst of a speaker's intent. Even more so than Powerpoint presentations. I first stumbled on one a few years ago when Sir Kenneth Robinson condense a longer speech into an 11 minute whiteboard presentation that was just brilliant!! When I shared it through this blog I had many many people email me their similar positive experience. Changing Paradigms is a classic eye-opener and thoughtful look at education. 



This was rolled on on a website from RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufacture and Commerce)  whose stated mission is
 " to enrich society through ideas and action." 

Their Animates series does exactly that. Changing Paradigms by Sir Kenneth Robinson was first crafted as video that runs just over 11 minutes. You can see how it is both "full of ideas" and the use of the whiteboard, you get the feeling of action.

RSA has also created a series of "Shorts" for those of us with less time to commit to learning. So Sir Ken Robinson's longer talk summarized in "Changing Paradigm" gets even more succinct in the RSA Short, "Finding Your Element" in less than 3 minutes.

I have fallen out of the practice of revisiting the RSA Animate's website, but drifted back there the other day. Here are three really good shorts. It's not to say the others are equally good, but I looked at these but not all of others.

Kate Raworth, whose recent Doughnut Economics is a widely read and acclaimed look at our economic system and some practical/sustainable alternatives has an RSA Short, entitled , "Kate Raworth on Growth" which preceded her more lengthy book. In less than 3 and a half minutes she deftly explains the problem with a focus on economic growth, so dominant in mindsets of our elected officials and too many economists.

In a not too dissimilar vein the "What is a Universal Basic Income?" the animation makes a very quick and clear explanation of this idea of growing interest around the world and which I have blogged about earlier, in slightly more than 2 minutes. 

Akin to Sir Kenneth Robinson's work John Lloyd's "On Knowledge" is a very brief but thoughtful look at how and what we value as knowledge and how it affects our lives. 

The most offering uploaded about a week ago is three plus minute synopsis of Simon Sinek's thoughtful look at "Intensity vs. Consistency". 

All of these animates are based on longer talks that are available as videos on the site. Most of which have not been made into the whiteboard animates summarized here.

Nonetheless, you might want to visit this site once in awhile to be stimulated to think about the world a little differently. Keeping ideas alive.... the possibilities are endless.