Marc Schönwiesner is a trained neuroscientist and Assistant Professor at the University of Montreal. He received his PhD in biology from the University of Leipzig, Germany, and has worked in Finland and England before coming to Montreal. He publishes and lectures about human perception.

Lisa Arora will be recording Marc's session. She has been an IFVP member since 2008. Based in beautiful Victoria, BC Canada, she serves clients throughout North America.

Graphic facilitator Brandy Agerbeck, Loosetooth.com, creates conceptual maps of conversations. Since 1996, her drawing and thinking skills have facilitated groups in finding clarity and understanding their work. Brandy‘s favorite work as a graphic facilitator is with corporate clients with big, complex, abstract issues and messy conversations. Her work tends to be very diagrammatic and colorful.

Lynn Carruthers has been the in-house graphic recorder at Global Business Network for 7 years. "Graphic Recording combines all the things I'm best at:  writing neatly and clearly, listening intently, lots of color, making messes with art supplies, and being involved with a group - though comfortably to the side. 

John Ward has been an active participant in IFVP conferences for over 10 years. He is a graphic facilitator who embraces a variety of arts based methods to help people in organizations think and work better together. His clientele includes Fortune 500 corporations, the US Government, numerous non-profits and small businesses. His recent work has focused on leadership development and the cultivation of visual literacy. This year, John and his wife Suzanne da Rosa, have moved to a home they built in San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico.

Melanie Benn will be recording our panel discussion. She joined the IFVP this year and we welcome her to her first conference. She's nearly finished with her honours degree at York University in Cognitive science.

Nick Payne Nick has been working as an independent graphic recorder & facilitator since 2004 and has worked successfully with a wide variety of businesses and public and non-profit organisations in the UK and Europe (e.g. Pepsico, the National Health Service and refugee organisations).

Nick is experienced in group facilitation - and in recording for other facilitators. He is experienced in supporting specific group processes particularly World Café.

Nick has a particular interest in how the fields of visual practice and education can work together and has worked with higher education institutions in the UK and is currently engaged on a summer school for high achieving students in the Las Vegas public school system.

John Ward captures Nick's presentation. He is a visual thinker/facilitator who will do whatever it takes to wake up peoples’ original thinking skills in a meeting. Most of his work is in leadership development. He is based in San Miguel de Allende in Central Mexico.

Al Selvin is a facilitator, usability specialist, and doctoral candidate at the Knowledge Media Institute, Open University, UK, where his research interests lie in understanding expert human performance in helping people construct representations of difficult problems. He was the original developer of the Compendium approach in the early 1990s and remains a member of its core design team at the Open University, helping to support a global user community. He also has a long-running collaboration with the Center for Creative Leadership and their Visual Explorer approach. As a practitioner, Selvin has facilitated over 500 sessions for industry, academic, and public groups using many visual approaches. He is a Director in the Information Technology Group at Verizon Communications, USA, where he designs user experiences for the call centers supporting Verizon’s residential and small business customers. Previously, he worked as a consultant, user interface designer, technical writer, researcher and musician. He has traveled widely by bicycle and foot in Asia, Europe, and North America. He received a B.A. in Film/Video Studies at the University of Michigan, and an M.A. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin. He resides in Dutchess County, New York, with his family.

Home page: kmi.open.ac.uk/people/selvin

Jim Nuttle will be recording Al's session. He is a graphic recorder, designer and illustrator based in the Washington, DC area. This is his second IFVP conference.

Nick Payne Nick has been working as an independent graphic recorder & facilitator since 2004 and has worked successfully with a wide variety of businesses and public and non-profit organisations in the UK and Europe (e.g. Pepsico, the National Health Service and refugee organisations).

Nick is experienced in group facilitation - and in recording for other facilitators. He is experienced in supporting specific group processes particularly World Café.

Nick has a particular interest in how the fields of visual practice and education can work together and has worked with higher education institutions in the UK and is currently engaged on a summer school for high achieving students in the Las Vegas public school system.

Dawn Sutherland has more than 20 years of experience in senior management roles at several multi-national companies in strategic planning, marketing, product/brand management, communications and advertising.

Dawn is president of the firm Sutherland & Associates Inc., and as an expert facilitator and coach, she helps clients to be more effective and more strategic in their businesses. She has worked with individuals at many levels of the organization (from the front-lines to executive management) and with many different divisions (Research & Development, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Human Resources) at a local, national and global level. Dawn has experience in many industry sectors, including medical technology, consumer packaged goods, government, professional services and academia. Through strategic alliances, Dawn also trains and coaches professionals (e.g. accountants, lawyers, engineers, actuaries) on how to more effectively sell their services and be irreplaceable in the eyes of their clients.

Dawn holds a Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) degree with a minor in psychology (Carleton University) and an MBA (McGill University and Institut Supérieur des Affaires, Paris, France).

Brandy Agerbeck will capture Dawn's session. She started attending IFVP conferences in 2000. Brandy was the speaker coordinator and appreciates all the wisdom and experience brought to us this year.

Mr. Chris McGoff has worked for more than 25 years in driving large-scale change and system transformation. He is the author of a forth-coming book entitled ‘Primes … Essential Knowledge To Lead In Uncertain Times’. He is on the faculty of the University Of Maryland Graduate School Of Public Policy and is the founder of The Clearing - a Washington based strategy-consulting company. Chris McGoff has a comprehensive approach to drive change at the highest levels of complexity and risk. His clients include most agencies in the Federal Government, the World Bank, and the United Nations as well as leaders in the Energy, Health Care, and Manufacturing sectors.

Julie Gieseke will record Chris's session. She is a IFVP Board Member and is compelled to explore the ways in which visual mapping can reach an even broader market.

Recognized in many circles as the Leopard-skin Lady, Donna McGeorge is the trainers trainer. Her no-nonsense approach to developing training that sticks has been developed over 15 years of working as a professional trainer and facilitator.

Donna believes training is a full body sport and her techniques and theories are drawn from the worlds of applied psychology, neuro linguistic programming (NLP), education, vocational training and stage & theatre.

Donna holds a Bachelors Degree in Adult Education, is Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP and holds a Certificate IV in Training & Assessment. She has also dabbled in Psychology, Spiral Dynamics, Learning Styles, Speed Thinking MBTI and Visual Thinking.

Tania von Allmen will be recording Donna's session. She is this year's conference coordinator and joining us for the second time.

Without Annette is the in-house improv comedy troupe at the renowned Ernie Butler’s Comedy Nest in Montreal. Without Annette has performed in festivals across Canada and the U.S. as well as at charity, school, private and corporate functions across Quebec.

Julie Gieseke is a professional Visual Facilitator and coach. She first became involved in the IFVP with the 2008 conference planning team and joined the board last year. As Membership Director, Julie is committed to connecting the IFVP members to other professional networks and expanding the field of visual practitioners. The IFVP membership is a vibrant and creative community with a wealth of knowledge and expertise that she strives to share with new members and communities.