Nick's creative experimentation with Neuland markers
In the old days, I used to wander into a training room and use whatever pens were to hand. A lottery at best; a selection of permanent markers to use on the whiteboard or maybe just colouring pens, great for my daughter to use, but too thin to be read beyond the front row.
Then some of my friends from Xpand International in Germany introduced me to big fat markers. Big enough to be read at a distance, and refillable as well. Which was great. Until I realised that where they got them wouldn't ship ink to the UK. And I couldn't find a local stockist. And actually big fat pens (maybe too big?) were only as good as the poor quality of my rushed handwriting. But I put up with it because I didn't know any better.
And then I signed up for a bikablo course. Prior to it, I was sent a pack containing some basic Neuland markers and a pad of squared paper. Brilliant.
The course revolutionised the way I created flipchart pages (I now write MUCH slower in facilitation sessions) but a large part of that was a good set of marker pens. Big enough to be seen at the back of a room, thin enough to be decipherable. With solid nibs that didn't degrade as quickly as previous incarnations (and easily replaceable when they did wear down). And very easily refillable.
But then I discovered the full range of Neuland colours and I was in heaven. So I bought some more. And then extras on top - almost addictive, but in a good way.
At that stage it was a bit of a hoarding exercise. But the more I used them, the more I noticed how training participants appreciated the more pictorial nature of my scribblings. And I also realised how much more enjoyable I was finding that aspect of training courses. I was no longer simply recording words, but trying to create artefacts that could be added to the course record. My writing had become neater, my lines straighter (gridded paper is wonderful), and the posters more colourful and adorned with occasional drawings.
And then pre-made posters started to take the place of some of my powerpoint slides. And then new courses were written where the first resource created was posters, and basically only slides if there are photos to show.
The final piece of the jigsaw was translating this to online courses, where showing slides is so much less faff. But once I was bitten by the creative bug there was no stopping where the infection would take me. So I then invested in a camera to mount over the side of my desk. It means I can now switch to that camera mid-workshop and use it exactly as I would a flipchart in the room, except it's now landscape mode, using A3 paper, and my pens are scaled down to FineOne Outliners and No.One colours. Otherwise it is the same process.
Ultimately, it's still the basic set that I use most often. And you'd be amazed how the simple application of a grey shadow to all my boxes regularly elicits comments from course participants. And being able to use colours that are fairly close to a companies brand colours gets noticed too - a simple but effective message that they are not just part of a sausage factory.
So I'm now fully invested. My training courses have shifted significantly, but so has my view of what I am capable of and what I am willing to experiment with. And my workshop case of resources generates pen-envy at every seminar I go to.
Not bad for a wee investment in pens and training.
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Nick helps excellent technical leaders to be equally brilliant dealing with people, through coaching and training sessions, both indoors and out. He is passionate about being outside, riding a bike, paddling a canoe, sailing a boat or simply walking - passions he shares with his wife and 9 year old daughter. His other great loves are rugby and drumming.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-smith-leadershipcoach/
