Fluent Brain

Most mind mappers simply export their huge one-page mind map to PDF or to an image.

The map contains way too much information. It is hard for other people to understand it, and know where to look. There are just too many branches.

Also, most maps that I come across do not look professional and attractive, such as the example below:

Would you like to be able to create beautiful professional handouts easily from your mind maps? Below is an example of what you can produce, in three easy steps.

Keep reading to learn how! (more…)

 Over the last 3 months, I had the privilege of interacting with Steve Yang (Stephen Zhu), Marketing Manager at XMind Ltd. I have been impressed with his friendliness and responsiveness.

I believe that their software is the best option for most people who are looking for a solid mind mapping tool, at an affordable cost.

So I have started recommending it a lot more to my clients and on this blog.

As I was thinking of ways to spread the word, I figured that interviewing Steve would clarify the value proposition of XMind, and help you decide if this is the right mind mapping tool for you.

I personally added the images and tweaked the wording in some of the phrases, but this is in essence the integral questions and answers.

Without further ado, here is the interview! (more…)

Mind mapping like any academic field is in constant flux.

Just when you feel like you have mastered the concept and understand all possible applications, you are surprised by a new study that comes out. We wanted to cover a couple of applications that might be useful in a SMB environment that are new to you.

You may know that mind mapping is effective, but you may not know about these specific studies that demonstrate the efficacy of mind map based learning.

For example, Tony Proctor’s article in Creativity and Innovation Management suggests that in an environment of increasingly complex information, computer generated mind maps are a useful tool for businesses to adapt to the growing need for concise and clear communication. (more…)

So far, Fluent Brain has created about 5000 mind maps in its 3 years of existence.

That is an average of 4.5 maps during every single one of those 1100 days.

The two following themes are the result of that experience, mostly with Mindjet. There is nothing fancy about them. On the countrary, they’re simple, clean and effective. The text is biggest for the central topic, and getting smaller as we head towards the edges of the map. The lines and text are black to be as easily readable as possible.

They’re yours, for free. You can download them below, for Mindjet and XMind.

Feel free to modify them as you wish. (more…)

Images that you download off the Internet are boring.

They’re plain, with various background colors, and it makes for heterogeneous maps.

You can turn your images into photos quickly and easy by using Powerpoint (or other presentation tools and image edition tools) to improve the visual quality of your mind maps.

Here is what a mind map with regular images looks like: (more…)

Only 3 weeks left before the holidays!

If you’re like most people, that’s a scary thought. Do you know where to start to prepare for it? With your work or business taking a lot of your time, you might feel overwhelmed at the idea of planning the holidays, or just the holidays themselves.

You can get ready for it very easily by creating a simple mind map.

Here is an example mind map that I created to illustrate what I mean: (more…)

In the How to Mind Map section of our website, I added (so far) 4 free training videos on how to mind map – there is one introduction video, and 3 videos on various mind mapping tools (one per tool).

And there are three more to come shortly!

If you have any interest in learning how to mind map, you don’t need to pay for a course or a book to get started! Simply watch the introduction video, then choose your software of choice to get instant basic training. It should be enough for you to start mind mapping on the computer!

If you have any questions or comments about what we teach you in those videos, please post a comment right below them, and I will reply within 24 hours.

Here is the link again: How to Mind Map

Biggerplate is an invaluable resource for people interested in mind mapping. It provides over 300,000 free mind maps, which were viewed over 3 Million times! Its community is growing at a feverish pace, and is now up to close to 40,000 members.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Liam Hughes, founder of Biggerplate, to tell us about their new Biggerplate Unplugged events.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and Biggerplate

I am the founder of the mind map library and community at Biggerplate.com. The original idea for Biggerplate arose when I was in my final year of university. I was using mapping software in my studies, and thought it would be great if there was a central library of academic mind maps that could provide key information in an adaptable and ‘brain friendly’ format – so we built it.

Over time, business users have really taken over Biggerplate, and there is now a fantastic mix of business and education map examples and templates that are available to view and download for free. Biggerplate has grown into one of the leading sources of mind mapping content and community in the world, with roughly 40,000 registered members from around the globe sharing and downloading mind maps on a wide range of subjects!
(more…)

You have spoken.

For the last two Monthly Mentors, we had guests in fields that were not related to Fluent Brain’s focus (visual thinking, visual facilitation, mind mapping).

Unfortunately, these webinars didn’t get much traction.

And since most of you guys on our list signed up to get the Supercharging Your Mind Mapping e-book, I figured that you have more interest in mind mapping.

Hence, the next Monthly Mentor webinar will be with me, Fluent Brain’s CEO and Chief Visual Facilitator!

Not sure who I am?

It will be my pleasure to share as much of my expertise with you as I can within that limited amount of time.

I chose a topic right around my expertise, which I believe most business leaders can greatly benefit from: mind mapping.

Here is a sanitized example of a mind map:

(more…)

Timo Kiander is the Productive Superdad.

Thinking of it, he really sounds like a superdad:

• He has a kid
• He’s building his online business on the side
• He has a full-time day job
• And he has very time-consuming hobbies (he’s a marathoner and a triathlete)

Timo teaches people on how to increase their productivity and improve their time management. He interviewed me this week on the topic of mind mapping, as a powerful.

So without further ado, here’s the 30-minute interview. (more…)