Why I started to use MindManager

The story of how I found out about Mind Mapping and MindManager. In 1995 I attended a "Learning Organisation" Conference in London whilst a Unilever employee. At that time I worked for the Manufacturing Performance Improvement group for the Foods division based in Vlaardingen (half way between Rotterdam and the Hook of Holland), The Netherlands. I sat next to a gentleman who was taking notes in a very different way to me. I had my A4 lined book in portrait orientation and he had his unlined or blank A4 pad in landscape. I took four pages of notes per speaker, he used one page. What was happening? After three presentations I plucked up the courage to ask him what he was doing.

"I am mind mapping them" was his response. "Oh" I said "Please explain.". "Well you put the theme or title of the speakers presentation in the middle of the page and draw a circle round it. As they speak you branch out with the titles of each section and take further keyword notes on branches or twigs. You can add images, colour and relationships as you go to make it more memorable and understandable." he said.

"Ah" I said " so you get each speaker on one page. That's powerful. What do you do with it after the meeting?" He replied "I give it to my secretary in Hong Kong and she enters it in to a computer program. This creats a tidy and readable map which can be sent to my colleagues"

A few weeks later Unilever sent me on "Garden Leave" as I had resigned to join a competitor Anchor Foods. I bought Tony Buzan's book "Use Your Head" and mapped my back from The Netherlands to Swindon and in to my new postion as Chief Engineer. After a few months I remembered the software and downloaded MindManager 3.5. I have been using the software almost every day since October 1998.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• MindManager
• Mind
• Mapping

[xJPCx18]

Can you mail me the name of the guy which you meet in Vlaardingen ? I do know him too but I lost his name.

[cabrevids]

Sorry I have no idea who you are referring to. I did work in Vlaardingen.

[xJPCx18]

Hi, I am refering to your text remarks on the right side

[djdieg0]

Dude - nice video.. i would've loved to see some examples of your mindmaps.. the video doesn't quite hook me, but it's nicely done.

[aquanitor]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[red213]

Nice.