14 days ago it was finally decided that we were to contribute to the Climate Talks held in Barcelona – a 7 days negotiation process leading up to COP15. As a support team of WWF we traveled to Barcelona bringing a lot of ideas and concepts to try out: Ways in which we could apply visual language, visual thinking and visual practice to stimulate the negotiators. We figured that the complex issues of climate change could use a bit of visuals – in order for people to better see what each other means. We have engaged with our colleagues around the world to support these efforts. The above slideshow gives examples of all the ways in which we have “engaged with the Climate talks”. This document now serves as a catalogue which various parties the coming weeks will look at decide how much of it we will also contribute with at the final negotiations in Copenhagen December 8th to 18th.

We have sent out a request to the visual thinking and practice community asking for everyone to contribute with visuals which can explain some of the key messages and concepts discussed during the Barcelona Climate Talks leading up to the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen.

Thank you – so far – to:
* Katrine Clante, Denmark
* Nancy Margulies, US
* Roy Blumenthal, South Africa
* Erik Petri, Denmark
* Harry van der Velde, The Netherlands
* Maja Rottbøll, Denmark

Check out their websites.

During the last 4 days we have tried experimented with making sketches for WWF’s suggestion for 10 steps for succes in Copenhagen.

We have also invited a global network of visual thinkers and practitioners to join and come up with more version. These will be posted shortly.

We are on our second day in the Barcelona Climate Talks. We have taken small steps in applying visual techniques to various parts of the conference. On the above photos you can see Stine working on what will become a display of visuals conveing the essence of WWF’s 10 steps leading to a successful COP15 agreement.

You can see more photos from the first days in Barcelona in the sidebar of this blog.

We have come to experience 9 important steps (see further below) you as a visual practitioner can take to make to takeover a conference with visual tools and techniques:

Step 1: Visualise the main sessions on tablet, and project illustrations when and where possible

Step 2: Casually suggest presenters that you can put up a large piece of paper and start graphically recording what they are saying. Afterwards host conversations with anyone who come up to see the result.

Step 3: Ask everyone what Top 10 words / concepts they’d like to have a visual language for…and provide a space for them to write and seek visuals

Step 4: Collect powerful questions and organise them in a visual way, so that you start creating a visual dialogue tool (more and more people will want one for themselves

Step 5: “Attack” a stand and re-arrange the traditional type of stand into a living visual organisme, changing as people walk by and interact.

Step 6: Take the floor with a sandwich board (two boards put over you with big white paper). Walk around the conference premises and initiate spontaneous sessions where you facilitate a dialogue and create shared pictures.

Step 7: Start using social media to engage your community outside the conference. Invite them to contribute.

Step 8: Continue to create a hubbub around the visuals.

Step 9: Invent more and more ways in which the entire conference becomes visual and the participants can’t help get inspired to go deeper and deeper into the content and issues the conference is about.

We are now on 3rd day of the negotiations and things are getting more and more tense. It will become politics tomorrow and probably some will show new positions. We have made visuals and Stine is in the middle og making a stand, where people can have dialogues.

Update
Last Thursday 4pm we finally got lucky. We have been invited to join WWF international in their work in relation to the ongoing negotiations leading up to COP15 in Copenhagen December 8th to 18th.

Read this post – and get back to us – if you in some way would be able to be involved the coming 4 days:

COP 15 is going to substitute the Kyoto protocol which expires in 2012. The Barcelona Climate Talks are is final “working conference”.

We are on the team of “WWF observers” as “visualisers” basically running around the conference center in Barcelona. We have been here since Friday supporting WWF in their preparation for the 5 days (mon-fri). We participate in WWF morning and evening meetings where 50+ WWF’ers discuss how to influence the negotiations. We will each day walk around in this huge space and visualize the process of the negotiations, facilitate dialogues on the floor…etc. We are supporting WWF putting together powerful visuals which can explain what the talks are about (see from their view)– so that “even your grandmother will get it”. We are meeting and talking with many of the players here, spreading the word about how visual facilitation, graphic recording and other visual support can inspire the negotiations. We are having conversations with the organizers of COP15 of Copenhagen about how we of how we may involve a larger crew in Copenhagen.

A possibility to contribute
As many of you know, I have over the last 2 years on various occasions voiced the question: “If we (the visual community) is what the world has been waiting for, what might be our unique contribution?”.

I have invited everyone to join the effort, but have been silent. Reason – we have tried and tried to find a platform. This now is happening. And I am hoping you’d be interested in jumping in.

The first task
Today WWF will communicate what they see as 10 steps towards Copenhagen. It is a A3 document with 10 statements (see this PDF).

Next task
We are forming a wish list – which we will communicate – and invite you to try visualize.

More tasks
May come – and you are welcome to brainstorm.

The setup in Barcelona
This is a pilot! This means we are testing and trying out as much as possible to inform what we can do more of at COP15. We do not have the answers to many questions. Rather than just being the two of us, we have suggested that we start engaging those of you out there who’d like to join and explore. This is why you we are now posting this on our blog.

Your contribution
To those of you who have time, motivation and interest in joining this pilot, we today will start sending mails and blogrequest about what needs to be visualized (we have asked all WWF participants to describe what they need to have a visual for).

You send us examples (fast sketches in JPG, TIFF, PDF) of visuals which explain the text (a word, situation, concept). As a start send it to us in a PPT and in both color and black and white. We will print them out and post them around the WWF stand – and any space we can conquer.

The illustrations are also put on WWF website and our blog (after having gone through a review by WWF – see below).

Make sure that your name is visible on the drawings you send (that is the most visible reference you will get – but do not make it be too big a part of the picture (See the examples we further below this blog).

We and WWF will do our best to get it a reference list up on the WWF website. The wish is for your name and website to be listed and that it says that you have contributed to the Barcelona Talks.

The visuals you send you will not keep the copyright for. It will be open source and available for anyone to use. We will be working on applying a standard Creative Commons ‘Attribution, Share-Alike’ license (Thank you Roy!).

If parts and bits of the visuals which come in can be used to create a new visual, we, WWF, you and others can do this.

Together with WWF communication we go through material and decide what can be used (this means that WWF has a say if there are visuals which are either controversial, or not reflecting the main meaning intended in the message).

We (Bigger Picture) will publish as much as possible on the Bigger Picture Blog. You are welcome to publish any of this to your own blogs and websites – and spread the word.

You are welcome to post on your own media the following: “I / We are supporting WWF with creating powerful visual language which can inspire and vitalize the climate change negotiations in Barcelona and potentially COP15”.

Risks
It could turn out to be nothing but: your time will have been used to inspire some or maybe many with one or more visuals.

Opportunity
It turns out that the network of NGO pull together funds and a budget allowing a group of (5-10-15) visual practitioners to come to COP15 for 15 days. You may be involved virtually to contribute and/ or to come to Copenhagen and contribute to the various ways in which we find out can create value inside and outside the negotiations.

Please post if you might be able to come to Copenhagen from Dec 6th to 18th?

We hope this is inspiring and transparent. We will try to answer any questions you may have. Looking forward to hear from you.

During the next 7 days negotiations leading up to COP 15 in Copenhagen (the new deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol) is taking place. We are supporting WWF during these days. For each day we will upload visuals of the main issues, ideas and messages which WWF find important to communicate. We invite anyone out there to join us. The above is from the premeetings this weekend. More to come here and on our Slideshare site.