Mind Map with Massive Amount of Content

Time to relax into the technique

In this discipline, the competitor is provided with a written text and is asked to Mind Map the contents not only accurately but with their personal response to it. Demonstrating not just the technical understanding of how to break down large amounts of written information into Mind Map form but an understanding of the content for future review and recall purposes. 

As you can see - a huge amount of information can be gleaned from the text in a very short time. Indeed in this Mind Map, an impressive amount of information has been recorded. 

Central Image

The Central Image for me is a little disappointing. It's very easy when Mind Mapping a text to fall back on “words on a book” as a Central Image but ultimately they become rather generic and less than memorable. For preference, I would like to see this competitor give a more personal association to the content to make the Mind Map much more personally reflective. 

The space on the paper has been occupied very fully, with content rippling down four and five levels showing great competence in reading and understanding the information.  

Refine the Branches

The overall feel to the Mind Map however is rather “prickly” and static with its emphasis on straight lines and hard angles. The one coaching tip I would give this competitor to significantly improve their Mind Mapping would be to remember that the branches should be “organic and wavy” .. flowing into spaces and allowing for more horizontal lines to place keywords on rather than hard to read verticals. 

Tony used to say that “if you had to stand on your head to read a Mind Map then it had gone wrong somewhere” This one tweak would resolve this issue immediately. 

Remember Your Images

There is a lack of images on this Mind Map - which instantly not only loses it points on Championship day but makes it much less memorable and therefore much less effective. Remember you do not need to be a wonderful artist to include images, simple ones will suffice, but images increase what you can remember from Mind Maps by a huge amount. 

Overall this Mind Map displays a high level of competence if not a high degree of confidence in their own creativity. This is an acquired skill .. and I am sure that future Mind Maps will be much more reflective of the fluid, organic way of how the competitors brain works.

Remember this is a Mind Map created under Championship conditions and that in itself is a very stressful process. 

I can’t wait to see what you do in 2022 - when you trust in yourself and allow yourself to express that creativity I know is waiting to be unleashed! 

The Mind Map shows great potential with a few small style tweaks. It is nicely segmented and it is easy to discriminate the sets of branches. There looks to be good categorisation and sub-categorisation going on within the branch structure and is mostly radiant.

Consequences

It is often the case that one small missed opportunity has a knock-on effect later on. The straight, angular nature of the branches on the Mind Map results in running out of space and thus some of the sets of branches resemble a starburst. More curvilinear branches tending toward horizontal text would allow much better use of space and ease of reading. Straight lines are like the hands of a clock. It doesn’t take much before they begin to point inwards. Curves don’t have this restriction. Tony Buzan used to have a vine in his office. It spread out in all directions seeking out the light. In the same way, curved branches can seek out space on your Mind Map.

Basic Ordering Ideas

The branches connecting to the centre are mostly appropriately tapering and nicely connected to the centre. However, some have a tendency to be a little fat though. The branch labelled ‘Stress’ is about right in terms of weight. ‘Management’ and ‘Bien-Etre’ are too a little too bulky. In contrast, the text on the main branches (the Basic Ordering Ideas) seems a bit tentative. This is maybe a consequence of pens available but the line weight is the same as subsequent levels out. The increased size is appropriate but BOIs should also be bold and outstanding – proclaiming the important key categories.

I too have great expectations for what you will do in 2022 – You are only a few steps away from truly great Mind Maps!