Q. Why did you start Biggerplate? What was your long term vision when you started?

Although Biggerplate is now known more as a business resource, I actually started out trying to create a resource for university students, because I had experienced the positive impact mind of mapping software in my studying, and felt more students needed to be aware of this tool. I figured a library of academic content in mind map format would be a phenomenal resource for students, as it would enable them to get core subject information in a format that could be re-organised, expanded, edited and personalised in a far more dynamic way than anything else I had ever seen before…

This is the fourth article in a series that features educators who are impacting their students for life by teaching them mind mapping and/or using mind maps as a teaching tool. This month I’m introducing Tim Schweizer who is a Professor of Management at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He is also a Certified Trainer: Six Thinking Hats™, Lateral Thinking™ (Edward de Bono tools), and formerly served as Vice President, Altshuller Institute for TRIZ Studies. Tim and I met in August of 2008 when he attended one of my public Idea Mapping Workshops. Following is his story and some mind maps from his students…

I wanted to continue my exploration of the most important basic mind mapping software commands with the Sort command. Although it doesn’t sound particularly dramatic, depending on the software you’re using, Sorting can become one of your most often used tools. 

There are two primary reasons to familiarize yourself with the capabilities of the Sort command as soon as possible…

‘You feel good about yourself to the degree to which you feel you are in control of your own life.’ — Brian Tracy

The Law of Control states that we feel good about ourselves to the degree to which we feel that we are in control of our own lives. When we are physically, mentally and emotionally controlling the changes in our lives, then this naturally leads to higher levels of achievement, emotional satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment. Uncontrolled change on the other hand leads to stress, anxiety, frustration and misery — all of which signifies that our mind lacks discipline, order and structure…

Mind mapping seems to follow most IT trends that appeared in the last decade. This goes for the “mobile” trend as well, with many mind mapping companies releasing software for mobile smartphones as well as for tablets. But as, much as we love following the trends and expanding the platforms where mind mapping can bring its advantages on there are certainly some limitations in creating mind maps on your mobile phone. 

Most of these limitations are tied to mobile as a platform, not presenting an issue on tablets mind mapping…

‘Making mistake is the privilege of the active. It is always the mediocre people who are negative, who spend their time proving that they were not wrong.’ - Ingvar Kamprad

In mid 1930s, a young boy Swedish called Ingvar Kamprad started his own business by buying matches in stock from Stockholm and selling at good price. He expanded his business to include fish, seeds, christmas trees decoration and pencils.

Kamprad was born in the south of Sweden in 1926 and raised on a farm called Elmtaryd, near the small village of Agunnaryd. 

At the age of 17, Kampard’s father gave him reward for doing good at school. He used this reward to establish a company called IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad from Elmtaryd Agunnaryd)…

Most of us have activities that we do on a regular basis – meetings, plans, reports and more – where we need to quickly organize, distill and utilize information in a productive way. Why not speed these repetitive tasks by creating mind map templates to “automate” their production and improve your productivity?

A well-designed template gives you a “starting point” or framework with the major topics already created, which spurs your associative brain into action. It also saves you time, because you’re not creating the same map from scratch each time you do that activity…

Using Mind Map Memory Maps to improve your memory can take your memory to the levels only achieved by geniuses until now. You may even develop a photographic memory.

Photographic memories:

There are many Mind Mappers out there that claim to have developed photographic memories with Mind Map Memory Maps.

Unfortunately, I have not been so lucky. Yet, I sell the concept of how to improve your memory with Mind Maps and Mind Mapping!

Is this a contradiction? I would like to say, 'No!' Please let me explain…

Fostering innovation and increasing productivity are priorities in every organization, regardless of whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or a brand new startup. One way to achieve both of these goals is through mind mapping. While mind mapping can be quite useful for large businesses, there are some very specific organizational benefits of using mind maps in startups. Let’s take a look!…

Brainstorm your idea in MindMeister:

• Open a blank mind map in MindMeister and write your idea in the root topic.
• Add 3 to 6 first-level topics with significant keywords.
• Explore the details of your idea by adding child topics.
• Let your thoughts flow freely and don’t censor your ideas.
• Don’t interrupt your brainstorming until you’re satisfied with the result or have run out of ideas.

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