Articles and News

Is mind mapping a serious business tool? Anthony Landale reports on a technique that is easy to use across a range of business requirements, challenges and tasks.

Time running away, feeling overwhelmed and worrying that you do not have enough hours in the day? Time is the most precious thing we possess and even though we can’t change time we can change ourselves and how we manage our time. Time management is also about how [...]

WIN AN ONLINE MIND MAPPING COURSE
To support Learning at Work Day (19 May 2011), Illumine Training are offering the opportunity to win an online Mind Mapping course.
Improve note taking, think more creatively, improve memory and raise your effectiveness – all on one page with the award winning ‘Introduction to Mind Mapping E-learning course’.
WIN either a [...]

We learn new things every day – at home and at work. Have you ever wondered if you are maximising the way you think and learn?
Most of us think that our ability to learn, read quickly, be creative, and solve problems is fixed. We learned these skills years ago but realise that the qualifications, strengths and skills with which we entered employment [...]

An example of a Mind Map – see more examples at www.mind-mapping.co.uk

The Mind Map® is an expression of radiant thinking and is, therefore, a natural function of the human mind. It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain.

In the first of our Who uses Mind Maps® series, Richard Evans, Marketing Manager of Illumine looks at how marketers in large and small organisations can use Mind Maps to make them more effective.
Larger businesses have a marketing team with formally qualified team members. Whereas most small businesses don’t and marketing can be an overwhelming concept. Whatever [...]

Mind Maps are the ideal tool for effectively accessing natural creativity and harnessing that creativity for effective problem solving. The only limit to the ways in which Mind Maps can be used is the imagination.

It may never be the new rock and roll but for many people professional study is probably more important.
Of course many of us are required to study – and to keep on studying. CPD (Continuous Professional Development), for example, is here to stay and is mandatory in most professional membership bodies. Furthermore, if you are [...]

Mind Mapping is an ideal resource for people managing projects; full-time project managers and line managers. In this article we’ll provide some helpful advice on how it can be applied to these roles and how Mind Mapping software adds another dimension.

If you are one of those people who still takes linear notes in meetings, or you use notes as an aid for training, for course revision or even as a record of ongoing project work then it really is time for a personal breakthrough in productivity. Cut down on your labour, improve your memory and use [...]

Working? Studying? Finding it hard to remember information? Can’t find something on a list? Are you sure you wrote that down somewhere?
Whether you are a business professional, student or both you’ll probably be making a lot of notes. Whether it’s taking notes in meetings or lectures, or making notes on a business report or text book [...]

Illumine, the practical thinking training specialist, has turned its highly successful and acclaimed webinar on Mind Mapping into an equally successful e-learning programme.

Illumine – the world’s leading provider of Mind Mapping training for business – has developed a nine module e-learning programme which provides an introduction to Mind Mapping. Illumine was prompted to produce the [...]

Information overwhelm is a growing problem. People are struggling to cope with all the information that’s overloading them today, making mistakes, forgetting things and losing sight of what’s important.
Information overwhelm is when the quantity of information we receive exceeds our capacity to deal effectively with it. This situation arises most obviously when people are trying [...]

In a previous article we used Mind Chi to create a Plan for ‘Achieving your Perfect Size’ (go to that article).  In this article, Vanda North provides a complete 28 day exectution to ensure you reach your goal. We’ve adapted the following from the book ‘Mind Chi – rewire your brain in 8 minutes a day’
You need to be [...]

There are two distinct parts in the majority of presentations; the part you can prepare for in advance, and the part that involves responding to challenges, questions and objections. In this article, Clive Lewis, Director of Illumine Training, looks at some of the pitfalls in both parts and suggests some ways of avoiding the common [...]

We all know how to think and learn, right? Not according to Clive Lewis, Director of Illumine, the training company that specialises in thinking, learning and creativity.
Being able to think, learn and work effectively used to be regarded as ‘nice to haves’. This perspective was often combined with the view that our ability to learn, [...]

Why Mind Mapping Is The Swiss Army Knife Of Management Thinking Tools!
A new survey of Mind Mapping users in business, sponsored by Illumine training, reveals that Mind Mapping can be likened to the famous Swiss Army knife.

Is Mind Mapping a serious business tool? Here Clive Lewis, MD of Illumine Training highlights the techniques that make Mind Mapping especially valuable for anyone who wants to prepare and deliver compelling business presentations.
Just imagine… you have found a simple technique that helps you pull together and organise all your thoughts for your next project, [...]

As part of a global innovation programme, the worldwide insurer, Allianz, has been looking to develop practical creativity in the workplace. Here Anthony Landale outlines the drivers for innovation and reports on the drive for new thinking at all levels of the business.

Innovation is a big game in business. It promises to break open rigid [...]

I heard a story the other day (it may be apocryphal) about an irate BBC manager who walked into his office one morning and noticed that every single member of his staff was reading The Guardian. He flew into a rage. His exasperation, however, wasn’t caused by his disapproval of that particular publication but by [...]