Themes > Management > Mind mapping
Mind mapping

In the last issue of POSTSCRIPT we looked at mind mapping which is increasingly used by business people to help them prepare projects, meetings and presentations.

An aid to memory

Mind mapping can be an aid to memory when preparing a project, etc. As you make connections between words, your memory is activated.

Clarity

It is important that a mind map should be as clear as possible. The following points will aid clarity:

  • Vary the size of print to show the relative importance of items on the mind map. The central word or image should have the largest print with other words correspondingly smaller. Write the most important words in UPPER CASE letters. Lower case can be used for the smaller "branches".
  • Write the important key words on the lines.
  • Make the lines the same length as the words if possible.
  • Connect the lines to other lines.
  • Create the mind map with the paper placed horizontally in front of you (the writing should also be horizontal).

Here is the beginning of a mind map drawn by someone who is going to chair a meeting in English for the first time. She thinks the mind map will help her to remember everything she has to do. She could expand the mind map by adding smaller branches giving the more specific details (the names of the people concerned, for example):


Mind map 1


Now, look at the complete mind map:

Mind map 2
   


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