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Richard Saul Wurman delighted me when he spoke at the SenseMaker Dialogs last Tuesday in New York City. I remember picking up his book, Information Anxiety for the first time in the early 90’s, a terrified and confident young man, and loving every little bit of it, the provocative micromanifestos, the frequent sidebars, the anecdotes, the impatience with the dreck that gets in the way of understanding. Turns out he speaks the same way he writes–stories, sidebars, provocation, improvisation. Any good improvisor knows that you’ve got to know structure to be good. And nobody loves exploring and applying structure like Wurman.

Below are a few details from illustrated notes I created as he spoke.

View the full set of notes here.

At one point Wurman railed at one of the audience members to stop taking notes. “Listen,” he cajoled, and then launched into an anecdote about how he managed to take way beyond a normal course load as an undergraduate by forcing himself not to take notes—just to listen and open himself to understanding. Of course, I didn’t take his advice! But I get what he’s saying . Take a breath. Put down the pen. Listen. I am actually doing this more often lately. Sometimes notetaking gets in between me and understanding.

I loved his fable of a person sitting by a fire, progressing to groups of people around fires, connected by paths, evolving to what today is a city interlaced with roads. Poetic.

If it’s hard it may be interesting. Comfort is the enemy, simultaneous terror and confidence are your friends. He poked some fun at a guidebook publisher, who makes a lot of money but doesn’t push the envelope of what guide book could be.

You could hear his delight in playing with information, approaching it in different ways, going deeper and deeper, like peeling layers in a neverending onion.

Wurman ended up by emphasizing the power of asking a good question. And maybe that is the beginning of the end of information anxiety. When you have a good question, you can start the hunt for the right information, connected in a way that makes sense, to create understanding.

Thanks to Humantfic and The School of Design Strategies for hosting the event. I will post my thoughts about Gary K Van Patter talk which comprised the second half of the event in a few days.

Here is the full set of visual notes I created of Richard Saul Wurman’s talk. Enjoy!