Four Types of Conversations: Part 2 of 4
The Art of Applied Visual Thinking
The official newsletter of Applied Visual Thinking SUPERHEROES. Vol. 6 No. 6, March 14, 2025
Happy Pi Day!
Today's issue is the second in a four part series about the four key conversation types. If you missed part one about the first key conversation type "Sell", you can find it here. Today we dive into the “Tell” type of conversation.
A "Tell" conversation is one in which you teach a concept or skill (something near and dear to our visual thinking educator hearts). Here's an example in honor of "Pi Day," a nerdy but fun, informal U.S. celebration stemming from the numerical notation of March 4th as 03.14. Want to join the fun? To celebrate, you can bake a pie or follow along with the Pi lesson below.
First, in case you missed it here is a recap of…
The Four Conversation Types
- Sell – Persuade, motivate, and drive decision-making. Whether you’re pitching a product, securing buy-in for an idea, or convincing stakeholders to take action, visuals reduce uncertainty and strengthen emotional appeal.
- Tell – Deliver precise, structured, and digestible information. When explaining a process, providing instructions, or ensuring alignment, visuals simplify complexity and improve retention.
- Consult – Facilitate discussions, provide expert insights, and guide decision-making. Advising a client? Leading a strategy session? Visuals help structure discussions, organize complexity, and create clarity.
- Co-Create – Foster collaboration, spark creativity, and build collective ownership. Brainstorming new solutions? Designing strategies? Visuals help organize diverse input, make abstract concepts tangible, and drive engagement.
Playing with Pi
In visual thinking, circles are one of the seven basic shapes you need to draw anything. Want to learn something cool that is true of all circles?
Pi (π) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the distance around the outer edge) to its diameter (a straight line from edge to edge through the center). No matter how big or small the circle is, this ratio is always 3.14159… and the number goes on forever without repeating. That’s why Pi is considered an "irrational" number—it can’t be written as a simple fraction and has no predictable pattern.
To see Pi in action, try this:
- Take a circular object (like a cup or a plate).
- Wrap a string around its edge (circumference), mark both ends of the string where they overlap.
- Straighten out the string. Measure the distance between the two marks to get the circumference.
- Then measure the diameter (a straight line across the middle).
- Divide the circumference by the diameter—you’ll get something close to 3.14159…!
How else can we apply visual thinking to the Tell? When you or your team are the experts in your area, sometimes you need to present complex, dense or technical information in a digestible way. This is when visuals shine.
✅ Best Visual Tools for "Tell" Conversations:
- Flowcharts & process maps to break down systems into clear steps.
- Numbered visuals to make instructions easy to follow.
- Icons & symbols to reinforce key takeaways at a glance.
💡 Example: An educator introduces the learning model for their course using a circular flow chart. The visual elements in the model relate to the course materials.
Your Challenge: Try It in Your Next "Tell" Conversation
- Step 1: Pick an upcoming conversation where you need to teach, present or tell a story.
- Step 2: Use one of the visual thinking tools above as your framework or create your own. It could be the tool you're most comfortable with or a new tool that you want to explore.
- Step 3: Create a quick meeting map including the key points you want to cover during your conversation. New to meeting maps? Download a free meeting map template here.
- Step 4: Jot down a few notes about how you'll use hierarchy, color and images to support your message.
- Step 5: Grab something to draw on and something to draw with then sketch a quick visual of the visual tool you've chosen.
- Step 6: Practice makes progress: Using everything you've considered/created, take your visual thinking tool a test drive. Enlist the help of a colleague or friend and walk through how you imagine the conversation will go. Notice where the tools provided the support you needed and what might need to be further clarified. Make the necessary tweaks and try again until you feel everything flows smoothly.
- Step 7: Put it to use: Apply your chosen framework during the conversation and observe the impact. Make note of what went well and what you might to differently the next time.
Using visuals, you can deliver important information with ease, clarity and impact. Join us next time for Part 3 in this series as we take a deeper dive into using visuals to structure discussions, organize complexity, and create clarity.
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