On 30 March 2021, Future Tuesdays hosted visual facilitator Stéphanie Heckman. Heckman with the support of Future Screens NI has pioneered visual facilitation in VR during the pandemic. When the Covid-19 Crisis emerged Stéphanie identified the challenges of facilitating collective working during the pandemic. In response she developed a hand drawn immersive space for collaboration in response to Covid-19. Stephanie has also tested and developed prototypes for generating VR illustrations to support collective working through visual facilitation.
Stéphanie is a visual facilitator who had observed the unique set of challenges digital platforms pose to a streamlined communication experience. Heckman has pioneered immersive technology to explore visual facilitation in response to the risk of missing nonverbal cues and clues, proper eye contact and attuned ‘turn-taking’ in speech, and everything from gesticulation to the tactility of whiteboards, paper, and post it notes that are employed in collective planning. With VR drawing apps Stéphanie created live streams in zoom and developed immersive worlds for visual facilitation generating new platforms for collaboration during and beyond the Covid-19 Crisis.
For Future Tuesdays Stéphanie took us through her journey with VR and introduced us to her beautiful and inspiring immersive work.
Alongside her work as a visual facilitator and graphic recorder, Stéphanie is a singer-songwriter under the name Soma Saloli. Hailing from the Netherlands, Stéphanie lives in Belfast where she combines her passions for the arts and the outdoors with academic and professional training in sustainable leadership development.
You can find more about Stéphanie’s work here: