Book Review: The Flipchart Coach

Photo of the book “Der Flipchart Coach”; Photo by the author, background from canva.com

I like to paint, but my paintings are more abstract art. To illustrate something on a flip chart or whiteboard, on the other hand, has always been difficult for me. That changed when I discovered the book “The Flipchart Coach” a few years ago.
It is unfortunately only available in German, but the text is not so important as the graphics. And there are a lot of illustrations and examples in the book. The “round stick figures” are dear to my heart, and I use them on many occasions. The book is the only one on visualization techniques that I regularly refer to.

“Der Flipchart-Coach. Profi-Tipps zum Visualisieren und Präsentieren am Flipchart” is a book by Johannes Sauer and Axel Rachow, published by managerSeminare Verlag in 2015.

Axel Rachow and Johannes Sauer are trainers, coaches, consultants, and facilitators and have many years of experience in presentation and moderation.

Their guidebook for working with flipcharts provides practical information in four chapters on equipment, design, composition, and presentation. The book aims to enable the reader to improve their presentation skills and professionalism.

• The “Equipment” chapter includes information on flipchart paper, flipchart use, pens, and wax crayons, and transporting, mounting, and storing flipchart sheets.
• Writing and the essential techniques of flipchart design, such as outlines, frames, shadows, figures, and areas, cover the authors in the “Design” chapter.
• In the “Composition” chapter, Johannes Sauer and Axel Rachow give step-by-step instructions on setting up flipcharts, enriched with many practical examples.
• The book is rounded off by the final chapter, “Presentation”, which presents principles and effects for effective presentations.

The book impresses with its clarity. The four main chapters in the book are in different colors. Each chapter begins with a short description and then shows the topics that await the reader in an overview, numbered consecutively, each described with a graphic and a sentence. The detailed subdivision is also found in the table of contents.

Beneficial are the numerous examples. First, the respectively finished flipcharts are exemplified, but the…