The International Forum of Visual Practitioners was organized in 1997 as a business promotion association supporting the growing practices of graphic recording and graphic facilitation. In our early years, a yearly conference and an email list-serve were the primary forms of involvement.
Though the years there have been cycles of strategic planning. The most recent cycle concluded in 2022, and led to these statements…
The purpose of the IFVP is to serve IFVP members
Our members are:
- Individuals (enthusiasts and solo practitioners)
- Agencies
- In house employees
Our Purpose: As an international organization, IFVP energizes authentic connections for a generous global community of visual practitioners by enhancing professional and learning development through collaboration and valuable resources.
Our Mission: We are committed to energizing authentic connections for a generous global community of visual practitioners by enhancing professional and learning development through collaboration and valuable resources.
Our website is central to our ongoing life as a professional association. We offer two levels of membership with different services. A basic membership allows for access to our training materials. A professional membership provides a member profile page and presence in our searchable map. Professional members may also post blogs and event notifications on our site. All members receive a weekly email update about current news and items of interest.
We conduct a biannual business barometer, the only global survey of our field. This is available to members as a way to stay informed on the business progress of the field.
We coordinate global and regional conferences and summits.
- Regional meetups in odd numbered years
- Global Summits in even numbered years
- Before covid conferences were held yearly
- The first global summit was held in Bilbao, Spain in 2022
- The next global summit will be 2024 in Montclair, NJ
- The 2026 global summit will be in Capetown, South Africa
The board solicits proposals for global summits from regional leaders and works closely with regional summit planning teams to insure the value of programs and financial sustainability.
Each year we offer a number of opportunities for online learning.
Our Online Learning Series provides interactive web based meetings where visual practitioners gather to learn new skills and business insights from leaders in our field. While the live meeting is open to all, the recordings are only available to members.
The IFVP Board of Directors provides governance to the association. Terms are 2 year (renewable) and there are a maximum of 15 members. The board meets monthly by zoom. A nomination process takes place in the Fall of each year and members may nominate themselves or others for consideration. The board is structured with three officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The association is served by three part-time employees: a membership coordinator, a bookkeeper and an accountant. There are at the present time no full time employees such as an executive director. All board members serve as volunteers. The board is a working board, with each member participating according to their time and skills in a variety of initiatives.
Our communication plan is central to our board work. We have board members and volunteers working to provide current website information and to communication through social media. Our communication plan seeks to keep members informed and engaged, and to draw in new members.
There is a place for you! Let us know if you'd like to find out where you might join in our mission!