GBN's offices impressed me as a space for thinking full of tools for thought, and where at every turn, the output from group collaboration was hanging from the walls. Most stimulating were the large and colorful hand-drawn information tapestries (not pictured) that represent a facilitation technique called graphic recording.

Throughout the morning, Erik Smith jotted down most of the group's comments on to colored Post-It Notes and tacked them to a large paper sheet (1). Someone else typed up notes on a laptop, and audio was handily captured with an Olympus DM-10 Digital Voice Recorder.

After lunch, the invited guests dispersed, and I discussed the morning's ideas with Erik and Rebecca Wayland. Erik also helped me shoot a video tour of the offices for me to use as a trip report (2 & 3). We wrapped up at the end of the afternoon so that I could drive back across the bay (4 & 5) to leave my car at my hotel.

Dinner was with Erik and Rebecca (9) at Cafe Niebaum-Coppola in the historic "flat iron" Sentinel Building (6 & 8) in North Beach. The building not only houses this superb cafe and bar, but is also the home of Francis Ford Coppola's film production company, American Zoetrope (7).

To make this a completely full day of thought provoking conversations, I met up with John Zapolski (10) of the Management Innovation Group at Kells for a late night drink and mind meld.

- mike lee - san francisco ... and bah! we didn't bid high enough on the house on east hamilton street, so our home search begins again ...