Climer Cards with Dr. Amy Climer

Climer Cards with Dr. Amy Climer
Deepening conversation, sense-making, and connection through metaphor

Join Dr. Amy Climer, innovation consultant, facilitator, and creator of the internationally used Climer Cards, for a highly interactive session exploring how metaphor-based image cards can transform the quality of group conversation.

Originally developed by Amy for her own facilitation practice and launched through a Kickstarter campaign in 2012, Climer Cards are now used in more than 60 countries. They are simple, elegant, and surprisingly powerful. A deck of hand-painted watercolor images designed to invite metaphor, specificity, and depth. When people can point to an image rather than speak abstractly, conversations change. They become clearer, more honest, and more human.

This session is designed for facilitators, coaches, leaders, educators, and anyone who works with groups and wants to help people think, feel, and communicate more effectively.

What we will explore
Participants will experience Climer Cards the same way groups do in in-person facilitation settings. You will select cards in response to thoughtfully crafted prompts, share meaning in small breakout conversations, and reflect on how metaphor shifts both what is said and how it is heard.

Together, we will explore how image-based metaphors support sense-making, emotional awareness, and shared understanding. Amy will connect hands-on practice to accessible neuroscience, showing why it is often easier for people to express complex, ambiguous, or future-oriented ideas through a concrete visual reference.

You will also learn the simple structure behind using the cards effectively. How to choose prompts, how to frame questions, and how to adapt the method for everything from strategy sessions and retrospectives to budget conversations and team check-ins.

What you will experience

• Using Climer Cards live through the virtual platform
• Selecting images that represent ideas, feelings, or perspectives
• Small-group conversations that surface depth and specificity
• Group reflection on how metaphor changes communication
• A guided tour of multiple Climer Card decks, including themed and multilingual options
• Practical examples of using the cards in both virtual and in-person settings

Amy will also share the evolution of the decks, including expanded image sets, cards designed to hold more difficult or darker interpretations, and versions that incorporate feeling words in multiple languages to support emotional literacy across cultures.

Who this session is for
This workshop is ideal for facilitators, visual practitioners, coaches, consultants, team leaders, educators, and anyone curious about tools that help groups move beyond surface-level conversation. No prior experience with Climer Cards is required. Just curiosity and a willingness to explore.

Dr. Amy Climer is a best-selling author and expert on innovation in teams. She facilitates innovation with forward-thinking organizations such as the Mayo Clinic, FOX Sports, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the University of Wisconsin. With a PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University and over 25 years of experience working with leaders and teams, she is widely regarded by executives as an asset to helping lead for innovation. She is the author of the best-selling book Deliberate Creative Teams: How to Lead for Innovative Results, a book for leaders who want their teams to be more creative, but don’t know where to start. Dr. Climer’s TEDx talk The Power of Deliberate Creative Teams explains her research and philosophies on innovation. She is the designer of Climer Cards, a creativity and teambuilding tool used by thousands to deepen conversations and generate ideas. In 2016 she won the Karl Rhonke Creativity Award from the Association for Experiential Education. In 2024 and 2025, CEO Monthly recognized Dr. Climer as the Most Influential CEO of Team Development in the Southeast. As an innovation consultant, she can help any leader whose team is stuck to experience innovative success by utilizing her Deliberate Creative Team system.

Keep in touch at:
Climer Cards: https://climercards.com
Climer Consulting: https://climerconsulting.com
Amy’s Book: https://climerconsulting.com/book/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/climerconsulting
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyclimer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyclimer/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/amyclimer

• Order Climer Cards at climercards.com
• Find Amy’s award-winning book, Deliberate Creative Teams: How to Lead for Innovative Results at https://climerconsulting.com/book/
• Learn about Dr. Amy Climer’s training and consulting at https://climerconsulting.com

Hosted by NOVA Scribes, this session blends hands-on practice, reflection, and practical facilitation insight. You will leave with new tools you can immediately apply and a deeper appreciation for the quiet power of metaphor in group work.

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NOVA Scribes has entered into a partnership with the IFVP: the International Forum of Visual Practitioners! This workshop is an IFVP Learning Lab. All IFVP members have access to Learning Labs at https://ifvpforum.circle.so/c/learning-hub/

This workshop will be recorded and posted on YouTube for anyone who cannot attend. You can find the YouTube link in the Comments section of this NOVA Scribes Meetup event once the workshop video has been uploaded to YouTube.
You can find previously recorded videos at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJfInZHmS8prj2_DUaJ35CYY8n7SzoPMJ

We’re not charging for this workshop, but we will be asking for donations! Donations cover the costs of hosting events on Meetup, to honorariums for new graphic recorders, and scholarships.

Please be sure you are registered on Meetup! If your Zoom name doesn’t match your name on Meetup, you will not be admitted. (We’ve had Zoom bombers.)