Hi, in this video you’ll learn how to upload a Mind Map to NovaMind Connect from within NovaMind.

The text below is basically the script of the movie for those who prefer having it in writing.
(more…)

 

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We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of NovaMind Connect - the new social Mind Map sharing web site from NovaMind.

This video gives you an overview of some of the capabilities of NovaMind Connect:

NovaMind Connect is an easy way for you to share NovaMind Mind Maps with other people. You can upload your Mind Maps to NovaMind Connect and view them online, navigating right down through all the branches of the Maps. You also have full text search capabilities for every branch of every Mind Map that has been uploaded to NovaMind Connect.

NovaMind Connect allows people to comment on your documents, Mind Maps and even on individual branches, and the comments are maintained in threads according to where they were made. This allows you to have conversations with others about the Mind Maps, and everyone can benefit from the additional insights they gain from the conversations and collaborations. You can even be notified by email when someone posts a comment on one of your Mind Maps, so you can come back and continue the discussion.

You can rate the documents to build up a list of both your favorites and everyone’s top rated mind maps.

You can tag the documents with relevant words and build up a communal tag cloud linking to the most popular topics and allowing you to view all the related Mind Maps in just a single click.

You can download the documents as NovaMind files, or individual Mind Maps as either PDF documents or JPG images.

You can build up a group of friends within NovaMind connect, receive messages when they have posted Mind Maps, and send them messages.
You can set up your profile to tell people about yourself, and look not only at other peoples’ profiles, but also at what Mind Maps they have posted, and all the comments they have made.

You can be kept up to date on new Mind Map additions by using the RSS feed which contains links to all the documents as they are added.

You can send links to specific branches and Mind Maps to your friends and associates, and use your favorite bookmarking tool to bookmark them for future reference.

As you can see, NovaMind Connect is a great way for you to connect with other NovaMind users, and the rest of the world, and share the benefits of Mind Mapping with everyone.

Come and try it out at http://www.novamind.com/connect

 

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I have just put together a video based on a story from my dim distant past…about 25 years ago when I first started using Mind Maps. It shows how I made good use of mind mapping techniques to give a great presentation under … trying … circumstances.

There’s lots of information on the NovaMind web site about using Mind Maps for presentations and a good starting point is the following:

http://www.novamind.com/presentations/

where you will find this video and also lots of other information related to Mind Mapping for presentation research, preparation and delivery.

And without further ado, here is the video:

I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

Gideon

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NovaMind is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the latest Mind Map Connection newsletter, which contains information about the latest developments in NovaMind, including:

Mind Manager import functions

MS Project import and export functions

Crossgrade discounts

New Mind Mapping tutorial videos and web pages about how to use Mind Mapping for various types of planning

The “back to school” site license sale starting on 3rd July with 50%+ off a limited number of site licenses. Although this was prompted by the tight funding within schools, it is also open to anyone who is feeling the pinch of tough economic times.

Here is the link to read the full newsletter:

http://www.novamind.com/mind-map-connection/mmc-2008-06-28.php

Enjoy!

Gideon

This video explains what is in each of the different editions of NovaMind Mind Mapping software: Express, Pro and Platinum, and helps you choose which one is the right one for your mind mapping needs.

For a complete feature comparison, please see the NovaMind features page.

 

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The new NovaMind web site is now live with many new features, easier navigation, and better articles about Mind Mapping.

New Mind Mapping Videos, Examples, Case Studies and Articles

As part of the new web site, we have a mass of new information by way of articles, blog postings, and case studies on how people us NovaMind, including:

• A powerful new video and article teaching people what Mind Mapping is and how you can use it (on the new home page)
• The case study about Stephen Feber winning the £22m contract using NovaMind (now including video and PDF report)
• Case study about how to use NovaMind for a Legal Practice (updated from our old web site)
• Case study about Jay Abraham’s marketing teachings and how to implement them using NovaMind
• Case study about how Marc Dussault uses NovaMind for setting up business mastermind groups, and has also included mind maps in his books
• A new article and example mind maps about Mind Mapping in general terms, explaining what they are and how you can use them
• A new article and example mind maps about mind mapping for businesses
• A new article and example mind maps about how teachers can use mind mapping
• A new article and example mind maps about how to use NovaMind for presentations
• A new article and example mind maps about how students can use mind mapping for their studies
• A new article and example mind maps about using NovaMind to enhance your personal effectiveness
• A new article and mind maps to help you work through the process of choosing your mind mapping software
• A new article about the cognitive aspects of Mind Mapping (example Mind Maps will be put in this article shortly)
• A new article about generating innovation using mind mapping
• A new article and example mind maps giving general information about using NovaMind for presentations
• A new article and showing how to prepare presentations using NovaMind
• A new article showing how to deliver a presentation effectively
• A new article with tips on giving great presentations
• A new article on business presentations using Mind Mapping
• A new article on presentations in the classroom using NovaMind

…and more on the way…

I will be continuing to add articles, tutorials, and case studies as well as enhancing these existing articles with videos, examples, and PDF reports where appropriate.

If you have any suggestions for enhancements or new articles or case studies that you would like to see, please let me know.

Easy Bookmarking

We have built in the ability to use your favorite social bookmarking site to link to pages on the NovaMind web site, whether it be blog pages, forum posts, or other pages on the NovaMind web site. You can click on the icon for Digg, Stumble Upon, del.icio.us, Technorati, or Reddit to use one of those services. If you use a different service, you can use the general Bookmark button to bookmark that page.

Easier Linking to NovaMind web pages

On each web page we also have the ability to easily create a link to that page. If you want to create blog posts or web pages that link to articles we have on the NovaMind web site, or just send links to your friends or business associates, this system makes it easy. All you need to do is click on the “Link to this page” hyperlink on the right side of the NovaMind web page, and copy the HTML code.

Better Affiliate and Reseller facilities

We have made the affiliate and reseller facilities easier to find and improved the application process, to make it even easier to become a NovaMind affiliate or reseller.

I hope you find the new web site useful.

Gideon

NovaMind has just added a Jobs section to the web site. This section of the web site will be kept up to date with open positions within the company. Please see the NovaMind Jobs web page for full details of the current open positions.

Well we have the new online store live at last!

What a job it was building it - if I knew how big a task, maybe I would have thought twice about tackling it the way I did. You see, I wanted to create the best possible user experience, and also to minimize the processing costs. Some of the “full service” sites like the one we were using charge up to 15% fees plus fixed processing charges. That’s OK if you’re starting out in business and need something quick and easy to set up, but once you grow, those fees get out of hand. And also although some of the stores have a lot of flexibility to design your own layout, there comes a point where you may want to make it work exactly the way you want it.

So I went with a company who do just the basics, but seem to be responsive and helpful with any issues etc. And although they do have hosted services, I chose to create everything myself - the web pages, shopping cart, submission, dealing with the returned values etc.

I used php and mysql for the web pages, processing and database, and as I got further into it, the processing became more and more complex - sending messages, checking old license keys, checking license key blacklists, handling a wide range of discount coupon scenarios, differentiating new from upgrade purchases, handling currency conversions, working out taxes on the fly, and so the list goes on.

In the end, it turned out to be over 7,000 lines of code to get it all working.

And then we launched. And the real glitches started showing up - people being asked for their shipping address when they weren’t ordering anything requiring shipping, our license key generator not getting passed the information it needed to generate the license keys, and so on.

The first couple of days was just crazy hectic getting everything working nicely. Thankfully it now appears to be all under control, and I think we now have a top of the line web store - but boy did it take some work to get there!

Hi there - well I’ve been finding out over the last few weeks what a big job it is to put a new sales processing system in place. For a long time I have been dissatisfied with our current online store. It is difficult to find the product and license type you want, and as our numbers of affiliates has grown, the limitations of the affiliate system have become more and more of a burden.

It was time to break free.

But what a price that freedom was to cost! I have had to reengineer various bits of our back-end database system and get Florian to update our management systems and processing methods. We’ve had to update the way we handle product updates, licensing, volume discounts, European VAT, multiple currencies, coupon issue and redemption, and how we handle license key generation and distribution etc.

And all that is before we even get close to the web store!

Here’s a preview of what it looks like:

So most of the setup is done now, but I still have to work out how to get the PayPal system to integrate properly with it, do some more testing on the product setup, and finalize various bits of processing.

But when it is done, it will be so much easier for our customers during the purchase process, will integrate better with our systems, and will allow us to make it really easy to be an affiliate and make money selling NovaMind.

With the old system, you had to have a customized download of NovaMind, and had to have a web site to let people download it from etc, but with the new system it’ll be a two minute job for us to set up an affiliate, and we do the entire selling process while you collect the commissions. You just send them to any page on our web site with a special URL.

We already have quite a few resellers who have established themselves under the old system, and some have been making thousands of dollars a month from it, despite the awkward systems, so we are looking forward to having something really good to offer, and really kick the affiliate sales into high gear.

I’ll make an announcement when the new sales system is up and running … stay tuned!

All the best

Gideon

NovaMind are pleased to announce the launch of our new web site, with a lot more information about the uses of Mind Mapping for various purposes, better navigation, and a completely new look and feel.

The extra information includes:

• An example of using a Mind Map as a web site navigation map, on the NovaMind home page.
• Information on how to brainstorm using NovaMind, on the home page, and extended to a special brainstorming page.
• Details on how to use NovaMind Mind Maps for presentations, talks and lectures, with examples on both the home page and a presentations page.
• A section on the home page about the uses of NovaMind in education, also covering some of the reasons why Mind Mapping works so well. This is extended to further information both for teachers and lecturers as well as students.
• A completely new section on enhancing your personal effectiveness.
• More example Mind Maps in the gallery.
• Completely new information on Merlin project manager for Mac OS X.

…and many more enhancements to make the web site a better and more useful place to visit and get the information you require.

The New Web Site

As part of our effort to provide better services to you, we have spent a lot of time putting new features on the NovaMind web site, including the following:

User Forum

There is now a Forum on the web site where you can discuss and share ideas with other NovaMind users.  The forum allows you to post in our open discussions, share ideas and information about uses of NovaMind within different industries, and a showcase area where you can show off your Mind Maps to others.

The forum also has an RSS feed so you can keep up to date that way if you prefer.

You can access the forum at http://www.nova-mind.com/Forum/

Fully searchable Support database

We now have a fully searchable support database with answers to the most commonly asked questions (and some less common questions). The database is organised into categories, so you can browse information by category, and there is a search function where you can search either within a category or across the whole database for the word or phrase you type. 

You can access the support system at http://www.nova-mind.com/Support/

We will be keeping the support system updated regularly, so if you have a question, it is very likely that the answer will be there waiting for you already.

New Categorized Gallery with many new and updated example Mind Maps

We have completely redone the Gallery, making the whole Gallery database driven so we can easily add new sample Mind Maps.

We have also updated every single Mind Map in the Gallery, and added many new Mind Maps. We now have over 50 Mind Maps in the Gallery, and will continue to add new Mind Maps. If you have a Mind Map you would like to share in the Gallery, please either email us using the link at the bottom of the Gallery page, or upload it in the NovaMind forum.

The Mind Maps are now organized by category, with the current categories being: Mind Mapping, Business, Education, Personal Effectiveness, Screenwriting, International Language Support, and Religious.

You can access the Gallery at http://www.nova-mind.com/Gallery/

Categorized, database driven testimonial system, with a number of new Testimonials 

We have replaced the Testimonials page with a new system where the testimonials are in categories, so you can find the ones that are most relevant to you.

At the moment, the categories are: Business, Teachers, Students, Personal Use, Screenwriting, Support, and General.

The new system makes it very easy for us to add new testimonials, so if you have a testimonial you would like to share, please fill in the form at the bottom of the page.

You can access the testimonials page at http://www.nova-mind.com/Testimonials/

There is also a list linked off this page to a list of some of our existing customers.