Welcome to Alphachimp’s blog
A glimpse into the things we’re making, the ideas we’re exploring, and the people we’re meeting.
From small purpose-driven teams to major events in business innovation and technology, we invite you to come along for the ride, including events, graphic recording, case studies, and more.
Personal Mapping for Meeting Others and meaning Making
Alphachimp was invited me to present to the Design Thinking & Innovation Meetup group in Houston. So, Peter Durand showed up, plunged the group directly into visual thinking, and invited them to create a map illustrating their personal journeys, answering the question: “How did I get here?“
World Sketchnote Week 2026: My Personal Journal
Some visual notes from select sessions at World Sketchnote Week 2026 hosted by Ashton Rodenhiser and friends.
Houston 2025 Trailblazer Inspires Innovation Ecosystem
Why was Houston icon Wade Pinder, the Ecosystem Wayfinder, awarded this prestigious acknowledgement by InnovationMap and the innovation community?
Nancy Duarte’s 6-step process for High Stakes Presentations
Learn Nancy Duarte's 6-step process for high-stakes presentations: How to engage your audience and craft a compelling message that resonates.
Houston Energy & Climate Week 2025
During Houston Energy & Climate Week from September 15-19, 2025, Peter Durand & Kristen McLean capture ideas across domains through visual note-taking and graphic recording. From breaking barriers in space to leading advancements in energy, climate, artificial intelligence, medicine, and the arts.
Scribing St. Louis Union Station
St. Louis Union Station combines historic elegance with modern and stunning detail. At a recent industry event, Alphachimp Artists covered it in scribing.
2025 Health Scholar Showcase
Two levels of health science scholar research posters at the 2025 Health Scholar Showcase.
This event brought together faculty researchers, staff, and community guests for an afternoon of interdisciplinary dialogue and discovery as they shared some of the best examples of faculty health research and sponsored programs at Texas State University.
Breaking Down My Personal Notebook “System”
An unsystematic system for capturing ideas, capturing experiences, and getting stuff done. Products include Field Notes, Karst Stone, Moleskine, Airship Notebooks, and Leuchtturm 1917 Classic notebooks.
Visual Stories @ SXSW with TwoLines Studio
Still buzzing from a week in Austin, Texas, and scribing keynotes with Heather Willems and Ona Rygelis of TwoLine Studios.
Speakers include: Arvind Krishna, Conan O'Brien & Johanna Fairies, Cheryl Miller Houser, John Fogerty, Tom Morello, Marc Maron, W. Kamau Bell and Bryan Johnson
Equity Unplugged
"Equity Unplugged" was an honest conversation about the shifting U.S. workforce.
Hosted by Katie Mehnert of ALLY Energy and Xchelsia Jennings of Baker Hughes, this group of professionals from several Houston organizations is interested in making workplaces truly equitable—not simply ticking boxes but creating real change!
Scribing for Children’s Rights & Humanitarian Action
The visual notes behind that spry guy are for the dedicated, hard-working, caring people at UNICEF.
This team of humanitarian action heroes gathered in NYC to design their 4-year plan to help children survive and thrive in 187 countries. They pursue their mandate to uphold the rights of all children, focusing on those left behind by social and economic progress.
Seven Days of Sketchnotes
Here is a short video showing one week of sketchnotes in my notebook.
Since I was a kid, I have constantly augmented my notes with diagrams and googly-eyed characters. 👀
Mostly as a distraction. Today, however, I make visual notes to understand and remember! Fortunately, designer Mike Rohde gave us a good term for it: sketchnotes.
Convening The Entrepreneurship Funders Network in Baltimore
The 2024 EFN Convening in Baltimore galvanized philanthropic funders to support and catalyze change to improve conditions for entrepreneurs and inclusive entrepreneurship, foster innovative mindsets and skill development, and strengthen equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Texas Community Health Workers: Mapping the Ecosystem
UTHealth Houston, one of the most comprehensive academic health science centers in the U.S., conducted a study to understand better the ecosystem of need, support, training, and deployment of Community Health Workers (CHW) in Texas. The research team engaged Alphachimp LLC to help facilitate, document, and visualize the CHW journey.
The Wond’ry x Nissan: Mapping Innovation
Nissan N.A. partnered with The Wond'ry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville to foster innovation and creativity in automotive technology. Alphachimp LLC worked with their team to design and illustrate a physical map of the process.
Suicide Prevention in Texas, the military & Nationwide
2024 Texas Suicide Prevention Symposium - A gathering of 600 healthcare providers, researchers, first responders, and survivors who shared experiences and actions that people can take to help prevent suicide.
2024 Houston Energy & Climate Week
The energy transition is a marathon and team sport that needs unified action. Achieving Energy 2.0+ is a marathon. However, this race needs an increased pace. We will get there through urgency, teamwork, consistency, continued investment, and collaboration. We also commit ourselves to assessing our collective advancements and setbacks in achieving these goals.
Marriott's Climate Commitments On the Road to NetZero
Marriott International, Inc. gathered to engage, educate, and motivate its facilities and engineering directors on internal and external processes, tools, measurements, and behavior change models to transform each of their properties on the road to NetZero by 2050.
Successfully Facilitating Tension and Conflict in Groups
Does facilitating a contentious group of workshop participants feel like being a cameraperson running through a dense rainforest during a chimp civil war? No doubt! Facilitating groups that are experiencing tension and conflict can be a challenging task.
Conversations are So Important in the “Era of AI”
This article cites some brilliant experts whose research backs this up, includeing neuroscientist Barry Scott Kaufman, MIT social researcher Sherry Turkle, and Nina Schick, one of the earliest GenAI experts.