The Monvee Visual Experience

Share via:

You may have been hearing about Monvee, probably the current leader in an emerging field of online assessment and build your own spiritual pathway concepts.

Although there’s a lot to talk about (when you poke around amidst the discovery assessment, the discovery summary, the roadmap creator, and the dashboard that allows you to track your progress), it’s the small group experience that I want to talk about here.

The small group experience is made possible by the Monvee Pak.  Available at $19.95, the Monvee Pak includes “a unique PAK ID code that gives you full, lifetime access to Monvee,” the Visual Experience DVD, sample chapters of John Ortberg’s The Me I Want to Be and Eric Parks’ Change.  As you can see, at $19.95 per person, this is an all-in kind of experience.  You wouldn’t be persuading half-interested, half-hearted participation.

The Visual Experience is designed to be the first step in your Monvee journey.  The DVD, with 45 minutes of content spread over 6 Acts, can be used as an individual experience providing personal reflection.  It can also be used as the centerpiece of a 6 session small group experience.

Each of the 6 Acts features a fascinating personal story, presented in such an engaging way that you can’t help but be pulled in.  It is story-driven visual media at its best.  It is powerful and provocative…and will prepare your group for a discussion.

As is often the case when a story-driven approach is used, the DVD segments allow group members to immerse themselves in the story as it unfolds and then wrestle with interpretation.  So far, so good.  You’ll be captivated by the setting (Key West, Florida) and the memorable cast of characters you’ll meet.  Unlike some of the talking head teaching DVDs you’ll find, these segments will hold the attention of even the easily distracted members of your group.  8 to 10 minutes will fly by.  I’ve included the Monvee Visual Experience Trailer below.

If there is an obstacle to using the Visual Experience as a small group curriculum, it is that while the scant question set is provocative and should help your members engage, there aren’t enough questions to keep most groups in the game for 60 to 75 minutes.  Not to say that a skilled leader couldn’t pull it off.  They could.  But if you’re working with less experienced leaders, just know that you’ll need to provide additional material.  And without a leader’s guide, you’ll need to develop the additional material on your own.

In spite of the challenges (price per person, a less than robust set of discussion questions and the lack of a leader’s guide), I still think this will be a great experience for some groups.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

4 Comments

  1. Chris Weber on January 20, 2011 at 8:38 am

    Mark,

    Great review of Monvee, Thanks! Just something I wanted to add if I may. We do have an additional small group guide that walks a group through a 6 week study incorporating the DVD, Monvee Pak, and online portion of the tool. I can email you a PDF copy of that if it would be helpful.

    Best,
    Chris Weber
    Monvee



  2. Mark Howell on January 20, 2011 at 8:47 am

    Thanks Chris! Would love to see the small group guide!

    mark



  3. Madeline Patalano on August 23, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    is it possible that I can get a copy of the pdf small group guide



  4. markchowell on August 23, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    Not sure Madeline. That would be a question for the folks at Monvee.com.

    mark