
Lucidchart Connect NYC Recap: The City That Never Sleeps
Shawn Swenson
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Shortly after our stop in Boston, the Lucidchart team hit the streets of the Big Apple for our second stop on our East Coast tour. To say that NYC is a city that never sleeps is an understatement. Coming from our office in small-town Salt Lake City, Utah, the big city was an adjustment but well worth the stop.
Our Lucidchart Connect event was a hit. People from all around the New York area (including many from Connecticut and surrounding states) came to learn new tips and tricks and see where Lucidchart is headed as a company. As people walked into the venue, they were greeted by our staff and you could sense the excitement in the air.
The new solution: Lucidchart
The event kicked off with Nathan Rawlins, CMO at Lucidchart, talking about the new path that business processes are taking today. Business processes up until now have been very static and plain. In order for businesses to truly succeed in 2018 and beyond, we need to adopt a specific mindset: creativity.
Nathan talked about how processes are becoming more creative and how Lucidchart is leading the way to that creative mindset. We can no longer focus solely on optimizing efficiency, but rather we need to add creativity and innovation to our work. Only then are we going to be able to truly push the boundaries of what is possible.
At Lucidchart, we continue to push those boundaries with automation and collaboration. And we will continue to push those boundaries to ensure that we continue to lead and move the industry forward.
The Lucid method
Our next speaker was Nathan McBride. Nathan is the VP of Global IT at Orchard Therapeutics and is a very avid Lucidchart user. In his presentation, Nathan talked about the Lucid method: share, learn, and grow stronger.
Share
Nathan talked about the importance of being able to share your work and collaborate with your team. He highlighted the sharing capabilities built within Lucidchart and explained how these capabilities allow his team to move faster and more efficiently in their day-to-day efforts.
Learn
Utilizing the sharing functionality within Lucidchart allows your team to learn different processes that are necessary for your company to move forward. Lucidchart is often used as a central repository so that your team has a place to learn about complex processes used by the company.
Grow stronger
Not only is Lucidchart a tool to build awesome diagrams, but it is a tool that will allow you to grow stronger in your day-to-day responsibilities. If you think about it, trying to verbalize a complex idea is much harder than simply showing it. So use the strength of Lucidchart and simplify your life.
Don’t go chasing waterfalls…
You might chuckle at this section heading, but this was the main takeaway from Jessica Reed, Director, Product Communication Data Platform & Strategy at NBCUniversal.
Jessica talked about the importance of Lucidchart in her day-to-day tasks. Jessica and her team use Lucidchart in an effort to efficiently target ads to the right demographics. Her common use cases are:
- Complex process diagrams
- Wireframes
- Timelines and waterfalls
- Sitemaps
Jessica topped her comments off by saying, “Don’t go chasing waterfalls. But if you do, do it with Lucidchart.”
Tips and tricks
The rest of the Lucidchart Connect event was led by our own Taylor Dolbin and Angie Mecham, who shared some tips and tricks in the product. Taylor started out by promising that everyone in the room would learn at least five new things before the end of the event. And, oh, did they fulfill that promise.
As Angie began talking about our advanced collaboration features, there was an audible gasp. Not to overstate it, but the audience was blown away by the features that Lucidchart offers.
Here are some of the tips and tricks Taylor and Angie covered:
- Aligning and distributing shapes
- Using containers effectively
- Using advanced collaboration
- Using layers and hotspots
- Creating custom shape libraries
- Using templates effectively
- Using Lucidchart as a presentation tool
Following the tips and tricks sessions, I had the opportunity to interview many of our customers who were in attendance. The overwhelming sentiment was that the training sessions were immensely valuable. One of the attendees even said, “I was promised I would learn five new tricks, and I walked away having learned eight.” Another attendee mentioned, “I never thought of Lucidchart as a presentation tool.” This goes to show that Lucidchart is truly a powerful tool.
The event finished off with a quick note from our CEO, Karl Sun. He thanked the audience for being such dedicated users of Lucidchart and supporting us as we continue to create and innovate.
Lucidchart is quickly becoming a household name. As there is more need for creativity and innovation in the workplace, Lucidchart is the solution. We thank all of those who came out to our NYC event and look forward to meeting others as we continue our world tour.
About the author

Shawn Swenson is a customer success manager at Lucidchart. He understands the importance of visual communication and is dedicated to helping his customers succeed in their efforts to more effectively communicate visually. Shawn’s hobbies include cycling, basketball, weightlifting, and spending time with his beautiful wife and daughter.
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