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AhaSlides Mind Map in preview: the presenter screen shows a live map about a team event with three branches, beside a phone ready to add an idea under Food
Sticky notes on a wall pile up in a heap, and the quiet half of the room never gets to the front. Mind Map is an unscored slide where everyone builds one shared map from their phone, by tapping any idea and adding to it, so the links between ideas are there when you finish.

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Mind Map at a glance

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Create a Mind Map slide

1

Add the slide

In the editor, click New slide, then search for Mind Map or find it in the Poll group.
2

Set the centre idea

Type the topic in Centre idea, for example “Ideas for our next event” or “The water cycle”. It sits in the middle of the map. If you leave Your question empty, the centre idea is also the title on screen.
3

Add starting ideas

Under Starting ideas, type the first branches, such as “Food”, “Activities” and “Place”. Use Add another idea for more. Starting ideas give people somewhere to build, so a map with three or four branches fills faster than a bare centre.
4

Turn on the profanity filter if you need it

Under Other settings, turn on Filter profanity to hide offensive words in ideas sent from phones.

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Present a Mind Map slide

Click Preview to try it, or Present and share the access code. On your screen, the map shows the centre idea with a coloured branch for each starting idea. New ideas grow onto the map as they arrive, with the sender’s name shown briefly, and the title card counts the ideas. You can tidy the map as you go with the bar at the bottom:
  • Idea adds an idea under the one you selected. Tab adds one under it, and Enter adds one beside it.
  • Rename edits the selected idea, or double-click it.
  • Merge joins two ideas that say the same thing. You can also drag one idea onto another to move or merge it.
  • Delete removes the selected idea. Ideas built on it move up to the idea above.
On each phone, participants see the same map. They tap any idea, then tap Idea under to add to it, and see “Sent. Watch the big screen.” once it lands. They can also tap Like on an idea, once each, and the likes show as a heart count beside it. Each participant can add as many ideas as they like.

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Mind Map settings

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Ideas for using Mind Map

  • Team brainstorm: start from “Ideas for our next event” with branches for food, activities and place.
  • Workshop kick-off: put the workshop goal in the centre and ask “What do we need to get there?”.
  • Class topic map: map what students already know about a topic, such as volcanoes or healthy eating, before you teach it.
  • Planning a project: give each workstream a branch and let the team add tasks and risks under it.

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Mind Map vs. Brainstorm

Brainstorm collects ideas as a flat list, then the room votes and you reveal them ranked by popularity. Mind Map keeps ideas linked to each other, so it shows how they connect, and likes are a quick signal rather than a ranked result. For ideas sorted into columns on sticky notes, use the Idea Board.

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Frequently asked questions

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Is Mind Map scored?

No. There are no points, correct answers or leaderboard.

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Why can’t I edit the centre idea or my starting ideas?

Once ideas have come in, the centre idea and existing starting ideas are locked so the map stays consistent. Reset the slide’s results to change them. You can still add new starting ideas without resetting.

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What happens when someone sends an idea that is already there?

If the same idea already sits under that branch, it is not added again and the phone says it is already linked there. Capital letters do not matter.

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What happens when the map is full?

A map holds up to 350 ideas. After that, phones show “This branch is full.” and new ideas are not added.

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Can I see who sent each idea?

Each idea is saved as that participant’s answer, so it appears in the participant report after the session. Have a question? Contact our support team: if you’re logged in, use the chat bubble in the bottom-right of your dashboard; otherwise contact us here or email hi@ahaslides.com. Want to connect with other users? Join the AhaSlides community to share tips, request features, and see how others engage their audiences.