How the City of Boulder Made the Most of Working with A Graphic Recorder…And You Can Too!

When you all bring ideas to me that are creative, I always want to share them back so others can use them. This story from Boulder's Recreation Centers demonstrates how integrating graphic recording throughout the entire process - before, during, and after - created deeper and more varied community involvement.

Pre-Event: Strategic Visual Design

Boulder's team envisioned gathering community input through a playful board game format, where residents could prioritize recreation center improvements using feature cards. Rather than settling for a generic design, we collaborated to create a custom game board that reflected the rec centers’ unique character. This pre-event visualization set the tone for engagement and created anticipation among participants.

Other ways to use visuals before your event are creating custom drawings to share via email, website or social media so people know what to expect. And we can turn your typical typed agenda into an engaging visual journey that gets people pumped about attending.

Event Day: Dynamic Engagement

During the session, live graphic recording via projected iPad screen transformed abstract discussions into tangible ideas. This real-time visualization served as a shared reference point, deepening participant engagement and maintaining high energy levels throughout the discussions. Watching ideas take shape visually encouraged more meaningful contributions and created a collaborative atmosphere.

Post-Event: Extended Impact

The team maximized the visual assets' potential by displaying large prints in each Boulder recreation center with interactive sticker voting for ongoing community input. This thoughtful approach extended the conversation beyond the initial session, allowing broader community participation through both the physical displays and a survey sent by email.

The result? A cohesive, engaging process that transformed standard community feedback sessions into a memorable, productive experience that continued to gather valuable input after the initial event concluded.

Want more? Here’s another case study of leveraging graphics throughout the entire event lifecycle with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Thank you for your collaboration, humor, and what you do to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

San Francisco, California: With the National Parks Conservation Association as they continue a long-term collaboration to reduce single-use plastics in parks - here’s a snap from last year. This year we’re also discussing strategies to support visitors and parks with electric vehicles. Fighting the good fight.

Houston, Texas: Right now I’m with Houston Methodist as they lead the effort to bridge disciplines and approaches in neuroregeneration research and practice. I’ve been delighted to support their work since 2019, even through the pandemic and having the twins. Here’s a shirt design I created for them this year, stay tuned for images of finished graphics in the next email.

Facilitación gráfica – ConverSketching in Spanish

Have you ever been somewhere you didn’t speak the language? How did you get around and communicate? One of my favorite things about graphic recording is the power of visuals to help tell a shared story, even if a group consists of people who speak different languages.

In December, I went to Huaraz, Peru to graphic record in Spanish for Hatun Tinkuy, which is Quechua for “Big, Important Gathering”.

Convened by Indigenous people and researchers from mountain communities all over the world, the purpose of Hatun Tinkuy was to connect, build relationships, and share work and resources to cultivate more resilient social and ecological systems in the mountains of South America. The workshop was held in Spanish with English and some Quechua translation, and visuals were captured in Spanish with English and Quechua translations in the works.

One of the most exciting aspects of this workshop was the opportunity to connect with and mentor two local artists who were interested in graphic facilitation. Liz and Huandy are talented and brave – they jumped right in and co-created with me over the course of the workshop!

Thank you for your collaboration, humor, and what you do to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Huaraz, Perú: Here are more pictures from the beautifully held workshop and community.

Veterinarians and Climate Change: A few years ago, I worked with a delightful professor at Colorado State to create a series of illustrated videos about how climate change and vet practice are related. Here’s an article outlining work by a related non-profit, which links to one of the videos.

Not working: When an idea keeps appearing, it’s usually something to pay attention to. Here’s what I’ve been noticing: while the new calendar year is often a time of ambition, resolution, goal setting, and energy, that feels more like spring energy. So I’m exploring the idea of embracing the long, dark winter nights here in the northern hemisphere, and resting until the seasonal energy awakens. I mean, as much as one can with two-year-old twins.

How to Use Graphics After Your Event for Seismic Engagement

Have you ever gotten a follow up email after attending an event? What was inside? A survey? A written meeting summary?

Was there any engagement? A lively volley of replies…or crickets?

After a workshop focused on zero waste in National Parks, the National Park Conservation Association (NPCA) blew me and the other participants away with the workshop summary.

And the results? More than 20 of the 32 participants replied to the summary, expressing delight in being a part of the group and the uniqueness of having graphic recording as part of the process. Here’s what Josh Simpson who founded Little Kamper refillable propane tanks wrote:

“For me, the most amazing part is reviewing the summary report and seeing how much was captured and translated into art. This was my first experience with having an artist in residence at a meeting and I'm blown away. My high hopes for this gathering were met at every step on the way and then exceeded when I reviewed the meeting summary.”

Another example of using the graphics to amplify impact is from the Boston University team working on improving care and outcomes for children with medical complexity.

They published a special issue of the  journal Pediatrics focusing on several years of collaborative and family-led work. In two of the papers, graphics from the process are used to illustrate key ideas and share important outcomes from the work.

Thank you for your collaboration, humor, and what you do to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

San Francisco, CA: As seen above, for the National Park Conservation Association and Subaru talking zero landfill input in National Parks.

Boulder, CO: For the City of Boulder as they asked citizens what they’d like to see in the Civic Area Park. This was created on paper on-site (and outdoors!) then additional color was added digitally after the event.

In the Studio: Storyboarding and managing several illustrated videos. Here’s a sneak peek at a first draft sketch for the US Fish and Wildlife Service – gotta love whatever makes bumblebees celebrate!

2023 Roundup & 2024 Reflection Gift For You

Welcome to 2024 y’all!

How has this new year felt for you? Has it been subtle shift or have you felt a more noticeable change in your life?

Each of us is figuring out the steps to the ever-changing dance of balancing working, caregiving, and pursuing other things that fill our cups – creative pursuits, moving our bodies, travel, or simply enjoying some tea and book.

For me, 2023 was full of learning curves as a mother. Even so, I’ve been delighted to collaborate with many of you on your fabulous projects - scroll down for highlights from videos to in-person graphic recording throughout autumn/winter of last year.

I hope for you 2024 feels like a deep breath of possibility that’s full of moments that feel delightful, balanced, and are opportunities to grow! 

Here is a sheet you can download to reflect and focus this next year. Mine is printed and hanging near my desk as a reminder!

Thank you for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Ute Mountain Ute NUCHU Planning Video Series: You can watch all three videos here to learn about the outcomes of the retreat we held last summer and how to get involved with the tribe’s community and economic development priorities.

National Park Service Climate Change Response Strategy Video: Here’s the link to watch the video about NPS’ approach to climate change.

Colorado Food Summit: Farmers, ranchers, chefs, schools, food access/equity organizations, and local food enthusiasts from around the state came together to learn and network to create a more robust local food system.

Soil Health Roundtable: Producers and researchers from across the intermountain west to work collaboratively on regional soil health. Without healthy soil,

Colorado Tourism Stewardship: How can we support tourism without loving destinations to death? Over the course of the day, I illustrated conference participants’ ideas in an Experience Wall based entirely on what I heard!

The Attainment Network: The Pathways Conference is an opportunity for educators from around the state to connect and share how they support learners who may not follow a “traditional” path. This is my third year working with this crew and I love the positive impact they’re having on young people!

Diverse Attorneys Retreat: How can a law firm not only attract, but nurture and empower diverse employees? At this retreat, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women attorneys envisioned their ideal work environment. The Chief Diversity Officer then took the chart to the Executive Leadership Retreat to share how they can do the work to support all their people.

A Personal Update: Kai and Ayla are now over a year old and are walking all over! I’m planning to continue part-time with ConverSketch this year and am slowly increasing my capacity for new projects while prioritizing time with family. Thank you for your patience and understanding as I navigate this new path!

ConverSketch Returns in April

Karina holding Kai (left) and Ayla (right).

Hello!

Here are a few updates as spring flowers emerge here in the Northern Hemisphere, and I start to emerge from the cocoon of newborn twin life:

• I’ll be returning to graphic recording part-time starting in April, focusing on virtual and single day local (Colorado) on-site projects. I plan to start traveling this summer. If you have an event that could use some visual thinking, I’d love to hear from you and get you in my calendar. I’m looking forward to partnering with you all!

• Our twins, Kai and Ayla, are growing and learning more every day. It’s a joy to have them home from the NICU and off oxygen and get to see their personalities emerging. Baby coos and smiles sure are special! We’re looking forward to more walks and seeing more friends as the weather warms up and the twins get stronger.

• ConverSketch turned 11 in February! An enormous thank you to each of you for being a part of what makes ConverSketch special – it’s all about your ideas, creativity, and collaboration!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the Virtual World is ConverSketch?

While I have been fully immersed in being a new parent, here are some projects from last year that have been published in the last few months.

CoSN Driving K-12 Innovation: The Consortium for School Networking hosted another series of dialogues and ideation sessions to support educators and schools Driving K-12 Innovation across the nation last fall, and I got to create live graphics which are beautifully featured in their annual publications. Check out the full reports here.

Rangeland Ecosystem Services Publication: Another studio piece from the fall, created in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Service exploring pillars to resilient rangelands and rangeland ecosystem services.

The Wilderness Society: Last fall I had the joy of working with the TWS Community-Led Conservation team to create a vision and roadmap toward truly supporting communities and wilderness. This spring we got together to finish a summary illustration of their vision and values and how they fit into the larger TWS organization.

Speaking of Expectations…A Very Exciting Personal Update

Last week I shared some thoughts about how we can reinvent expectations together to counter the burnout many are feeling.

This week I’d like to share a personal spin on the theme of expectations. I’m delighted to get to finally share with you…

I’m pregnant with twins!

We’re feeling effervescent, they’re due in mid-December, and everyone is healthy.

What does this mean for ConverSketch?

• I’ll be taking a few months for parental leave from roughly December-February depending on when they make their debut

• I’m planning to begin working again part-time in the spring – recognizing this timeline will likely evolve and solidify as we get our bearings as parents

• I will not be traveling beyond October and will be tapering work in November

• If we’re already working together on a project, if the pregnancy continues as we expect, I’ll make sure we’re wrapped up before parental leave.

• For new projects during the time I’m away, I am wildly appreciative to have a network of phenomenal graphic recording and graphic facilitation colleagues to connect you with – so keep planning for visual thinking, creative process design, and meaningful connection.

Please feel free to reach out with questions – I want to make sure all of YOU, my wonderful thought partners are taken care of!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

With prenatal bliss,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Pivoting from In-Person to Virtual: Last week, a team of fire social scientists and I made some tough calls due to covid and other unexpected challenges for participants. We went from a 2.5 day in-person meeting to a 1-day virtual meeting with additional follow up in a few weeks to discuss their work, create a strategy for the remaining funding, and envision what the long-term could look like to continue this work. Sensitive content has been blurred out.

In the Studio: Working on several illustration projects from core values and purpose to integrating the complex landscape of socio-ecological systems into a branded illustration for an upcoming conference I’ll be graphic recording.

How to Scale Your Work Up, Even When Once Size Doesn’t Fit All

Have you ever been wildly proud of something you or your team accomplished, but then wondered…Can this scale?

One of my favorite things about being a graphic recorder is that I get to work across sectors and pick up on patterns and shifts. For example, right now, three of my clients are all figuring out how to scale across the country in very different areas:

• Supporting children with medical complexity and their families in hospitals and clinics

• Helping communities become more resilient in the face of large-scale wildfires

• And creating a national community of practice around community-led conservation

While there is not one path forward, some real gems became clear last week with the team working with children with medical complexity. I thought these ideas deserved a little airtime, and maybe YOU are working on scaling too…perhaps there’s a keeper in here for you!

• Take an iterative approach - start small, test an idea, and learn and grow from there. Remember: It doesn’t have to be perfect!

• Scaling complex work takes time. In a world of instant gratification and grant-makers wanting results, this may be tricky…and also imperative.

• Relationships are key to building trust, which is key to being able to move quickly or be patient when needed.

• Facilitate communication across teams regularly, in-person if you can, to build those relationships and cross-pollinate ideas.

• Take what you’ve learned in each place and weave it together for solutions that are greater than the sum of the parts. You may already have a solution!

• Ask those you’re serving to be part of the process (and compensate them for their expertise and participation!).

• You already know enough. While it’s almost always tempting to want/NEED more data, you probably already know enough to take the first steps.

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Chicago, Illinois: After working together remotely in 2020-2021, it was an absolute joy to get to meet the convening team and state teams working together to improve the lives of children with medical complexity and their families. Closing this multi-year pilot in a flawless hybrid meeting, the teams shared their key insights, discussed what’s next, and how to sustain the work moving forward.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Graphically facilitating for a leadership team at US Fish and Wildlife Service to craft a visual metaphor telling the story of equity, inclusion, and creating a welcoming organization for all employees.

Virtual with Adobe Creative Campuses: Sharing and learning with Creative Campuses across the globe, these quarterly gatherings are always lively, a lovely way to build community virtually, and thoughtfully curated to create welcoming and informative spaces! The sessions start today, so here’s a graphic from the spring!

4 Steps to Great Stories (Even if You’re Not Good at Storytelling)

Have you ever nailed a pitch? I mean, really crushed it? You saw that person you were talking to light up? 

Chances are, you told a great story, quickly, in a way that resonated with your audience.

I get to work with incredible clients with important stories to tell. And…it can be hard. When you’re working with complex stuff, it takes skill to tell a great story in a minute or less (stoichiometry and microbial symbioses, anyone?). 

Almost without fail, “communicating to the public!” is an outcome I hear regularly at workshops I’m facilitating.  Those groups have spent a lot of time getting really, exceptionally good at what they do, which isn’t communicating to the public. Why do those same people expect to suddenly be great at something they’ve never practiced? 

If you’re not partnering with a professional storyteller or communications firm, and you’re ready to level up your storytelling, here’s a technique I taught last year at IFVP’s online conference to help my peers simplify and get confident with their science communication skills. 

The Feynman Technique

Richard Feynman was a physicist and voracious learner. He also seems pretty humble and down to earth. Gotta love those folks. He developed this strategy to improve his own learning, and it’s a killer way to outline your story. 

• Choose your topic. What’s your story about? I suggest making a mind map of everything you know about it, then…

• Teach it to a kid.  Three hot tips to help them understand:  

  • Use plain terms, no jargon.

  • Be quick about it, you (probably) aren’t working with a long attention span.

  • Before you start teaching, clarify and write down exactly what you want them to learn. If that’s hard for you to do, you know you can improve. According to the medium article I linked above, “This is also where the power of creativity can help you reach new heights in learning.” Boom.

• Fill in the gaps and keep learning. Not knowing everything doesn’t mean you’re dumb, it means you’re human. 

• Organize, simplify, and use analogies. Try teaching that kid again and get their feedback. Make a new mind map. Draw a picture. And keep iterating until it feels simple, clear, and your audience gets that sparkle in their eye that means they GET it!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers, 

Where in the Virtual World is ConverSketch?

Adobe Creative Campus Collaboration - Summer 2021: Where campuses from around the continent reflect on what’s working, where they want to focus, and how to support creativity in learning for all!

Facilitating Microbiologists: Working on a grant proposal for microbial symbioses in the environment. Here’s a snapshot of the Miro board we worked in over two days to brainstorm, make decisions, and outline a writing plan.

In the Studio: Working on several videos. Here’s a sneak peek of one I just filmed as a trailer for a virtual field trip for the Park Service in Alaska. It’s about climate change, brown bears, and what they eat!

Arizona HIV Leadership Academy: Supporting the closing of a program reflecting on what they’ve learned and want to carry with them as leaders in the community.

What's It Like to Work with a Remote Graphic Recorder?

Okay, so you’ve decided you want to partner with a remote graphic recorder for your online meeting. Does that mean you’ve signed yourself up for hours of extra prep and planning? The answer is a big, tall glass of “nope”!

Here’s a look at how easy it is to bring in a remote scribe.

The short version:

Send me your agenda, and I’ll prepare as needed. You research mycelium? I figure out how to draw mycelium. You lead an innovation team? I sketch ideas for how to visualize the intangible ideas.

Then I hop on the meeting platform about 20 minutes early to test screen sharing, and make sure we’re on the same page about transitions. You do your thing, I do mine, and you get a gorgeous summary of key content to share and leverage moving forward!

The more complex version:

If we’re collaborating on a series of meetings or a longer event, there’s typically at least two planning calls per meeting where we get clear about purpose, how the visuals will best serve your goals, and brainstorm creative ways to leverage the visuals.

Do you want to create a cohesive brand around a series of meetings and the visual outputs? Let’s design it!

Will custom templates support breakout groups’ discussions and facilitate a concise and focused report back? Let’s make them!

How will visuals be shared and used long-term? Let’s design a communication strategy to keep participants involved!

In addition, there’s often 1-2 hours of practicing tech and transitions before the event to make sure everything runs smoothly, and we have backup plans if Murphy’s Law strikes.

After an event, it’s also really useful to do a 15 minute debrief with the core planning team and make sure next steps and who’s responsible are clear, as well as how visuals will be shared and if there’s any follow-up drawing that needs to happen to achieve your goals.

What do you get in return? Here’s what Deborah Gilburg said this week:

“Karina is creating a lot of opportunity for people to think differently by creating these drawings.”

This is our time to think differently! To create opportunities for what we believe in, and to let go of what’s not serving us.

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the Digital World is ConverSketch?

Infrastructure Masons’ Global Member Summit: Industry leaders focused on sustainability and innovation in the world of data centers. I was honored to capture the keynotes with Kate Brandt; Chief Sustainability Officer at Google, and Noelle Walsh; Chief Sustainability Officer at Microsoft. Hearing their visions, backed by action, intelligent teams, and big hearts reinvigorated my hope for our planet’s future!

ShapingEDU: Applying AI to the Student Debt Crisis. This launch introduced the grassroots approach to leveraging AI to solve massively complex problems like convincing policymakers the need for solar infrastructure in Nigeria, and now focusing on student debt. Anyone is invited to join this global AI hackathon until June 30th!

A Freelancer’s Favorites: Illustrated Tips for Working From Home

First of all, I want to say the last two weeks have been surreal, and we all deserve a deep breath.

I’ve been delighted by the intentional way people are being good to each other and despite massive shifts and challenges, I am holding the energy that we will come through COVID better than we were before.

As I’ve been hearing stories of the challenges of shifting to working from home, I wanted to share a few of the tips I’ve learned from other entrepreneurs, as well as through trial and error over the past 6 years of owning my business and working out of a home office.

Without further ado — I give you: llustrated Tips for Working From Home!

Click through on each to see the different tips!

If you need a daily dose of uplifting stories, I love @Upworthy on Instagram. And of course for mellow snippets of the garden, chickens, and bees, come on over to my feed too!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

At Home! I hope you are too :) Even though live events have been cancelled for the next few weeks, I’m always impressed with how my clients adapt and innovate on the fly, and I’ve been live digital graphic recording for a few projects on Zoom.

Phoenix, AZ At the third annual ShapingEDU Unconference. This group in particular is on the cutting edge of technology and learning, and there’s no other group I’d rather adjust on the fly with. We went from a hybrid in-person and remote meeting on the first day to fully remote on the second — more on that in the next newsletter!

If you’re finding yourself on more video calls than ever before and need a way to keep participants focused and anchoring participants to a common story (theirs!), let’s explore how to leverage digital graphic recording or remote facilitation for you!