How to Stand Out in A Sea of Booths

The Trade Show. A massive room filled with hundreds of booths, all wanting to lure in the same passers-by.

Most booths are using the same old methods they always have: the freebies, candy, “try our product!” to nab attention. There are trinkets everywhere. By the end of the day all you see is a glazed look on attendees’ faces as they attempt to find the exit (and preferably the nearest bar).

There’s something missing from this scenario. Something that can set you up for authentic connections and hook your potential clients.

Here’s the secret: people don’t just want a sales pitch, they want to be heard. They are yearning for genuine human connection in a sea of people trying to get their business.

Secret Part Deux? You can have it all: listening to your customers, interactive and engaging displays, freebies, and authentic human connection.

All you have to do is partner with a graphic recorder.

I love chatting with attendees, asking for their ideas, and seeing them light up as they watch their story come to life. Then they want a photo with their drawing, which is the perfect opportunity to ask them to tag the business I am working for when they share it on social media. Boom.

Bonus: Major human connection opportunities, and if you play your cards right, you can get valuable market research data collected in real-time.

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, Karina

Heading to a trade show next year? Let’s make a plan to help you stand out in a sea of booths!

Yes!

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

New Orleans with LeadingAge

I spent last weekend outside the National WWII Museum gathering stories about how visitors wanted their lives to be when they got older. From "no regrets" to "aging like a fine wine", I captured visual stories over the two days!

Nashville with Gates

Today I'm headed to Nashville to do some more story capturing for Gates. We haven't started yet, but here's a snippet from work I did with them earlier this fall!

How to Make the Most of Working with a Graphic Recorder

So you’ve decided to bring in a graphic recorder to support your team to be more focused, creative, collaborative and engaged? High five to you! You’re making an investment that will not only elevate the group during the meeting or event, but can also have long-lasting positive impacts.

Here are some tips I’ve compiled from working with my wonderful clients over the past 5+ years that can help you get the most out of working with a graphic recorder.

Plan Ahead.

Graphic recorders know when and where they can be most useful for the group, or the kind of visuals that a group might need to do their best work. Bringing in a graphic recorder while you’re still developing the agenda means they can help you know the best places for them to fit in. It’s important we know your goals for the event so we can make sure our visuals help the group move in the right direction.  We want to be helpful and supportive to your planning and facilitation team, so making sure we know the right people to figure out logistics and how to collaborate with the facilitator(s) can be powerful.

Be Creative.

When planning ahead, it’s fantastic to have ideas of how you envision a graphic recorder working with your team to help your group. It is also great to come in with an open mind; brainstorming with your graphic recorder might lead you both to realizing they can do something you never dreamed of before!

Visibility is Key.

Whether the recorder is working large-scale on paper or digitally on a tablet, make sure they can be seen. Setting them up at the front of the room with decent lighting (one time while working in a theater the lights went down and at that moment I was glad I keep a headlamp in my purse) and/or projecting their work on screens enables participants to see what they’re doing. Building in time for folks to walk up and check out what the recorder is working on, or for them to walk the group through what they’ve created is also a quick and powerful tool to help people make connections and see the big picture.

Think Long Term.

This is often where people get stuck. The graphic recorder rocked out during the event, people loved it, shared it on social media, and…went home. How can you keep people looped in and excited about what they did or learned at your event? Before you even have the meeting, working with your graphic recorder to develop a long-term engagement strategy leveraging the graphics can unlock the key to momentum and keeping the group moving forward. Work with your graphic recorder to think about what your engagement strategy is after the event and how can the charts created can be used to help you and your people into the future.

For more ideas and tips, be sure to check out this article from the fantastic team over at ImageThink.

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, Karina

How can we make the most of working together?

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Atlanta with Gates

Graphic facilitating a retreat for CIRES Education and Outreach group in Boulder

...and right now I'm getting ready to head to Colorado State University for two days at the AgInnovation Summit!

The Difference Between a Graphic Recorder and Graphic Facilitator (and When to Use Them)

There’s something ironic about a field that prides itself in helping simplify complex information through visuals, but there’s confusion about what exactly to call ourselves. Some say “graphic recorder”, some say “graphic facilitator”, others use the word “scribe”. You may have even heard “infodoodler” or “sketch artist” or “that person over there who’s drawing really fast!”.

Of course there are countless processes, strategies, partnerships and ways of visually supporting teams. So, to help you try to navigate the Sea of Visual Jargon to figure out what you’re looking for, here’s a comparison of the ConverSketch definitions of two of my most requested services: graphic recording and graphic facilitation.

Graphic Recorder

As a graphic recorder, my main focus is live visual capture of content discussed or presented during an event. I have 1-2 planning calls with my client to understand their goals for including a graphic recorder, and to make sure I understand expectations. I’m a (mostly quiet) partner and resource to the facilitator running the meeting. During the event, my charts tend to have more illustrations than when I’m facilitating because that’s what I’m entirely focused on. A note here: although the word "facilitation" is not in the job title here, graphic recorders are often playing a very important role in the facilitation process, supporting groups and the "official" facilitator as a partner in a very unique and useful visual way. After the event, you keep the original drawings, I photograph and edit the digital images of the charts and send you a list of suggestions for how to leverage them tailored to you based on our conversations.

Graphic Facilitator

As a graphic facilitator, my relationship with the client is more involved because not only am I capturing key content visually during the event, I’m also working with you to design the process, facilitate the event, and make sure your next steps are clear. We have 3-5 planning calls (and a lot more emails) as we co-create an agenda that will help your group reach its’ goals, think about how to make the most of the visuals, and make sure the space will support the group to do their best thinking. I often spend lots of time preparing large-scale visual “templates” we can fill in together during the meeting (although not always, sometimes we start with a blank sheet too), and can create custom worksheets for the participants. And, because drawing can be such a powerful tool to clarify and deepen idea development, graphic facilitators might design activities and processes to get the participants drawing out their ideas to build shared understanding. During the meeting, I am facilitating the process, checking in to make sure we’re on track, and capturing content visually, but often these charts have more words than pictures as I’m balancing both the capture and guiding the discussion. Again, after the event you keep the original drawings, I photograph and edit the digital images of the charts and send you a list of suggestions for how to leverage them tailored to you, along with a short 1-2 page summary and suggested action steps.

To make it even more interesting, some people use these terms interchangeably (i.e. they only use graphic facilitator even if they are solely focusing on visual capture), while others like me differentiate between the two. I think it's true that any sort of visual capture is a form of facilitation. Ultimately, I like to use the language that resonates with my clients and that they’ll remember, so yes, I do respond to “the artist”, “the graphic artist”, and “the woman with witty puns”. Again, these are only two options, but they can be confusing if you're new to visual lingo.

So, ask yourself, do you need a guide for the process? Or someone to focus entirely on visual capture? Both are useful in different situations. In the end, it’s important to have a conversation with the person you’re considering partnering with to be clear on expectations and to be sure you get set up for success!

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, Karina

Now that I know the difference, I’d like to talk more about…

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Last week I had the pleasure of being a partner and host for Frank and Carola, two trainers from Germany who teach the bikablo visual thinking method all over Europe. This summer, for the first time bikablo came to the US on an 8 stop tour, including Fort Collins. The training was a success, and we are looking into partnering for future training opportunities in Colorado! Thanks to the wonderful Wolverine Farm Letterpress & Publick House for the excellent venue!

Should You Hire a Graphic Recorder? Ask Yourself These Questions to Decide

As tempting as it is to impress upon you, my lovely readers, that really there’s never a bad time for a graphic recorder, some events and meetings are better suited than others to have visual support. So, to help you decide if bringing in a graphic recorder is a good idea, here are some guiding questions for you and your team:

What are my goals for this event?

Do you want to co-create a strategic plan? Brainstorm and prioritize new ideas? Bring together a new group and hope they leave as a team? Share the state of the science for your field?  If there’s complex information, you want to get a group on the same page, or keynote presentations that can inform future discussions, graphic recording is right for you.

It may not be a good fit if there will be back-to-back presentations with lots of slides and little or no time to discuss the content*, or you’re only looking to get caricatures of everyone on the team. A graphic recorder’s number one goal is to capture key content in a way that makes it more accessible to the group, which often means an illustration, but not always. And if there will be simultaneous sessions you want captured, then plan to hire a team of recorders.

*An exception would be if you plan to build on the content later.

Why am I considering a graphic recorder?

Do you want to engage people during technical discussions? To keep them collaborating after the event? To work through a complex challenge? To make your event or meeting stand out amongst a sea of others? Finding someone who has the right amount of technical understanding and can design work that will truly support the group as they move forward can be integral to the success of the group.

Will we need to look at or build on this later?

Graphic recording provides succinct maps of the conversation or presentations that are actually interesting to look at and build on. I also work with each of my clients to create a tailored list of suggestions for how to leverage the charts after the event. What action (if any) is desired after the event? How can you keep people engaged and motivated around the meeting ideas? How will people communicate what they’ve learned to those who weren’t there? Graphic recording can be an extremely powerful tool not only during, but long after the event when used well.

How well does this group know each other? Are they good at collaborating already, or are they newly formed? Is there history?

Graphic recording can be a power boost tool for established groups, and can be even more powerful for new groups just forming. When people see their ideas and know others in the group also see them, they feel heard, and move from thinking of it as “my idea” to “our ideas”. Facilitating this kind of collaborative thinking early on in the team’s existence can save time, build trust, and get things moving faster, even if there is “history” or “baggage” between some group members.

Am I looking for someone to design the process & be a neutral lead in the discussion too?

If so, you’re looking for a facilitator, which is great! Graphic recorders are wonderful team players and work well with facilitators to more deeply understand the process and create visuals to support the group.

One more thing…

Keep in mind that if you’ve roped in a good graphic recorder, the sooner you engage with them in the meeting design process the better as we can help you figure out where in the agenda graphic recording can provide the most for your participants. Of course, we’re really flexible and good at adapting on the fly, so if it’s a last-minute decision, we can usually roll with it and still rock your world.

At this point, if you happen to be wondering what the difference between a graphic recorder and a graphic facilitator is, you’re in luck, because that’s what I’ll be writing about in a couple of weeks!

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

Cheers, Karina

Sounds like I could use a graphic recorder for my next event!

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Bikablo – One More Spot!

We’ve just opened one more spot for the 2-day immersive Bikablo Visual Facilitation training August 15-16 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Click here to find out more and register!

The Cache la Poudre Canyon

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of a new experience with my US Forest Service clients – I got to camp out with them before graphic facilitating a mostly-outdoors retreat! An inspiring and beautiful location can go a long way for inspiring innovative and collaborative ideas!

How to Make the Most of Meetings

No matter who you are or where you work, you go to meetings. There is a spectrum of how you feel about meetings. It looks like this:

My goal with this post is to move you, at least a little, from the eel side to the OMG side of things by sharing some tips on how to make your meetings effective, useful, and fun.

Purpose.

• Always have a clear goal or purpose for the meeting, and make sure everyone knows.
• Always have an agenda (even if it’s just “5-minute update from both teams”). Again, make sure everyone knows.

Timing.

• Create an expectation that meetings start and end on time, and stick to it.
• Limit meetings to 30 minutes and see what you can actually do with that focused time.
• Start meetings at an unusual time, like 1:36 pm.
• How do you make sure to stay on time? Read on…

Technology.

• Place a Phone Basket by the door and have everyone, including leadership, put their phones in there.

Consequences.

• To ensure these guidelines are respected, institute consequences – positive or negative – for behaviors that support or undermine being on time.
• For example, if you’re late, do 10 pushups for every late minute or you have to sing a song in front of the group.
• If you are the reason a meeting goes long, you have to buy a round of drinks for everyone, or bring coffee for everyone next time.
• If a phone rings during the meeting, the person needs to make a donation to a non-profit of choice.

Bring in a graphic recorder or graphic facilitator.

• Your team will be able to wade through complexity more quickly and easily by seeing the conversation take place in front of them.
• People stay engaged and better remember key ideas from the meeting.
• Seeking connections and working collaboratively become second nature to the group.
• Having a tangible map of what was achieved helps keep people focused and action-oriented after the meeting is over.

To me, the key for success here is building these behaviors and expectations into the organization’s culture.

For more great tips on effective meetings, read this article from Fast Company.

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, Karina

Interested in hosting the most interesting meetings in the world?

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

This week I’m out East in the DC area with the NSA again. We’re talking leadership, resiliency, and management styles and how to help teams work better together.

Talk Nerdy to Me: The Science Behind Why Graphic Recording Works

If you’ve ever experienced graphic recording, you know it’s an extremely valuable tool to support groups to do their best thinking. But what is it that’s making the meeting feel so productive, insightful, and energized?

Today, instead of my usual explanation (It’s magic…see, I even just added a Unicorn to your strategic plan!), I’d like to share some of the neuroscience behind the benefits of having a graphic recorder or facilitator supporting your group.

Visual thinking is innate. From the Harvard Gazette: “…the study found that even when [participants] were prompted to use verbal thinking, people created visual images to accompany their inner speech, suggesting that visual thinking is deeply ingrained in the brain.”

Thinking visually helps us remember information better…

• “People who were encouraged to doodle…were able to remember 29% more of the information on a surprise quiz later,” Wall Street Journal
• Dual Coding Theory: Information is more likely to be understood and remembered when presented using images and words.
• Cognitive Load Theory: We have a finite amount of “brain power” to apply to critical thinking, remembering, or being creative. In fact, our brains can remember up to seven chunks of information before we start letting other things go. Using visual cues helps free up our minds from keeping track of those chunks and instead focus on connecting ideas, remembering key information, and creative thinking.

…and to express our emotions more deeply…which, in turn, results in a stronger memory and likelihood to retain information. An article by the Wall Street Journal cited a study that showed more complex emotional communication and processing from doodles than written responses: "Their pictures communicated more than just a text or a regular photo. They were more personal, more intimate."

We all learn best in different ways. There are four ways in which people learn; auditory —prefer to listen, visual—prefer to see, verbal—prefer to speak, and kinesthetic—prefer to move or do some physical activity. Graphic recording can support all four modalities as people hear the speaker, see the images and words, and get up to see the drawings closer, or walk around the view them.

Everyone wants your attention, which means visuals are more likely to be looked at and engaged with. “Recent studies say that nowadays, content is browsed 94% more often if it contains images and is shared 40 times more often in social media if it contains images.” - Visual Facilitation Cookbook

Side note: I could geek out on this all day – in fact a large chunk of my master’s thesis was devoted to using visual thinking to support understanding of the complex science of climate change. For more articles and publications, check out my Resources page. If you want to talk more, please let’s do!

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, Karina

Think this sounds pretty neat? Let’s put science into action for your organization.

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Feeling the ENERGY in Utah.

This week I'm back in Salt Lake capturing content for an Energy Democracy Symposium at the University of Utah. Starting tomorrow...so for now here's a watercolor card of the Irish countryside I made for my Da.

What They Don't Tell You About Storytelling

Storytelling is a deemed an “irresistible” and powerful tool for strategic thinking and marketing in business these days.

Good stories need to keep our attention -- which is a rarity in a time of sensory overload and instant gratification – by creating some sort of tension that ensnares the emotions and intrigues the audience. Good marketing uses the power of story to go beyond what a company does or makes to share a deeper understanding of the companies’ Why.

But just because we’re telling a story, does that mean the strategy is working?

Over the past year, I’ve been drawn to the concept of storylistening, which embodies what graphic recording is all about.

Taking a moment to reflect, “storytelling” assumes that if we speak a story, people will listen to it. But people are busy, they’re not going to listen to you unless they have a reason.

During strategic planning or visioning, successful processes allow space for leaders to listen to the past, connect it with the present, and create space for people to see the future. Using graphic recording supports the group to tell a story that helps everyone see the Vision, to own it, live it and make it happen.

A good storyteller tells a tale with the audience, reacting and shifting the story as needed. Listening, visually capturing, synthesizing and adjusting with the group is one of my favorite parts of graphic facilitation. Sometimes it looks messy, but if it helps the group tell and listen to their collaborative story, then we’ve done good work together.

How can you give people a reason to listen to your story?

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, Karina

Want to get everyone at your company telling the same story? Already have a story, but want to spice it up and share it with the world?

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

The American Society of Safety Engineers

I just want to say you are awesome and you take our brand to the next level! We love you!!        - Alex Scovil, Gates Corporation

Fort Laramie Illustrated Video

The first Drawing Connections to Climate Change video is now out! Find out how a National Historic Monument in Wyoming is feeling the impact of a changing climate, and share your ideas to create a different future! CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO.

How To Get The Money Shot

Netflix recently released a series called Abstract. Each episode focuses on a different aspect of design and follows an individual or team who exemplifies excellence in their field. My favorite so far has been about the photographer Platon.

If you haven’t heard of him, you’ve almost certainly seen his portraits. Although the subjects are often famous and familiar, they are different than other photos you see; shot by film, crystal-clear, mostly black and white images.

But none of those things are what sets Platon apart. Shooting with nice lenses and film doesn’t guarantee world leaders and movie stars seek him out to take their portraits. Even honing a skill to the degree he has is not what makes a Platon special.

What sets him apart is the way he interacts with his subjects. He does his research and knows about the person, but does not make assumptions. He asks informed questions and gives succinct direction to his subject for the photo.

But most of all, he listens to them. He genuinely wants to hear their answers. And he listens not only to what they’re saying, but their body language as well.

And in such deep, authentic listening, Platon gets his subjects to drop their walls, to be vulnerable - even if just for the tiniest moment - and that’s the magic he captures.

As a graphic facilitator, it's imperative to listen, visually capture, and be absolutely authentic with the groups I work with. This is nothing new, I’ve certainly written about it a few times, yet it persists as a timeless lesson about the power each of us has inside to truly connect authentically with another.

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, Karina

Authentic engagement sounds pretty good...I want to find out about adding some visuals to support my team.

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Back at it again in Salt Lake! Yesterday I was graphic recording for the SLC Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors Annual Retreat. Here’s a snapshot of their meeting – including the placement of a time capsule!

Also back at it with a new video! Editing is under way for the first of three Wildfire Research videos. You’ll be the first to know when it’s out!

Use This Handy Trick to Get the Hang of Drawing a Face in Profile

One thing that’s always been a challenge to me is drawing faces, and especially…the dreaded profile!

While not altogether needed in most live graphic recording work since I’m focusing on capturing the content high-speed so you can see what you’re talking about, sometimes I find myself wanting to draw a cool perspective, or have a bit more time to do some detail work, and don’t want my cool illustration of your ideas to end up looking like this:

Work by Picasso. Just in case you thought it was mine.

Wait…that’s actually pretty nice…

Anyway, you get the point.

So, I did some research and found this handy little trick to help with where to put all those little features that make up our faces…like eyes and noses.

This is just a beginning guide. Get creative! Experiment with different shapes of noses. What happens if you change the eyebrow ridge above the eyes? What can you do to make it look more male or female? Younger or older? How can you add emotions? Have fun and play with 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, Karina

You've got the team, I've got the markers. Let's talk about your next event that could use a touch of visual storytelling.

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Currently: Near Baltimore, Maryland capturing a training on management and communication for the NSA. So yeah, I can't say much about it at this point... Other than it's always a good day when you figure out how to work in the Lion King.

Also:

The CSU Center for Public Deliberation is one of the gems that makes Fort Collins unique. I’m fortunate to be a graduate of the student training and continue to be involved as a Community Associate and help out facilitating or graphic recording for various dialogue and deliberative processes they facilitate. Earlier this month they put on a session called Beyond Partisan Politics: The Power of Authentic Engagement. During this session we learned the neuroscience behind why it’s so easy to get trapped in the downward spiral of False Polarization, and tips on how to have a productive conversation, even if you don’t agree with someone. Here’s the graphic recording chart from the evening.

What do Romance Novels and a Piano Have to do with Endless Creativity?

One of my favorite things to do while in traffic is to listen to “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me”. Somehow, no matter how stuck I am, I end up laughing and feeling good. And when someone like Nora Roberts is interviewed, in addition to adding a few years to our lives from laughing so much, we’re also blessed with some casual little Insight Blasts from a creative genius: she’s had 198 books on the New York Times best-seller list.

When asked about writer’s block, or feeling like she’s run out of every possible romance or thriller story possible, Nora blithely responded “Well, there’s 88 keys on the piano, but do you run out of music?”

Another way of saying this, from Hugh McLeod:

It takes more than just sitting down for 5 minutes and expecting something brilliant immediately that will be perfect for your Instagram feed. It’s about taking time and being present with your work. And it’s about setting high expectations for yourself and holding yourself to them.

Of course, it’s a balance between knowing when to take time away from a project, and when to push through because you need to put in the work to become amazing at what you do. And you want to be amazing because you’re the ONLY person on this planet who can give what you have to give.

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, Karina

Looking for someone to capture your team's creativity?

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Thanks to you, the only available spots for the Bikablo + ConverSketch training are on the Waitlist. If you’d like to be added, please let me know ASAP.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of capturing presentations of young philanthropists at Berthoud High School as they presented about various non-profit organizations in the community doing work to support youth. They had visited with each organization and then had to decide if and how much funding from a grant they wanted to allocate. I graphic recorded, and to my delight, the teacher shared with me they had the illustrations made into plaques for each of the organizations awarded funding!