Visual Notes for Talks & Events

What the hell are visual notes?

Sketchnotes AKA visual harvesting AKA graphic recording AKA rich pictures are all forms of visual notes to capture, synthesize & share learnings, information and ideas.

Sketchnotes are awesome because ..

We understand more, faster *
(Supposedly, the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than it does text.)

We remember more *
(A study found that participants who viewed only text remembered 10% of what they read after three days. But those who viewed text paired with visuals remembered 65% of the information three days later.)

We share more *
(An infographic is 30x more likely to be read than a text article and posts that include images produce 650 percent higher engagement than text-only post.)

So, you do this for fun?

Around 2014 I found myself visiting lots of interesting events and frustrated with my inability to capture my learnings. I’d make notes but never see them again after the event. Sketchnotes provided a way to capture, revisit and share what I’ve learned.

Now, whenever I attend events, talks, lectures and conferences, you can find me somewhere in the room, ball pen in hand, hunched over my notebook, listening, processing and doodling away. I make the notes on the spot and (if my perfectionism doesn’t sabotage) share them with the speaker(s) and other guests after.

I want one!

As the notes gradually started looking sexier, people became more excited about having them and sharing them over time. They found value in them as an informative summary of the knowledge shared, a playful piece of visual content, and more.

I love making sketchnotes and people & organizations have shown to benefit from them in countless ways. So let’s make more?!