What

Description

After attending a conference or course, there is often a requirement to share everything you’ve learnt with your colleagues. The problem, all your notes are a mess. Meanwhile, other attendees appear to have recorded informative and beautifully presented notes. How do they do it? 

My first secret, which I will share with you now, is that I never sketchnote live. I write up rough notes while watching a talk and then use these to create my sketchnotes. This is what we will do during this workshop. We will start identifying ways to practice and improve note-taking skills by listening to 99 second talks and identifying the key points from each one. Then we will take these notes and use them to develop sketchnotes, adding a mixture of text, colour and illustrations. Those attending will be encouraged to share their creations on Twitter and Slack, which will help them develop confidence in their note-taking skills and encourage others within the community to join the conversation. 

A lot of people think they can’t draw. This is not true. I believe that #EveryoneCanDraw. The aim is not to create beautiful artwork. The aim is to develop useful, and recognizable notes which can inspire and encourage further ideas and discussion.

Takeaways

• Explain the benefits of sketchnoting
• Identify key points while listening to a conference talk
• Record brief, but informative notes, while listening to a talk or reading a text book or article
• Compose sketch-notes based on pre-written notes

Prerequisites

As a minimum you will need a pen and paper, however, you are free to use whatever tools you regularly use to take notes. You will also be encouraged to share your notes, sketches and drawings. A way to take photos of your notes and add them to Twitter or the Ministry of Testing slack channel is recommended.

Here are Louise's personal preferences...

• Any black pen that is easy to write with
• A different coloured pen for annotating notes (usually blue)
• A notebook with lined paper

• Uni-Ball eye UB-157 Rollerball Pen Black
• Pack of fine liners for adding colour
• Plain Paper (I use an A4 sheet for a 30 to 45-minute talk)

• Dotted paper (Lined can also be used)
• Highlighters, coloured pencils, brush markers

Some also like to record notes digitally (although I’ve never done this myself), if this is your preferred method then you’re welcome to do so. However, I do recommend still having a pen and some paper handy for some drawing exercises.

Speaker

Louise Gibbs

Senior Automation Tester

Louise is a Senior Automation Tester at PebblePad. Her main job is to review and maintain the automated tests that are run overnight, and investigate the causes of any failures. She has also worked for companies in the e-commerce, scientific research and automotive industries, and runs a personal blog at louisegibbstest.wordpress.com, where she talks about her experiences as a software tester. She enjoys improving her testing skills and her main method for achieving this is by speaking to other Testers and discussing ideas.