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Visual Facilitation and Sketchnoting
What
99 Minute WorkhopDescription
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...
1) For rough note-taking:- 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
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the Workshops Recorded?
Our 99-minute workshpos are designed to be attended live. If you can’t make the scheduled time, it will stay available to replay in CrowdCast for 7 days. To get the most out of them, we highly recommend you attend them live.