When the Conversation Becomes a Picture: Live Drawing at Events

A question becomes a speech bubble. Two competing ideas sit on opposite sides of the page. A thread running through several talks becomes a line that connects them. With live graphic recording, a conversation gradually acquires a visible shape.

The IFVP Institute describes the practice as listening, synthesising and recording ideas through words and pictures in real time. It also distinguishes recording from graphic facilitation, where the practitioner helps lead the group towards a goal. Decide which role your event needs: drawing the discussion and guiding it are different commissions.

For a conference, association gathering or team workshop, the appeal is more interesting than simply having an illustrator in the room. What should people be able to see in the finished picture that they might otherwise lose among their notes?

A selective record, with room for an unfinished thought

Start with what deserves attention. A panel might bring together different positions on the same question. A workshop might uncover obstacles that participants had not considered together. An anniversary gathering might connect stories from different parts of an organisation. These are possible editorial purposes, not promises that a drawing will produce agreement.

Ask the practitioner to show how they distinguish a proposal from a decision, or an unanswered question from a conclusion. The visual record should not make a lively disagreement look like consensus. It is a synthesis, so keep formal minutes or other required records separately.

The visual notes shown here are Giulia Forsythe’s drawings from two talks published in 2018: Chris Bourg’s “Open as in Dangerous” keynote and panel at the Creative Commons Summit, and Joe Kim’s talk on durable learning. Large headings, small sketches and connecting lines give different ideas a place within each composition. These are historical examples of visual note-taking, rather than photographs of a current PlanEvents event.

That visual hierarchy is useful to discuss when looking at portfolios. Can you find the main subject quickly? Can you see relationships between ideas? Does the drawing still offer a way in if you did not hear every sentence? Choose for the kind of conversation you are hosting, as well as for a style you enjoy.

Paper to gather around, or a picture on screen?

A physical drawing gives people something to approach during a break. A digital drawing can be displayed on screens, subject to the agreed technical setup. Swedish practitioner Nikki Schmidt explains these different working formats; neither is automatically the better choice.

Think about the actual viewing moment. If delegates will gather around paper, leave a comfortable approach without blocking a route. If the picture appears on a screen, check from the audience seats whether the current detail is readable. A whole day’s drawing squeezed into a small display may work better as selected close-ups than as one dense image.

Give the practitioner the programme, subject vocabulary and names they will need. For an international event, discuss both the spoken languages and the language of the finished record. Pictures do not remove every language barrier. Berlin-based BUSINESS as VISUAL includes languages, positioning and later use among its preparation questions.

Bring those choices into the conversation with your event planning team. Someone who needs a written summary or another accessible format should have an alternative to reading the artwork. The picture can accompany those provisions; it should not be treated as their replacement.

Give the drawing something to do afterwards

Choose the next use before commissioning the work. A follow-up email could pair the full image with a short written account of the main themes. A later workshop could return to one unresolved question from the drawing. An internal exhibition could let colleagues explore a conversation they missed. These are suggestions to develop with the practitioner, not assumed rights or included deliverables.

Discuss the files, resolution, credit, permitted sharing and any translation or adaptation you want. Also decide how names, figures and sensitive material will be checked before circulation. Tell participants what will be captured and where it may be shared; a private workshop record and a public social post need different handling.

Leave space in the programme for people to look at the result. One worthwhile closing question can give the drawing a purpose beyond being photographed at the end of the day: “What would you like to come back to in this picture?”