Meeting Notes with Doodles and Graphics

Over the last year or so I've been experimenting with graphics in several ways, the most common being replacing PowerPoint with a whiteboard and markers and replacing a pen and notepad with the same.

I'm a visual person so this naturally resonates with me, but I've also noticed some positive dynamics from those engaged as the audience to a presentation or the participant of a meeting. So I thought I'd share some feedback I've received and observations I've made along the way.

Facilitated Meeting Example

The following is a panoramic picture of a completed meeting graphical journey (with some key information blurred out). This was laid out on a conference room wall that was whiteboard from floor to ceiling and is about 7' tall and 20' long on that wall.

Feedback Received

• "...the most interesting meeting I've attended..."
• "I found myself hooked and waiting to see what would come next..."
• "It was amazing that these executives were engaged for the entire 3 hours..."

Observations

• Persisting the entire image holds the end-to-end story together well (none of the common "...can you go back to that one slide....").
• Increased engagement with the content rather than the presenter.
• Inconsistencies within the visualization and the story are very visible.
• For me, requires a lot of practice and preparation.
• Key competency - building out the image while not turning your back on the audience.

It is important to note that this entire image was not drawn from scratch. The entire visualization was designed and then key content left out until it was needed to pull the story along. Then it was drawn into the "frame" image.

Meeting Notes Example

And this visualization is the output from a 30 minute phone conversation - my co-worker was facilitating the call while I documented the conversation. Again, some identifying data blurred out.

Feedback Received

• Meeting facilitator was able to stop taking traditional notes and found the image a more effective representation.

Observations

• I was more engaged with the call than I would have been by passively listening or taking traditional notes. 
• We were able to immediately see patterns in the information both during the call and when the call ended. 
• Synthesis of information via relationships and connections was very natural and quick afterwards.
• Integrating color and annotations helped to identify the key pieces of value from the chaff.
• It is better to start in the very middle of the board as you won't know where the conversation will take you.
• To be clear, you will not find many artistic images other than basic shapes in either example. I am not an artist. But it is good enough to obtain the most valuable benefits in the areas of 1) achieving shared understanding, 2) efficient information processing and 3) stimulating meaningful analysis and synthesis of the content.

And Practice is Easy....

I now carry pens and plain paper with me into every meeting and take notes this way. I also represent books I read, or sometimes just chapters, into a graphical format for deeper understanding. And then there is the old standby of just brainstorming on a topic of interest. There are many "actual" graphic facilitators, visualization experts, and visual thinkers out there where you can find truly valuable information - here are my favs but there are many others:

• Sunni Brown - http://sunnibrown.com/doodlerevolution/
• Brandy Agerbeck - http://www.loosetooth.com/
• Center for Graphic Facilitation - http://graphicfacilitation.blogs.com/
• Dan Roam - http://www.danroam.com/the-back-of-the-napkin/