A few months ago I got the opportunity to serve as a graphic recorder for Amanda Thornton as she presented on psychological safety for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Office Professionals conference.
It was our first time working together, and I got all the advantages a graphic recorder could ask for:
- Ms. Thornton found time to meet with me before the event
- She provided me with a copy of her planned powerpoint slide deck
- She asked for some ideas to involve the audience in the presentation
- She was willing to go with some experimental techniques for the recording (more on that later).
Preparing the Boards
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.creativegray.me/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_8070-2.jpg?resize=750%2C483)
Having so much preparation time and materials really gave me the opportunity to put in some serious time on this presentation. I prepared three 12’x4′ boards with templates that would fill in and complement the content of her talk. I then mounted all three on the board, with the second and third scrolled up and hanging on the side. I practiced “unrolling” the papers for each section, until I was confident I could do it smoothly (using Christina Merkley’s Super-Secret Tape Technique).
Note: in retrospect, it would have been smarter to have all the papers layered on top of each other, and rolled them up as each section transitioned. Still, it worked pretty well.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.creativegray.me/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1.jpg?fit=1024%2C576)
Each board also had room for the interactive feedback produced by the attendees on colorful sticky notes. I have to give extreme kudos to Ms. Thornton for being able to not only present the material but also have three separate feedback activities for the attendees – all in the space of one hour.
After the event I created scans of the posters (including close-ups of the interactive portions) and presented it to the attendees as a PDF format so they could use it to refresh their memories after the fact.
The Feedback
So what did people say, after the fact?
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.creativegray.me/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_8087.jpg?resize=281%2C210)
Let’s be honest: there was at least one person who didn’t see the point. “Not sure the gentleman reiterating everything on paper was good as no one really saw it.“ Hey, at least I now know that I came across as a gentleman…
However, apparently there were a lot of people who did see it:
- I loved that there was ‘in real time’ drawing/posting of the conversation and presentation – that was so unique and I would love to see more of that.
- Visuals were similarly excellent.
- I thought the scribe was a fun addition, I have never seen that before!
- …having the scribe record in a different medium during the presentation was unique and reinforcing of the points made…
I also got some direct feedback as I was taking down the equipment, with one person thanking me for helping to keep her awake and another – my favorite compliment – who told me that I had done “a very good job of multi-tasking – for a man. Most men aren’t good at that, but you did alright.”