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7 Reasons to Use Graphic Recording for Team Building

Graphic recording is the process of creating visually engaging notes, complete with icons, arrows, and thought bubbles, during a presentation or workshop. This allows attendees to better absorb the information being presented and can provide employees with the tangible resources they need to be successful within your company.

Real-time sketch noting is particularly beneficial for virtual training and team building activities, in both live and remote online spaces.

Here are 7 reasons you should consider using graphic recording for your next team-building workshop.

Why Graphic Recording is Must For Team-Building Workshops

Sketch Artist performing graphic recording during team building exercise

1. Create a Positive Team Building Workshop Atmosphere

Visual note-taking is highly engaging, helping you to create a unique and positive team-building workshop atmosphere. Team members will be excited to see concepts presented during the workshop laid out in a visual fashion and will be more positively engaged throughout the workshop.

You can provide a handout of the notes before, during, or after the workshop, so employees don’t have to take notes themselves and can simply focus on absorbing as much of the data being presented as possible. Instead of creating team building workshops that employees dread, graphic recording can help you host training seminars that are much more enjoyable for attendees.

2. Promote Active Listening

Person in an audience with caption "I am actually paying attention!"

Auditory processing is not necessarily the strong suit of every team member. Some people are good auditory learners, while others are visual learners, and still, others are kinesthetic learners, meaning they learn best with hands-on experience. Sketch recording can help promote active listening by tuning in to each individual’s unique learning style.

Visual learners will no longer struggle to map out team-building concepts in their minds; they will be able to visualize the material as it’s being presented, making it much more absorbable. Kinesthetic learners with a handout can draw or add notes to the core material as they go through the seminar. This means workshop attendees are actively listening and actively paying attention to the message your organization is presenting.

3. Encourage Problem-Solving

Live sketching takes difficult or challenging material and transforms it into a more absorbable format. This makes it easier for all types of learners to engage in critical thinking and problem-solving independently. Your sketch recordings are then digitized and can be shared with both people who did and did not attend the team building workshop to further drive home the ideas presented by your organization.

They also serve as an excellent reference tool should your team encounter future issues. They can refer back to the live sketch file and recall the information needed to solve the problem at hand.

4. Help People Remember Key Points More Easily

graphic recording visual summary

Retaining all the key points presented in a team-building workshop can be difficult, even for attendees who are paying explicit attention to the material. Another benefit of graphic recording is that it helps people remember critical key points of team building presentations more easily by echoing auditory information with a visual backup.

Because the recording can be saved for later reference, this helps employees have better control over accessing the information they need when they need it.

5. Improve Team Leader / Team Member Conflict Resolution

Team building workshops are an important part of improving team leader and team member conflict resolution. By employing live note-taking during these workshops, you can ensure that attendees are able to better absorb information about how to deescalate conflict in the workplace and how to work together with team members to resolve problems

6. Promote Team Development and Team Building Activities With Visual Notes

Resolving conflict is only one part of developing an effective team. You need to proactively engage and involve your employees in team building activities on a regular basis. To make these team development workshops a better investment of time and resources, consider using graphic recording services. Graphic recording creates an engaging visual representation of the concepts presented during team building activities that can be shared with other employees and referred back to as needed.

7. Equip Virtual Teams With Effective Action Plans

Person taking a picture of live sketched notes after team building workshop

It’s more important now than ever before for virtual teams to have adequate resources that keep them interconnected to their work and the team’s overall goals. Live note-taking can help you create effective action plans from the content in your team building workshops, which can then be provided to your virtual or remote employees that may not have been able to attend the seminar. This keeps your various team members on the same page, no matter their location.

Why High-Performing Teams Use Graphic Recording

High-performing teams know that maximizing the value and return on investment (ROI) of team building activities is crucial. Graphic recording can help you do this by creating a visually engaging record of concepts and ideas presented during team building workshops that can be considered “evergreen.” This means that your visual notes become a forever-resource that can be utilized by your company on an ongoing basis.

When you conduct multiple team-building activities in this manner, you will soon have a robust library of highly digestible training resources that can help you boost employee performance and reach your company’s goals. This is an excellent way to optimize your team-building workshops and make them as effective as possible for both in-person and remote teams.

CTA graphic with images of graphic recording artists live sketching at in-person events

Looking for other ways to enhance your communication efforts? Learn more about our video animation services.