Ever been to a conference and found yourself entranced by a speaker but days later, struggled to recall their main points?
Or skip taking notes altogether, only to archive the usual post-event follow-ups like slide decks or audio recordings?
How often, when reflecting on a conference, do you revisit your notes or replay those audio snippets provided by the organizers?
If you’re like most attendees, that would be rarely.
Visual Artists For Meetings & The Power of Visual Notes through Graphic Recording
Now envision this.
While the speaker shares insights, a conference sketch artist dynamically turns their words into vibrant, engaging artwork right before your eyes.
This live visual representation isn’t just eye-catching but simplifies intricate topics, making them memorable and delightful.
Such real-time illustrations by a live event illustrator not only captivate the audience but elevate the entire communication process.
Post-presentation, these sketches become centerpieces in communal areas, encouraging discussions and serving as easy-to-understand recaps for attendees or those who might’ve missed the talk.
Even after the conference wraps up, this art doesn’t just fade away. It can be digitized and circulated online or emailed to guests, extending the reach of the speaker’s message and ensuring the key concepts resonate with a broader audience.
A live presentation artist isn’t just an entertainer, but an invaluable asset for enhancing comprehension and recall.
5 Reasons Why Sketch Artists Are a Must For Conferences
Rapid Information Processing
Visual content is assimilated by the brain 60,000 times faster than text, than text. By using graphic recording, you’re tapping into the brain’s innate ability to swiftly decode and understand imagery, ensuring that your audience grasps the content more efficiently.
Enhanced Retention
A blend of visual and verbal presentation guarantees better information recall. Studies suggest that attendees retain information delivered through both mediums six times more effectively than through speech alone. With graphic recording artists in play, your event’s core messages will have a lasting impact.
Boosted Engagement
Traditional conferences might overwhelm attendees with vast amounts of verbal content, leading to information fatigue. Graphic recording reinvigorates the audience, aligns messaging, and ensures that the essence of the content remains memorable.
Powerful Marketing Tool
Visual notes are not just a representation of what was said; they’re a marketing powerhouse. Not only do they encapsulate and convey the main messages, but their shareable nature acts as a continual reminder of the event. They’re 40 times more likely to be shared on social platforms, amplifying your event’s reach and creating a buzz for future gatherings.
Tangible Keepsakes
The art created during the event becomes a unique memento for attendees. This “gift” serves as a visual recap, a conversation starter, and a reason for attendees to eagerly anticipate subsequent events. The lasting impression drives ticket sales, registrations, and ensures a high turnout at future events.
Best Practices for Integrating Graphic Recording
Pre-Event Planning with Sketch Artists
- Crafting a Vision Together: It all starts with a conversation. Engage with your meeting visual artist well ahead of the event. Discuss the key themes, essential messages, and the overall vibe you’re aiming for. This early collaboration sets the stage for a performance that’s not just seen, but felt.
- Strategic Placement: Consider where your sketch drawing artist will create their magic. The location should offer the best vantage point for attendees and ample space for artistic expression. It’s about creating a visual hub that draws the eye and captivates the mind.
Maximizing Audience Engagement
- Interactive Artistry: Invite attendees to be a part of the creation. Whether through live polls or social media inputs, let their voices shape the art. This transforms passive listening into a dynamic, collective experience.
- A Symbiotic Dance: Encourage speakers to interact with the evolving canvas. This synergy between words and visuals not only deepens understanding but also adds an element of surprise and delight.
Integrating Visuals into Presentations
- Seamless Integration: Facilitate a meeting of minds between your speakers and the artist. This pre-event collaboration ensures that key points are not just spoken but vividly brought to life, enhancing the narrative journey of your event.
Post-Event Utilization of Artwork
- Beyond the Conference Walls: Let the art live on. Share these visual stories in your follow-up communications, on social media, or as part of your digital legacy. It’s about keeping the conversation going, long after the applause has faded.
- A Marketing Symphony: Leverage these visual notes as a unique marketing tool. They’re not just recaps; they’re invitations to relive and remember, sparking interest and anticipation for your future events.
Measuring Impact
- Listening to the Audience: Seek feedback focused on the graphic recording aspect. What moved them? What lingered? This feedback is a goldmine for understanding the true impact of your visual strategy.
- The Power of Shares: Keep an eye on how these visuals perform in the digital arena. The shares, likes, and comments are not just numbers; they’re echoes of your event’s resonance.
It’s not just about what’s heard; it’s about what’s seen, felt, and remembered. Let your next event be a canvas where knowledge meets creativity, leaving a lasting impression that transcends the conventional.
What The Sketch Effect Provides
The Sketch Effect delivers live illustrations through graphic recording for conferences (including both general and breakout sessions), corporate meetings, retreats, offsite gatherings, virtual events, trade shows, exhibitor booths, brainstorming, journey mapping, and other similar workshops.
Think of visual note-takers, but better.
Before an event, our sketch artists meet with your organization to discuss your goals and agendas, and critical messaging to provide a visual boost. Our team manages the step-by-step logistics of the graphic recording service, including travel and lodging for the artist, supply sourcing, delivery, and more.
At the event, the artist will arrive early, review the presentation agenda and key concept(s) with the event organizers, and set up a large canvas (either on stage, off stage, or in the back of the room) for live drawing. During the event, our visual artists draw during meetings, actively listening to the speaker or speakers and sketching out the content in real-time.
The only things needed are ample floor space for the artist, good lighting, and clear audio of the speaker(s).
Completed sketches can be displayed and referenced as soon as they’re completed.
At the end of the event, your organization gets to keep the original physical sketches (if done traditionally on foam core or paper rolls), while the artist will take digital photos of each event sketch and transmit them to The Sketch Effect in-house team where editors will clean them up for pixel-perfect sharing online.
Within two business days after the live sketching, your organization will receive the graphic recording images that can be posted, emailed, and shared online with audiences of your choice.
With Live Event Sketch Artists, Everyone Wins
With conference notes captured through graphic recording by the best sketch artist, speakers feel that their presentations are “brought to life”; they typically feel additional validation because they can see a visual record of what they said.
Attendees see the artwork as a “bonus” memento of the event that will help to both explain and reinforce the information that was presented. And your organization accomplishes its goals of communication, dissemination, and sharing ideas in an effective, attractive, fun medium.
Get in touch with our team today to discuss the goals of your next event and learn more about how graphic recording is transforming events and conferences of all types.
