It is entirely normal to attend an online meeting, summit, or social gathering and find the whole event yawn-worthy. Attendees may even find themselves walking away from a supposedly educational engagement without benefitting from any solid takeaways. That’s because many of these garden variety virtual events lack a critical element that “hooks” the audience.
That missing ingredient is ubiquitous in the modern digital age of social media. From TikTok to Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat. It’s the component of visual communication.
Research shows that visual elements improve learning by up to 400%. There’s excellent retention of information through visual learning, a process that precedes the advent of language and civilization. And the learning method seems equally relevant and effective in the modern mind. Graphic recording, also known as live sketching or visual note-taking, leverages the power of visual communication, delivered in real-time.
Benefits of Graphic Recording Beyond In-person Events
While live graphic recording works well for in-person trade shows, corporate meetings, and conferences, the world has become increasingly remote. Through virtual graphic recording sessions, virtual event organizers can consistently provide attendees with memorable and fun content from any location.
Gone will be the days of forgettable virtual events and remote engagements lacking impact. Here are the top five reasons to consider virtual graphic recording for your next online event.
#1: Bridge an Emotional Connection with Virtual Audiences
Studies have shown that people tend to learn faster through visual cues. That’s why memes, gifs, and images perform so well on social media. Also, people tend to share online content that they connect with on an emotional level, be it pet pictures, infographics, or a hilarious pop-culture meme.
That’s because the part of the brain that stores visual memory, the medial temporal lobe, lies within the same region as the emotional processors.
Virtual graphic recording or RemoteNotes commits ideas shared at an online meeting as virtual notes, creating a solid emotional connection. The process validates the contributions of each participant as they witness their contributions come to life. Virtual live sketching can effectively convert the most abstract concepts into visual metaphors that attendees can feel and retain.
#2: Access Detailed and Effective Learning Materials
The benefits of digital graphic recording transcend the meeting or event. Experienced live sketch artists tap into the power of active listening to capture the tiniest nuances of every conversation delivered in a virtual session. This live capture then become useful and engaging artifacts to leverage after the event.
Organizers can expect an optimized visual breakdown of the objectives, connections, and concepts covered during the online meeting, which they can compile and reframe as teaching aids for similar discussions down the road.
#3: Avoid Miscommunication and Improve Engagement
Virtual live sketching can help reduce miscommunications during an online video conferencing session since it captures the main points in clear visuals. There might be multiple disturbances and disruptions during the meeting, which might derail the train of thought. This makes it critical to stay on the same page.
Digital miscommunications abound across online channels, such as passive-aggressive Slacks or emails that might convey the wrong idea and cause conflicts among team members. A live sketch artist has undergone specific training, enabling them to pay special attention to the flow of the conversation without skipping a beat.
Participants can immerse themselves in the virtual sessions with peace of mind without stressing about every detail during the live stream. Essentially, live sketching removes the “concert effect,” where attendees spend too much time taking photos and videos of the atmosphere that they miss out on the experience.
#4: Deliverables at a Glance
All successful meetings (including virtual ones) should have meaningful conclusions and practical deliverables. Digital graphic recording sessions combine text, engaging graphics, and color to create a highly perceptible view of event objectives.
With live visuals, participants will never have to face the issue of sieving through mountains of tedious data to understand the purpose of an event or internal follow-up action. Alternatively, organizations may submit the completed digital graphics to communicate external deliverables with end-users and customers.
#5: Avoid the Negative Aspects of Visual Learning
Despite the plentiful benefits of visual learning, there are some careful considerations. For instance, a generic or stock image or purely decorative element without any practicality or relevance might disrupt an audience’s attention. The same applies to poorly rendered grainy graphics with low resolution or misalignments.
By hiring live sketching specialists, you can expect stellar visual representation highlighting the most critical details of a meeting or presentation. Rather than swerving a participant off course, each live illustration will engage the audience and keep them concentrated on the ongoing discussion.
Add Virtual Graphic Recording to Your Next Online Gathering
Are your employees working digitally? Do you need to find a way to keep them engaged when hosting virtual meetings or hybrid events?
Contact the visual experts at The Sketch Effect to discover the most suitable graphic recording solution tailored to your project needs!
Need a great visual but not planning an event? Check out our summary board sketches for a solution similar to graphic recording with time and cost-saving benefits.
