I’m not a huge forecaster-type, and I don’t like to follow trends. But recently when I’m talking to event organisers, many of them seem to be interested in the same thing: how can we activate our audience at our event? How can we get them excited and involved, instead of just making them sit for one or two days straight? How can we offer them an “experience” instead of just another event?

“Audience engagement is the holy grail of events” - said probably no event organiser ever, but who knows?

I’m excited about this subject because I have had a couple of events in the past where graphic recording / live illustration was not considered as a “separate” part of the event but it was integrated into the programme and there was an emphasis on audience participation. Don’t get me wrong, I think that graphic recording is beneficial to any event, whether we try to activate the audience or not. But there is something about involving people in a creative activity that has (in my opinion) huge benefits for how participants feel themselves at the event, and how they think about it afterwards.

What exactly is audience participation when it comes to live illustration?

Audience participation is definitely not making people uncomfortable and forcing them to draw even if they are fighting tooth and nail against it. The point is the exact opposite: to open up the floor for the participants to engage with the visuals, access their creativity and thus make the event more than just an event, turn it into an “experience”.

Here are a couple of ways event organisers are thinking about audience participation in this context.

These are three actual briefs from three different clients:

• Client #1: We would like to create a large visual summary and let people add their comments/ideas on the drawing by using post-its. The point of this is to enhance the feeling of community and to let everyone express their thoughts and knowledge related to the topic of the event.

• Client #2: On a large board, we would like to invite people to draw/write their ideas about the event subject. It’s a touchy subject and since some people might be less comfortable with drawing, we would like to have a live illustrator there who can draw if participants are not into that. The point here again is to give a voice to people and also let them take a look at how other participants are thinking about the same issue, sort of like a “visual catalog of ideas”

• Client #3: We would like to have a large board where we visualise the personal commitments of participants to one of 4 subjects related to the conference topic. It is important to us that people take a moment to think about how they can contribute to the issues we discuss. We believe that seeing all of the commitments visualised on a large wall will be a very powerful image for people to take home with them and also will demonstrate the power and dedication the audience has together.

The takeaway?

People are attending a lot of events and they are thirsty for new experiences. If an artists draws their ideas and feelings, that will leave a lasting impression and make your event stand out from the crowd.

If you are interested in using visual tools to activate your audience and make your event truly memorable, feel free to reach out, I’d love to get in touch!