Probably all of us have experienced at some point how visuals help us understand complicated ideas. Visuals can be especially helpful at a conference or workshop where there is an almost constant influx of information and sometimes it’s just hard to figure out what the most important points are. This is why more and more event organisers decide to include some sort of live conference illustration at their event. And to take this concept a step further, we recently decided with a client to add an interactive element to a workshop by inviting the audience to participate at the graphic recording.

Why is it worthwhile to add interaction to conference illustration?

By creating this interactive moment: 

• you as an event organiser can harness collective intelligence

• you can turn the audience into active participants instead of passive onlookers

• you gather comments and ideas from the participants that otherwise wouldn’t have been shared

• you create a sense of connection and co-creation among the participants

The goal of interactive graphic recording is to create a lasting visual that is taking into account the views and expertise of the audience. It’s important that the participants feel like they are working on this big goal together and that their voices are heard and they matter. 

The process of an interactive graphic recording

Before the event, we have a co-creation session with the organising team where we come up with a visual that offers a foundation for the live illustration. This base visual will be pre-drawn on a large piece of paper and will be the starting point on the day of the event. We do this because when the participants come to the wall with their comments, this will help them put it to the relevant spot where it makes the most sense to them.

At the event space, we set up a moveable wall with the base visual. Then, during the event, the attendees will be instructed to listen to the discussion and write down on post-its the ideas that stand out to them the most, or comments that are important to them but that they haven’t heard yet. They will have the possibility to add the post-its on the wall and the illustrator will then incorporate these post-its into the final visual.

A different way to look at the visual summary AND the event

In my experience, involving the audience like this energises the group, invites them to think differently and thus engages them on a different level than if they were just passively listening. It also changes how they relate to the graphic recording visual  and as a consequence, to the event itself. Instead of seeing the visual as a tool that helps them understand and remember (which is already great), through co-creating it, they now have ownership and pride about not just the visual, but also the event and the connections they have made there.

If you are ever organising an event where you would like to energise and engage your audience in a new way, let me know, I’d be happy to come up with a tailor-made solution. You can reach out to me here.