As a graphic facilitator, few things are cooler to me than when people share stories of how they have picked up the pen and started to draw out their ideas! Today’s blog post comes from Gema Almilli, an Experience Planner with Red Door Interactive. In this post she shares two ways she has begun to apply visual thinking in her own work, along with some of the benefits she has received from working this way.
My Sketching Experiences
Guest Blogger: Gema Almilli, Red Door Interactive
After taking a sketching workshop with Jeannel, I’ve been inspired to incorporate sketching more often during my work day.
Sketching course notes
I recently attended an all-day business training session at which the leader was clear that “there will be an open-note quiz” at the end of the day. I usually prefer not to take too many notes during a presentation, but I knew that I needed something to trigger my memory when it came to quiz time. So, while my colleagues furiously scratched key concepts in their notebooks, I was drawing little shapes, icons and figures on grid paper.
Sketching allowed me to capture ideas and still listen at the same time, plus it was really fun! It actually made the course material that much more interesting.
The stories and examples that the course leader was explaining became pictures in my head, so why not sketch out those pictures instead of making my brain translate them back into words? I filled several pages by the end of day. When it came to the quiz I just glanced at my scribbles and let my brain recall the associations to the concepts. I got 100%.
Sketching during a work meeting
It was a typical work meeting, ideas being tossed back and forth in the hopes of getting everyone on the same page by the end of day. We began to discuss a list of things that should be included in a revamped report.
I could sense the we would make faster progress if we all had something to LOOK at instead of just TALK about.
So I jumped up and started to use the whiteboard which was right next to us, empty, ready and waiting. I noticed that as I began to list ideas on the board and sketch out concepts, the conversation gained more focus. We began to see our ideas take shape and individuals who were not engaged became engaged. Pretty soon other team members jumped up and started sketching with me. We made a ton of progress and had a great time. We snapped photos of the whiteboard to archive along with traditional typed up notes.
Jeannel says – What I love about this story, Gema, is how EASY and NATURAL it was for you to pick up the pen at those two times! You weren’t trying to force a skill set onto a situation because you had recently learned it: rather, you brought it to situations where it was a natural fit for you. And that’s what this stuff is all about. It felt right to start drawing out ideas, so you did! And by drawing out ideas when it felt right, you were able to accomplish 100% awesome results!
Thanks for sharing your story here, Gema. I’m inspired by you!
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