5 things to know about hiring a live illustrator for your online event EVEN if it's highly technical, jargon heavy or niche AF
This week on Instagram I had a question from Sal Preston and she said
“Katie, I’m so fascinated to know if you have to understand the subject matter? How do you know the important parts to pick out and illustrate? Do you have access to the presentation ahead of time to practice?”
-Sal Preston
This is a question I get asked all the time and it's a valid concern for companies looking to hire a graphic recorder.
I’m happy to just turn up and draw... but it’s not always that simple!
Let me lay it out in this here blog post for you.
Settle in.
There’s even a video at the end if you’re not in a reading mood.
5 things to know about hiring a live illustrator for your online event EVEN if it's highly technical, jargon-heavy or niche AF
1. i’ll do a bit of research beforehand.
If it is a very technical subject or something with lots of internal jargon such as risk assurance or cybersecurity etc.
2. We can set up a pre-event live illustration call to talk through any jargon, Acronyms and weird niche words etc.
This pre-event call worked really well for PWC, who hired me to live illustrate their internal strategy event.
3. Give me a cheat sheet!
When I worked for the lovely team at Plan UK, they very helpfully supplied me a cheat sheet with the most common acronyms.
With that by my side I was able to live scribe an online policy change meeting that was FULL of acronyms about sexual and reproductive health. This cheat-sheet approach has meant that I’ve been able to live illustrate very complicated subjects without having to be an expert in them.
How do you know the important parts to pick out and draw during an online event?
4. I’ll use my intuition
When it comes to knowing which parts of the events to illustrate and which key points to focus on this is something that I rely on my intuition for. I am constantly asking myself while I’m drawing:
Is this interesting to the target audience?
Does this relate to the whole illustration?
Is this something that will lend itself really well to being visualised?
Is this a thing that people at this event will REALLY want to remember afterwards?
5. write a list of the important parts you’d definitely like me to include in the live illustration
Sounds incredibly obvious, but If there are especially important points, you can highlight those in an email or during our pre-event call.
This means that I won't miss any of the points that you really want to have included in your graphic recording / live illustration.
P.s. Here’s the reel I posted to give you an insight into how my work looks. This version is without music (Because copyright) but if you’d like to see the full thing in all its glory click here!
Want to see more examples of what live illustration at online events looks like?
Here ya go:
15 Examples of sketchnotes for online events
Case studies - how live illustration boosts business and helps people understand and remember the important stuff