No Travel Budget? You Can Still Have Graphic Recording

Are you planning an event that could use graphic recording, but you don’t have a budget for travel? Let’s talk about remote visuals.

I recently had the pleasure of supporting Wayne State University’s Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness & Research (CLEAR) as they held a symposium on environmental justice for maternal and fetal health in the Detroit area.

Though most participants attended locally, I was able to join remotely to capture visuals in real-time. The team projected my work on large screens around the room in tandem with presenters’ slides so participants could see multiple ways of engaging with the information as it was being shared.

Here are some of my tips for success:

• Good sound is a must. Make sure your people have easy access to microphones so the graphic recorder can hear well.

• What’s your why for having visuals? Answer this question to decide what’s most useful for displaying the graphics. Is it important for participants to see the graphics as they emerge? Or as a reveal at the end? We can work together to design a strategy that best serves your needs.

• Before, during, after: we can work together to make the most of your investment by thinking about how to leverage the visuals to support your goals for the event.

• Practice makes everything better. Schedule a tech test to make sure sound and displays are showing up well so everything goes easy on the day of.

“The first comment about the CLEAR presentation was about how wonderful it was to see your graphic recordings and what a great idea it was to interpret the research in this way.

Thanks again for your excellent drawings that so innovatively communicate the work of CLEAR in such an easily accessible way.”

— Judith Moldenhauer, CLEAR Team

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the Virtual World is ConverSketch?

Though I’m still very much easing into working as a new parent, I’ve been loving the projects I’ve gotten to support this spring:

Wayne State University: Here is one of the graphics I created for the CLEAR symposium mentioned above. I loved learning about the community-centered and interdisciplinary approaches this group is taking around maternal and fetal health!

Learner Voice Symposium: Partnering with the Attainment Network is always a treat because they center learner voices and walk the talk of including youth and non-traditional learners in conversations that matter!

WildfireSAFE App Video Series: I’m delighted to finally get to share the WildfireSAFE app videos with the world! Matt Jolly and his team at USFS have developed an incredibly sophisticated and simple-to-use app that helps fire responders and residents understand fire danger in very specific locations and times. This app can help save lives – if you live in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), please check it out!

Tech Leadership: Supporting a leadership team as they navigate big shifts in the organization. I was impressed by the vulnerability and authenticity with which folks showed up in a completely remote environment!

ConverSketch Returns in April

Karina holding Kai (left) and Ayla (right).

Hello!

Here are a few updates as spring flowers emerge here in the Northern Hemisphere, and I start to emerge from the cocoon of newborn twin life:

• I’ll be returning to graphic recording part-time starting in April, focusing on virtual and single day local (Colorado) on-site projects. I plan to start traveling this summer. If you have an event that could use some visual thinking, I’d love to hear from you and get you in my calendar. I’m looking forward to partnering with you all!

• Our twins, Kai and Ayla, are growing and learning more every day. It’s a joy to have them home from the NICU and off oxygen and get to see their personalities emerging. Baby coos and smiles sure are special! We’re looking forward to more walks and seeing more friends as the weather warms up and the twins get stronger.

• ConverSketch turned 11 in February! An enormous thank you to each of you for being a part of what makes ConverSketch special – it’s all about your ideas, creativity, and collaboration!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the Virtual World is ConverSketch?

While I have been fully immersed in being a new parent, here are some projects from last year that have been published in the last few months.

CoSN Driving K-12 Innovation: The Consortium for School Networking hosted another series of dialogues and ideation sessions to support educators and schools Driving K-12 Innovation across the nation last fall, and I got to create live graphics which are beautifully featured in their annual publications. Check out the full reports here.

Rangeland Ecosystem Services Publication: Another studio piece from the fall, created in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Service exploring pillars to resilient rangelands and rangeland ecosystem services.

The Wilderness Society: Last fall I had the joy of working with the TWS Community-Led Conservation team to create a vision and roadmap toward truly supporting communities and wilderness. This spring we got together to finish a summary illustration of their vision and values and how they fit into the larger TWS organization.

The Twins Have Arrived!

Hello!

It is with such great love I get to introduce the newest additions to the family: Kai and Ayla (rhymes with Kayla)!

The twins arrived on November 7th at just over 32 weeks. They are already a month old today! They’re currently in the NICU at Poudre Valley Hospital and are doing a great job of growing, learning to eat, snuggling, and being very cute. We’re hoping they’ll be able to come home around the end of December.

Kai (left) and Ayla (right):

I’m currently on parental leave through March/April 2023. If you’re interested in graphic recording or facilitation during this time, please check out the list of awesome colleagues on my Contact page. The blog will be taking a break during this time as we figure out how to navigate being new parents.

Wishing you a warm, joyful, and safe holiday season. I am so appreciative that you’re a part of the ConverSketch community and I’m looking forward to celebrating and co-creating together in a few months!

Cheers,

Watershed Perspectives

September brought fascinating work with clients across the country and across sectors, but one theme kept emerging organically. This is one of my favorite things about being a graphic facilitator – we get to listen, learn and make connections.

This month I keep hearing a similar idea from a team working on resilient coasts and watersheds, to social and ecological scientists working in mountain systems around the world, to community-led conservation practitioners:  

The same small perspective just doesn’t cut it. To really solve problems for our environment and people, we need to look at challenges from a larger perspective, like a watershed. If we’re only looking to solve problems for one community or piece of the ecosystem, there are bound to be repercussions or solutions that don’t last. Looking for system connections

Is there a way for you to take a “watershed” approach to a problem or challenge to look for a solution in a place you may not have thought of?

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Seattle, WA: Facilitating with the Wilderness Society’s Community-Led Conservation team as they explore what it would take to create a supportive, inclusive, and effective community of practice.

Basalt, CO: With mountain researchers from around the world exploring the potential of creating a new alliance to elevate indigenous and mountain community voices for better climate policy.

Denver, CO: With the Attainment Network learning and sharing about different career pathways to support students who may not choose to or think they can attend university.

Virginia Beach, VA: With the Environmental Defense Fund kicking off a series of systems thinking workshops for the Resilient Coasts and Watersheds team – the rest of the workshops are virtual throughout the fall.

A Simple Shift in Asking Questions for Better Answers

Imagine you’re in a class or a meeting, and the teacher or facilitator asks the group a question. Now picture two different paths that can unfold directly after the question is asked:

A)    The question asker continues talking, explaining it in a different way without being asked to, or elaborating on the task at hand. Then they immediately ask for someone to share their answer, and before you’ve fully processed, you’re not really listening as others begin to share and you’re still figuring out what you think.

B)     After simply asking the question, the question asker says they’re going to pause for a moment to let everyone think. They take some time, but 30 seconds later when they ask for someone to start sharing, you feel present and ready because you’ve had the space to process the question and think about your answer.

I’ve noticed when I’m graphically facilitating and ask a group a question, I tend to want to keep explaining or talking rather than sitting with the silence.

But when I’m a participant being asked a question, if I don’t have the time to process, then I’m either not ready or not listening to others’ responses because I’m scrambling to think of my response.

The simple solution: Take a pause.

What if you’re the one asking the question and you feel uncomfortable with silence? If nobody answers right away, are they even paying attention? Probably!

• Explain what you’re doing and why, then pause

• Take a drink of water

• Count to 5 slowly in your mind to give it something to do

• Send the questions ahead of time if you know some folks will want more time to process

• (or all of the above)

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Fort Collins: Facilitating a creative visioning workshop for the CSU Energy Institute as they look at how to be leaders in climate over the next 10 years. Here’s a custom drawing I did to explain a key aspect of the organizer’s framing talk - we didn’t need any slides the entire day!

In the Studio: Recording the last couple of digitally hand-drawn explainer videos on the books this year before parental leave, wrapping up summary illustrations for regional food dialogues from around the state which will be printed and hung as massive posters at a Summit in December, and preparing to graphically facilitate a series of systems thinking workshops over the next two months! Here’s a snippet of one of the posters:

450 Students Creating A Collective Vision for the Year

There’s something that makes you feel more alive when you’re on campus at the beginning of the school year. There’s an energy that’s almost tangible – excited, a little nervous, curious, brave.

Last week I got to sit in on orientation at Regis University in Denver where the organizers were incredibly intentional about the space and thinking they wanted to challenge the students to do together, right from the very beginning. Under a huge open sided tent set up on the quad, over 400 students gathered at round tables to meet each other and begin exchanging ideas.

Using the World Café method, the professors guided the small table groups as they explored and shared with each other in conversations about one of the Core Principles of the University.

As students moved through rounds of conversation, each time with a new group, they were encouraged to leverage previous discussions, eventually using sticky notes to write down their table’s vision for the community they wanted to create together.

I graphic recorded the quick harvests in real-time digitally on site, then we collected the sticky notes from each table while students went off to the next piece of the day. My task was then to synthesize the sticky notes into one graphic that showed the major themes, as well as highlighting creative and unique aspects of each.

The graphic was used the following day as a jumping-off point for deeper reflection with other facilitators, and will be shared with students throughout and at the end of the year to remind them of what they began creating together that very first morning.

What blows me away is that this relatively simple process effectively created space for over 400 student voices to be heard and woven together in just a few hours, into something that hopefully will resonate with them for the year to come!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Aspen, CO: For the annual Tech Policy Institute Aspen Forum. We discussed broadband, antitrust, equity, privacy, and regulations with heavy hitters from around the globe.

Regis University: As you just read. Here’s a snapshot of a meditative prayer parents were invited to attend as they experienced the roller coaster of letting their kids go to college.

And Once Again, for the People in the Back: I’m pregnant with twins! We are due in December, and I will be taking some time off to be a new parent. Here are the details of what it means for ConverSketch.

Three Reasons to Put It on Paper

Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation, a book, or a brainstorm and felt like you needed to grab a pencil and paper to start writing things down? If so, you’re not alone! Here are three reasons to grab a notebook or scrap of paper and get your ideas on paper:

• Kinesthetic connection sparks memory. The act of physically writing rather than typing has been shown to improve memory through the movement of putting a pen to paper. Read more here.

• Take a (cognitive) load off. Our brains can only keep track of a finite amount of information at once, so writing or drawing your ideas out allows you to let go of some of the load while continuing what you’re doing. Getting it on paper allows you to look for connections, which also reduces cognitive load.

• Words and pictures are powerful. Writing things down with intention can be a powerful practice to focus your energy, thoughts, and emotions to let go of or bring in more of what you want. I enjoy creating vision boards during the new year or times of change to help me organize and focus my intentions.

For more science about why writing things down works for your brain, check out this one on complexity.

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

In Case You Missed It: We’re expecting twins in December! For more on what this means for ConverSketch over the coming months, check out this post.

In the Studio: Working on a series of videos about wildfire safety, and a series of illustrations of local food gatherings around the state of Colorado. Here’s a snippet:

Speaking of Expectations…A Very Exciting Personal Update

Last week I shared some thoughts about how we can reinvent expectations together to counter the burnout many are feeling.

This week I’d like to share a personal spin on the theme of expectations. I’m delighted to get to finally share with you…

I’m pregnant with twins!

We’re feeling effervescent, they’re due in mid-December, and everyone is healthy.

What does this mean for ConverSketch?

• I’ll be taking a few months for parental leave from roughly December-February depending on when they make their debut

• I’m planning to begin working again part-time in the spring – recognizing this timeline will likely evolve and solidify as we get our bearings as parents

• I will not be traveling beyond October and will be tapering work in November

• If we’re already working together on a project, if the pregnancy continues as we expect, I’ll make sure we’re wrapped up before parental leave.

• For new projects during the time I’m away, I am wildly appreciative to have a network of phenomenal graphic recording and graphic facilitation colleagues to connect you with – so keep planning for visual thinking, creative process design, and meaningful connection.

Please feel free to reach out with questions – I want to make sure all of YOU, my wonderful thought partners are taken care of!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

With prenatal bliss,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Pivoting from In-Person to Virtual: Last week, a team of fire social scientists and I made some tough calls due to covid and other unexpected challenges for participants. We went from a 2.5 day in-person meeting to a 1-day virtual meeting with additional follow up in a few weeks to discuss their work, create a strategy for the remaining funding, and envision what the long-term could look like to continue this work. Sensitive content has been blurred out.

In the Studio: Working on several illustration projects from core values and purpose to integrating the complex landscape of socio-ecological systems into a branded illustration for an upcoming conference I’ll be graphic recording.

Collectively & Creatively Reinventing Expectations

Have you felt it?

During and as the pandemic has evolved, I’ve heard and felt the same thing you probably have.

“I’m so busy…”

“It’s crazy these days.”

“Parenting and working is just…a lot right now.” (Understatement)

The burnout is real. So is the creative reinvention.

What can we do to dial the intensity of expectations down together, collectively and creatively?

If you work with people, here are some suggestions I’ve see and heard lately:

• Establish communication norms. Is there a platform where instant replies are/aren’t expected? One group I recently graphic facilitated articulated that a Teams message could be sent any time, and the recipient would respond when they were able. More urgent matters were direct phone calls.

• Practice a monthly Deepening Day. This team also imagined a once-a-month day dedicated to any sort of personal or professional development the person felt would best serve them. Ideas ranged from attending events to making time for extended lunches with partners or colleagues to setting an away message from email to focus on deep work.

• Live the values: Whether you’re a leader or a co-worker, shifting culture starts with each person on the team. Demonstrating by not responding immediately to every email, or sharing insights from your Deepening Day, or taking those vacation days can all contribute to shifting the pace and expectations we hold each other to.

And really, take that time off to breathe.

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

In the Studio: Working on video storyboards, synthesis illustrations, and preparing to facilitate a workshop here in Fort Collins next week. Here’s a close-up of one of 11 regional local food gatherings around the state of Colorado I’m visually distilling for display at a Summit happening this winter.

Back from the River: There’s nothing like six days completely offline to refresh and reset. Here’s a painting of the stunning canyon created from camp one evening.

Dark Times Require Deep Imagination

This post by @cleowade simultaneously validated the heaviness underlying current events, while also sparking hope and empowerment in my heart.

If you’ve been feeling like things are just extra difficult or heavy right now, please be gentle with yourself and each other. Rest, love, and ignite the imagination deep within you.

I’m heading off for a week on the river tomorrow and will be back to phone and email after July 7th.

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Where in the World is ConverSketch?

Boulder, CO: Graphically facilitating a workshop for a team of education and outreach stars who tell stories and collaborate with climate and atmospheric scientists to better communicate the work and research. Here is the visual agenda for the day.

Global Council for Science and the Environment: Attending a 4-day, virtual, global conference for GCSE. Many organizations talk about how to be inclusive, equitable, and just. GCSE is walking the talk – the speakers included Indigenous peoples, Black and Brown people, women, and people representing the global south and north. I am immensely proud to get to support this organization!

Colorado HIV/AIDS Strategic Planning: Both remote and in-person listening sessions with populations affected by and vulnerable to HIV as they share with the State how strategic investments can truly provide support and services they need.