Has Anyone Ever Seen This Before?

I always like to ask this question and see how many hands go up. 

If I'm graphic recording, I explain, "For those of you who haven't seen it, it's called graphic recording. It's large-scale visual note taking. You're going to have conversations, I'm going to listen to what you have to say, I'll take notes and illustrate what I hear, and it's super cool." 

If I'm visually facilitating, I say, "For those of you who haven't seen it, it's called visual facilitation. We're going to use large format templates and charts to capture your ideas and guide our discussion. The process for our discussion is captured on the charts already on the walls. It's like an assembly line for our discussion process. We're going to start THERE with understanding who's in the room and the task in front of us, and by the end of our time together, we'll be THERE, with clear decisions and planned actions." 

Then, for BOTH graphic recording and visual facilitation, I lay down a few expectations:

"First, for a lot of this, I'm going to have my back to you. I don't mean to be rude, it's just tough for me to draw and make eye contact at the same time.

Second, unfortunately, my markers do not come with spell check! So if I make a mistake, just let me know. I carry plenty of White Out. 

Third, this is YOUR PAPER. If you have an idea that's easier to represent visually, grab a marker and throw it up here. YOUR sketches, much more than mine, often propel the group forward. These charts will become a record of our conversations. After we're done, I'll scan them and send them back to you as digital images. So if an idea is important to our conversation, make sure it shows up somewhere on the charts. If an idea isn't written down somewhere, it doesn't count! 

Jemmott Rollins Group South LA Homelessness

And if you want, I can send you the original charts... but you're going to need a big wall to display them!

So let's get started."