ATTENTION: This session requires advance signup to attend. For Online Schedule: Please utilize the RSVP link below the description to reserve your seat. For SXSW GO App: Use the RSVP 'Find a Timeslot' link. You must have a SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badge to attend, and, you must have an activated SXsocial account (social.sxsw.com) to reserve a seat. If you have any issues with signing up, please email support@sxsw.com. VERY IMPORTANT: Because of the limited space, we recommend you arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the published start time of this session. If you have not checked in at the room you RSVPed for at least five minutes prior to the session start time, you may lose your seat to an attendee in the waiting list line.

Prerequisites:
None.

What to Bring:
A pen and an unlined notebook.

Are you using visuals to communicate your ideas? This skillset is not just for designers, but for anyone who explains, persuades, solves problems or changes minds.

Pictures are
*worth a thousand words
*better for communicating complex relationships
*fabulous for getting a group of people on the same “page”
*often more effective when not drawn by an expert

Graphics Say More, Faster
From infographics to strategy maps to graphic recordings of conferences and meetings, as our world becomes more information-rich and our understanding more complex and systemic, images engage, record and present interrelated conversations and systems.

Rule with Stick Figures
Hand-drawn visuals invite interaction and collaboration. And the hand that holds the marker controls the conversation. There's no better way to build your visual chops than through a sketchnoting practice.

If you believe that you can't draw well enough to communicate, this is the workshop for you. We'll begin by exploring common sketchnoting structures and then move into building a rich visual vocabulary using simple images you'll be comfortable drawing and sharing. You'll learn to easily draw simple faces and people to convey action and emotion.

In the second half of the workshop, we'll break down the listening and drawing practice into a clear set of steps. You'll learn tricks and techniques to make it all look good as you continue to develop your visual communication skills. We'll finish up with a sketchnoting practice in which you'll use all of your new skills to create an engaging, shareable sketchnote from a TED talk.

This Skill Will Transform Your Career.

Three key takeaways from the session will be:
*A clear understanding of the Sketchnoting process
*Tools and techniques to continue to develop your visual practice
*Personal confidence in your ability to draw your ideas

But Wait, There’s More
You’ll also receive two of my very favorite ""trick"" pens for polishing up your notes AND a visual metaphor quick reference.

Join us for this exciting entry into the world of visual thinking.