How Do Live Visual Notes Help Event Planners? (A Case study)
Live visual notes help event planners by working as an asset that supports the whole event: before it, during it, and after it. When they're planned around the planner's goals, they can help fill seats, give attendees something to engage with, and take pressure off the planner. I'm a visual note taker and experience designer, and this is what I've seen across the events I've worked on.
Visual Notes Can Start Working Before Your Event Begins
What Reframe Accounting did with webinars
Reframe Accounting is a conference for accounting specialists. Accounting has a reputation as a boring, left-brain profession, and the organizers wanted their conference to be the most innovative and creative in the field. They put real effort into making the experience enjoyable, insightful, and useful.
They hired me for their second conference, and we've now worked together for three consecutive years. At first they wanted visual notes of the event itself. Then we expanded the idea.
Before the conference, the organizers hosted a series of webinars with the speakers. This gave ticket holders a chance to connect with the speakers in advance, and it helped sell tickets, because people are more likely to buy when they've already heard from the people on the agenda.
I joined the webinars and created visual notes of each one. When the organizers followed up, they sent the recording together with the visual notes, which worked as an invitation to engage and to buy a ticket. The conference sold out, and it has sold out in each of the three years I've worked with them.
Content that's ready on day one
We also turned the webinar notes into a booklet that attendees received when they arrived. People who hadn't attended the webinars were already getting content before the first keynote began.
Visual Notes Can Fill the Room With the Event's Story
In the second year, we took it further. We created banners from the webinar notes and used them as backdrops for speakers who were signing and giving away books. The art was around the room all day, not only when I presented at the end.
After the event, I created a booklet of the whole experience. It included the visual notes, reviews of the speakers, the resources mentioned during the event, and ideas drawn from the audience's own feedback. The organizers were thrilled. In their words, if you want to create innovation and a big experience at a conference, you should bring in more artists.
Why the Investment Is Smaller Than It Looks
When planners think about visual notes in terms of return on investment, it helps to look beyond the drawing. Consider what you'd pay a high-end speaker for an hour on stage. For a similar investment, a visual note taker can do much more:
Create brand assets and a story that make the conference more memorable.
Mingle with attendees, gather feedback, and encourage them to take their next steps.
Speak during a storytelling wrap-up at the end of the event.
Lead a workshop that teaches attendees how to take notes they'll remember.
I wish every event planner knew that visual note takers are storytellers and experience designers who can act as an extended arm of your brand. We notice things you may miss while you're busy with logistics, and attendees often open up to us about their experience.
Let's Talk About Your Event
If you'd like to explore how visual notes could support your goals, book a complimentary 30-minute discovery call and we'll talk about what you want your event to achieve and what would serve your attendees best.