Visual Meetings in Motion

2025 PUBLIC WORKSHOP

INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL NOTETAKING AND FACILITATING WITH VISUALS

WHEN

Thursday, January 9 to Saturday, January 11
8 AM-3:30 PM ET

WHERE

Van Metre Hall, George Mason University
Room 308
3351 Fairfax Dr, Arlington, VA 22201

Registration ends Friday, December 20, 2024

An hour after a meeting, half of what you learn has been forgotten.

Unless, of course, you wrote it down. 

Our one- to three-day workshop focuses on developing visual notetaking skills, for professionals who want to take visual notes for meetings and meeting facilitators who want to grow their confidence drawing live and on the fly.

Day 1
Drawing Skills for Adults

January 9, 2025

  • Overcoming Your Inner Critic

  • History, Terms and Definitions

  • Tools and Materials

  • Seed Shapes

  • Bullets, Lines and Containers

  • Banners and Arrows

  • Icons, Figures, Faces 

Day 2
Intro to Visual Notetaking

January 10, 2025

  • Improving Your Handwriting  

  • Chart Craft (color use, size of font, etc.)

  • Chart Layouts 

  • Live Strategy Mapping

  • Listening for Key Concepts 

  • Practice Rounds 

Day 3A
Facilitating with Visuals

January 11, 2025

  • Visual Energizers

  • Drawing While Facilitating

  • Designing and Facilitating with Visual Templates

  • Creating Online Whiteboards

Day 3B
Digital Visual Notetaking

January 11, 2025

  • Introduction to Procreate

  • Drawing Tips for the iPad* 

*You must supply your own tablet and digital pen/pencil for this course.

Our level system lets you choose the right training for your goals.

Sign up for Level 1 to learn basic drawing skills in one day, or join Level 2 or Level 3 for a multiday visual skills training experience.
Each day/level of training is a prerequisite for the following day.

Level 1: Drawing Skills for Adults—January 9, 2025
Level 2: Intro to Visual Notetaking—January 9-10, 2025
Level 3: Facilitating with Visuals OR Digital Visual Notetaking—January 9-11, 2025

Only have time for Level 1? Next year, you can register for Level 2 or Level 3 at a discounted rate. Check out our FAQs for more details.

Daily Prize Raffle

All participants will be entered into a raffle, with a chance to win amazing prizes each day. 

Day 1

Day 2

Lettering Journey by Heather Martinez

Day 3

Visual Meetings by David Sibbet OR Tablet Glove

Meet the Instructors

Lauren Green

Lauren Green is a meeting facilitator, trainer, and visual notetaker. Lauren is the owner and executive director of MeetingMakers, a close-knit team of experienced facilitators, as well as Dancing with Markers®, a team of visual notetakers and designers who visualize meetings. Lauren has been visual notetaking and facilitating with visuals for over 10 years, having trained and worked with globally recognized visual facilitation groups such as Crowley and Company and The Grove Consultants International. Her online, self-paced course (Introduction to Visual Facilitation) launched in 2021 is designed to help facilitators and meeting professionals bring visuals into meetings in a fun, purposeful and creative way that will have a real impact on improving the outcomes of the session. Lauren is also the host of the podcast This Meeting Sucks, on a mission to un-suck meetings and bring meeting skills to the masses, one episode at a time.

Sara Nuttle

Day 3 Digital Visual Notetaking Instructor

Sara Nuttle is a visual notetaker and professional illustrator based in Austin, TX. She has a degree in psychology and fine arts from Goucher College. Sara specializes in using creative visuals to bring clarity and deeper understanding to any conversation. She has been a Graphic Recorder for 4 years but has been integrating the arts into others' lives throughout her life. Sare co-led a workshop around Graphic Recording at the IFVP summit 2024 and is looking forward to teaching more people about the importance of visual notetaking.

Who should attend?

Aspiring Visual Notetakers

Experienced Facilitators and Consultants

Graphic Designers and Illustrators

Professional Speakers and Presenters

Meeting and Event Planners

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Each participant will receive a Visual Meetings in Motion Kit, which includes:

    • Art Bin

    • Pencil 

    • Eraser 

    • Sketchbook

    • Razor

    • Tape

    • Selection of professional markers

    • Handouts and other course materials

    A light breakfast and snacks (water, coffee, fruit, yogurt, bagels, granola bars) will be provided daily.

    Travel arrangements, accommodations, lunch and dinner are not included.

  • All course materials will be provided. If you have markers that you would like to practice with, you can bring them (labeling recommended). Comfortable clothing and shoes are recommended as we will be moving around and standing for long durations. 

  • Each Day is a pre-requisite for the next. Even if you have drawing experience, drawing for visual meetings differs from traditional art, and the concepts covered in Day 1 will be built on over the remaining days. Once you complete Level 1, you can complete the following levels during future sessions without repeating Level 1.

  • We recommend an iPad with an Apple Pencil and will be focusing on this as our tool of choice. We will use the Procreate application, which is available for $12.99 in the Apple App Store. If you do not have an iPad and Apple Pencil, feel free to bring whatever tablet and digital pen/pencil you have access to, and make sure to have a drawing app available, such as Adobe Fresco or ibis Paint X.

  • If you need to cancel before 14 days from the start of the event, we will refund your payment in full. Within 14 days, we can offer partial refunds on a case-by-case basis. We cannot offer refunds within two days of the event.

  • Van Metre Hall, located on the George Mason University Arlington campus, is a five-minute walk from the Virginia Square-GMU Metro stop on the Orange, Blue and Silver line trains.

    Paid parking is available in the building at $10-20/day. Free parking may be available on North Kirkwood Road and Washington Boulevard, depending on the side of the street. More paid parking is available via Park Mobile on surrounding side streets.

  • Reagan National Airport is the closest; however, Dulles Airport is also an option. Both have connections to the Washington Metro system. 

    There are a number of nearby hotels. If you’re interested in rooming with someone else who is attending, please email lauren@makemeetings.work.

  • If you need to cancel before 14 days from the start of the event, we will refund your payment in full. Within 14 days, we can offer partial refunds on a case-by-case basis. We cannot offer refunds within two days of the event.

  • After December 20, we may still be able to accommodate registration depending on availability of supplies. Please contact us to find out.

Looking for something customized?

For teams and organizations who want to add drawing and notetaking skills to their toolkit, our in-house workshops can be customized to your unique visual needs and timing restraints.