Spark creativity, inspire action & make events memorable with Visual Notes
Visual Notes
by
Virginia Montgomery
Big Bright Visuals is boutique Graphic Recording company based in Austin, TX. With over 10 years of experience in Graphic Facilitation (also know as Visual Notes or Graphic Recording) artist Virginia Montgomery partners with global non-profits and Fortune 500 companies to create visuals that engage audiences and make events memorable.
What is Graphic Facilitation? How does Visual Note-taking work?
What? Graphic Facilitation (also called Visual Note-taking or Graphic Recording) is a design-thinking service for business meetings, nonprofit workshops, and big public conferences like TED Talks.
How? Visual Notes are created by a trained Graphic Facilitator, like Virginia Montgomery, who uses visual storytelling methodologies to translate complex ideas into memorable take-aways. At workshops and conferences, Virginia works “on-the-fly” in front of live audiences to rapidly synthesize meeting ideas into big, bright, visual murals that makes meeting content memorable. Visual Notes are eye-catching, educational, and engage audiences through the immediacy of visual-learning.
Why? Visual Notes create impact. Visual notes engage audiences. And visual notes serve as memory retention tools during information-dense conferences, workshops, and meetings. For example, can’t remember any information from last year’s big keynote? Or, can’t remember any learnings from yesterday’s workshop? Check your Visual Notes! Visual Notes are post-meeting artifacts that educate and re-engage audiences.
Services for Digital & In-Person Events
Digital Events
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Visual Notes are drawn live and digitally on an iPad.
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Post-event, you can share your digital Visual Notes across social media or use the images in your next .PDF of event learnings.
The digital images are yours to keep, print, and display as custom art to remember your digital event.
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Email hello@bigbrightvisuals.com for rates or a free digital drawing demo.
In-Person Events
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Big Bright Visuals’ in-person Visual Notes create a dynamic live art experience with a big impact. This 100% analog process is rendered in front of a live audience.
In one day, Virginia can draw up to 6 Visual Notes boards representing 6 hours of unique meeting content. That’s over 1,200 square feet of hand-drawn Visual Notes!
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This classic ink-on-foam core process of Visual Storytelling is perfect for amplifying insights at conferences, trade shows, team retreats, strategic planning meetings, co-creation sessions, and brainstorming events. It provides a big pop of color and creativity to any meeting environment.
During your event, your Visual Notes boards can be displayed in your meeting room as re-cap tools. Or you can exhibit your finished boards in your convention center’s lobby to re-engage conference attendees with top insights again and again. At any conference, a Visual Notes “board tower” creates an excellent photo-op for attendees and brings a big “wow” factor to an event.
Post-event, all boards images are documented, digitalized, and delivered to you as a high-resolution digital images. You can share your digital Visual Notes across social media or use the images in your next internal .PDF to re-cap your event.
Both your digital images and your physical boards and yours to keep, share, and display as custom art to remember your event.
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Neuland BigOne® Permanent Markers
40”x60” foamcore
Clients who ❤ Visual Notes
Q&A
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What: Visual Notes are strategic hand-drawn illustrations designed to amplify insights from meetings, presentations, and workshops.
Why: Visual Notes are memory retention tools that boost audience engagement.
How: Visual Notes are created live and in-real-time by a trained Graphic Facilitator who uses design-thinking theory and visual storytelling methods to break-down complex themes into digestible key points. Any subject matter can be translated into Visual Notes.
And finally, Visual Notes are awesome! They educate, engage, and fight meeting fatigue. Visual Notes keep audiences focused and make events memorable.
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As a professional Graphic Facilitator, I am trained to listen and translate all ideas. Think of me as your "visual language" translator. Just like a language translator at the United Nations who can rapidly translate key ideas between two different languages, like Finnish and Tagalog, I similarly translate key ideas from "verbal language” into "visual languages” of text, color, and imagery. This unique process utilizes my Graphic Facilitation expertise in design-thinking and visual storytelling.
Over my 10+ years of scribing at events across North America, I’ve created Visual Notes for Fortune 500 companies spanning different industries such as healthcare, hospitality, technology, agriculture, politics, and consumer goods. My client list includes Ogilvy, Slack, IBM, The Community First Foundation, FLYN Consulting, Teen Vogue, Pepsi, and The United Nations among others.
Curious if I can draw subject matter from your unique sector? Schedule a virtual drawing demo with me at hello@bigbrightvisuals.com and let’s chat!
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Virginia Montgomery’s Visual Notes bring clarity to meetings and enhance memory retention. Visual Notes break-down themes from complex presentations into digestible graphics. Each single Visual Notes "board" can be quickly read for key insights. Can't remember yesterday's Zoom meeting? Or last year's keynote address? Check the Visual Notes!
Visual Notes also make a big impact. Want your ideas to stand out at your next event? Virginia Montgomery’s Visual Notes are big, bright and colorful. They are drawn large-scale and make content POP at events. Virginia’s notes attract and engage event attendees at public conferences, private co-creation sessions, interactive ad-boards, and virtual sessions.
Visual Notes expand your reach. Want to share your ideas with the world? Visual Notes are perfect for digital sharing to increase community participation.
And finally, Visual Notes make events memorable.
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Yes! The real skillset behind Visual Note-taking is Graphic Facilitation. As an experienced Graphic Facilitator of 10+ years, I am an expert in design-thinking and visual storytelling methodology. I also draw incredibly fast and I am an excellent multitasker!
As a professional scribe, I can simultaneously listen, think, and draw key insights from presentations. (In fact, I do not technically require any special speaker notes ahead of time to do my job, although I’m always happy to have them.)
To create my live Visual Notes, I expertly listen, think, translate, and draw out ideas that are shared by speakers. My many years of creative training and my well-honed Graphic Facilitation skillset enable me to rapidly process, plan, draw, and create dynamic Visual Notes “on-the-fly” while I am working in front of live audiences. Think of me as a skilled improvisational Jazz musician, except I work “visually” with drawing markers instead of musical instruments.
As a skilled scribe, I keep pace with multiple speakers presenting on a panel talk. I also keep pace with brainstorming sessions where colleagues share ideas in rapid-fire succession. I move fast! And, all ideas, regardless of subject matter or who says them, can be translated into dynamic Visual Notes.
In my many years of working in live creative meetings, I’ve learned that you never know when, where, or how someone will share a brilliant idea with the group. So, I’m always ready to draw “on-the-fly” and capture everyone’s brilliant ideas in my Visual Notes.
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As a young creative professional, I was trained in-house by a boutique New York City creative agency in the mid-2000’s. The decade (2008-2019) that I spent working inside Manhattan’s fast-paced advertising culture helped me become the pressure-tested scribe that I am today.
I have over 10+ years of experience working for clients spanning retail, energy, healthcare, technology, hospitality, and education. I have worked at events big and small; I’ve worked in front of audiences of thousands at public conferences like TED Talks and I have also worked inside intimate brainstorming sessions discussing sensitive subjects between healthcare professionals and patients. Collectively, my well-honed experiences as a live Visual Storyteller enable me to adapt and translate any conversation anywhere to dynamic Visual Notes.
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Visual Note-taking, also called Graphic Facilitation, is a specialized creative service that first started at a Silicon Valley consulting agency in the 1970’s. To learn more about the origins of Graphic Facilitation, check out Wikipedia here.
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Both! For online events, I offer live services via iPad or webcam. For in-person meetings, I scribe with special non-toxic, ink-based markers on large-sized (ie. 40"x60") white foamcore boards. And, I offer hybrid services where I draw onsite with both iPad and foamcore board.
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Yes! There is no AI or CGI involved at Big Bright Visuals. All my illustrations are drawn free-hand from start to finish!
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I travel across North America to scribe at public and private events in cities such as Miami, Atlanta, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle. As long as your in-person event is accessible by train, plane, car, or boat, I can be there to draw onsite for you!
For virtual events, I work from home. My home-base is in sunny Austin, Texas.
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My rates follow an adaptive model that takes into account event type, event location, and non-profit status. Email me at hello@bigbrightvisuals.com and let’s chat!
