Updated January 29, 2025

Graphic Recording Briefing Form

Graphic Recording Briefing Form

To help us prepare for your workshop or conference, please take a few minutes to let us know some details about the event. The information you provide will help your illustrator be fully prepared so that everything runs smoothly on the day, and you get the most out of having them there. 

    Your details

    The person filling out this form should be Sketch Group's main contact for the engagement. If that's not you (for example, you have someone else facilitating the event), please ask them to complete it instead.

    The organisation engaging Sketch Group

    Your illustrator will call you on this number to clarify details before the event.


    About the engagement

    What is the event called? When, and for how long, does it run? Who is involved?
    The more you tell us, the better prepared your illustrator will be.

    eg. name of the conference, or subject of the meeting or workshop. What's on the invitation/brochure? The illustrator will use this as the title of your visual map - if you'd like something else as the title, there's an opportunity to add that later.

    (if it has one)

    For events spanning multiple days, please enter the first date you require the illustrator

    What time do you need the illustrator to start sketching? (They will arrive up to an hour earlier to set up.)

    Some engagements span multiple days, while others might only run for a few hours. If your event runs on only one day, please enter a value of 1, even if it is a short event.

    What information, if any, do you have about the participants of this event? How many people will be attending, and what is their background?

    If there are any articles, slide decks, or other documents that we should be across before the event, email them to [email protected]


    Logistics

    When and where is your event? Be specific please (conference centres are huge, some office buildings are like rabbit warrens). Who should we call if we get lost, or - worse - locked out? What's the room like? What extra equipment might we need to bring?

    What is the full name and address of the venue at which the event is taking place? If appropriate, include room/floor number/name.

    You will be our default contact, but if there's someone else running logistics on the day, let us know here.

    We use public transport when feasible. If not, are you able to arrange or suggest suitable parking?

    Your illustrator will be arriving up to an hour earlier than the attendees.

    The illustrator should be placed somewhere that is well-lit, and visible by as many of the attendees as possible, without them stealing the limelight from the presenter—off to the side of the stage is usually best. If you have access to a floor plan or table layout, please email it to [email protected]

    Your illustrator will be standing for most of your event, but between sketching sessions a chair will give them some respite. A coffee table or small desk is helpful for storing their markers and other tools.

    We usually draw on paper up to 2.4 metres wide, taped to a large pinboard – or portable whiteboard - which we can move into position. If you have access one, what are the dimensions? We can use a wall if necessary, but this may limit visibility (and some venues don't allow it.)

    If this event spans a meal time, please let us know whether a meal will be provided for the illustrator.

    Occasionally one of our Sketch Group trainee illustrators will observe an event, to gain confidence in working up to providing graphic recording skills themselves. They won't get in the way, and will be quiet, but if you or someone from your organisation would rather they weren't present, that's fine too. Let us know.


    Agenda

    Please provide whatever information you can so that the illustrator understands the order of events on the day. Include scheduled breaks, speaker names and organisations, descriptions of planned activities etc.

    If you have this information as Word/Powerpoint/PDF document, please email it to [email protected]


    The look and style of your sketch

    What title do you want on your sketch? Do you have any specific branding elements - event and/or company logos, colour palette, etc - that you would like included in your sketch?

    We'll use the name of your event as the title for your sketch/es. But if you want a different heading, let us know here.

    Please tell us if you have any specific branding elements that you would like included in your sketch. This includes event/company logos, colour palette, brand guidelines, etc. Please send relevant digital assets to [email protected]

    High - it's important to you that your canvas proactively includes groups that are often under-represented, e.g. ethnic minorities, disabled, LGBTQI+, or the elderly, even if they are not present in the conversation.
    Low - I'm more interested in the canvas accurately capturing images of the people who are in the room, rather than images of people who are not.


    The content and intent of your sketch

    Much of the value of our service is having us present in the room - we change the dynamic of the event - but how do you intend to use the finished sketch/es?
    Are there any themes, topics, or activities that you would like the illustrator to pay particular attention to? Or topics you'd like them to refrain from capturing?

    What's more important to you for this event: the accurate capture of content, or the aesthetic of the finished canvas? Of course, our illustrators always strive to capture relevant content AND make it look beautiful, but it can be helpful to understand if one is more important than the other, so they can focus their efforts accordingly. So would you prefer a canvas that looks amazing even if it has some parts of the content omitted ("Pretty") or is accurate capture of the content more important ("Practical")?

    These are the most common ways our clients have used their finished sketches
    • as a summary to share with people who were not in the room
    • as a gift to email to attendees after the event
    • to hang on the wall in the office
    • to post to social media during the event
    • to use in marketing communications for next year's event
    If you do intend to print, please let us know the required dimensions!

    What listening filter, if any, would you like the illustrator to apply to the day? Are there any themes, topics, or activities that you would like them to pay particular attention to? Any areas that may come up that you'd like them to ignore or refrain from capturing?

    Some clients like to have a whole day captured on a single (large) sheet of paper, while others like discreet sketches of each topic or speaker. Or perhaps you have no preference at all. Let us know here if you do.


    Wrapping up

    At the end of your event, we'll make some finishing touches then get some photos of the completed canvas/es and leave it with you to donate, display or dispose of as you see fit. Within 2 working days (usually sooner) we'll send you a digitised version to share, print, embed in your report, whatever you want!

    Participants often find it useful to hear the content summarised at the end of the event. Our illustrator would spend a couple of minutes explaining how they have interpreted the event visually, in the order it was captured.

    We share files via a Dropbox link. If you need us to use a different system, please tell us here.

    We will send the file link to the person who completed this form (you). If you want to reduce the burden of sharing, enter up to five additional email addresses here and we'll CC them.

    If Yes, we would love to see any photos that you or your team take of the illustrator in action too! Send them through to [email protected] and we may feature them (with credit, of course) in our next newsletter.

    If you answered yes above, are there any #s or @s that you'd like Sketch Group to include when sharing?


    Final questions

    Well done - you're almost there! Just three more questions from us, plus your chance to chime in.

    If your organisation is NOT the one paying for our services, please provide the name, and phone number and email, of the funding organisation.

    If someone other than you is chairing (acting as MC, facilitating, generally running) the event, please provide their details so we can all be on the same page and your illustrator knows who to take direction from on the day.

    Are you happy for us to display a Sketch Group promotional banner at the event?

    What else should the illustrator know before arriving?

    Ready to get started? Let’s chat.