Day 1: Check.

Following The Seeing Brain presentation, I spent the balance of the day in Graphic Recording 101.

Big Thanks go to instructors/motivators/role models Brandy Agerbeck and Lynn Carruthers for leading the session so expertly.

It was reassuring to hear (and see) the breakdown of what goes into successful graphic recording, particularly given my background as a facilitator:

• 10% Prep
• 50% Listening
• 30% Organizing
• 10% Drawing

So, there is hope for those of us who don't consider ourselves graphically blessed!

So takeaways (we'll call these Takeaways #2)

• Essential Eight: a great roadmap for building skills. These basic drawing elements provide a solid foundation to build skills: Lettering, bullets, color, line, arrows, people.
• The use of color is important. As my practice recordings demonstrated, too much/many colors takes the focus off the what was written and shifts it is how it was written. Not good.
• Did you know that in the symbol for "no" (the red circle with a slash through it) the slash starts in the upper left of the circle and goes to the lower right? I didn't. Tip: Think of the symbol as a combination of the "N" and the "O" and you'll have the correct direction for the slash.

And finally,

• Learn from everyone and make it your own: Inspriation can come from anywhere (not just at a conference full of talented graphic facilitator/recorders). When you see something you like, capture a picture of it, play with it, and make it your own. The key being make it your own. This reminds me of an old professional association call CASE. While I don't remember what it actually stood for, I do remember the working title, which was "Copy And Steal Everything". Nice.

Hopefully there will be a posted from yesterday's concurrent session "Bring it on". I know there was a lot of energy around how we market our work and a possible code of ethics.

Today, we're in one group as we tackle

• the IFVP annual meeting
• Panel discussion on The Business of Visual Practice, and
• presentations on Adding More Value to World Cafe Events; CEU-ing (Coherence, Engagement and Usefulness in Graphic Facilitation); and Visual Practice in Education - a case study

We'll close the day with the Graphic Jam reception.

All the Best!