“Visual metaphors, cultural references and humour give us the ability to add an extra dimension to the presenter's content.”

- Tom Bradshaw, Scribe

In the light of recent challenges, remote working and learning have become normal. Apps like Zoom offer a great alternative to meetings, but they don’t do a lot to re-capture the experience and energy of face-to-face events.

This is where techniques like Digital Scribing can be used, enhancing the experience of connecting people in our new digital world while also improving the delivery and legacy of the information we share with each other. We interviewed our scribe Tom Bradshaw to get a deeper insight into Digital Scribing and how it works.

“This lets us tailor the visual imagery and style, making our scribing a bespoke reflection of you and your message.”

- Tom Bradshaw, Scribe

How does Digital Scribing work?

Digital Scribing brings a virtual meeting or presentation to life and improves its participants' information retention. We digitally draw illustrations to reflect the content of pre-planned presentations or live meetings. The live drawing uses visual thinking presented in an engaging and appropriately humourous way to bring the presenters words to life. Our visual metaphors, cultural references and humour help to add an extra dimension to the presenter’s verbal content.

How do you prepare for a Digital Scribing session?

We tailor our scribing approach to your event. When we scribe for presentations, we begin by reading through a rough script or power-point, so we know what is going to be said during your talk. This lets us tailor the visual imagery and style, making our scribing a bespoke reflection of you and your message. Then, we come up with a rough map of how the piece will look, this gives us cues and a structure to follow as you speak.

This prep allows us to find the best imagery to bring your message to life, it also helps us ensure our drawing follows in time with your presentation, giving emphasis to the messages that are most important to you. When we are in the meeting, as the presenter talks we draw in real-time. We find this really grabs the attention of the viewer, bringing your words to life and retaining the energy of a live event.

An alternative format is where we take visual notes in the background (off screen), capturing the content of the speakers and reflecting the flow of the whole discussion. We do this off screen so we don’t distract from the meeting. At the end we share our screen and allow participants to revisit key points that were made, and hopefully enjoy the humour and meaning in the images produced.

“... using visual metaphors and humour ... means we can take technical or the abstract content and translate it into accessible imagery.”

- Tom Bradshaw, Scribe

What are benefits of Digital Scribing?

In a similar way to our whiteboard animations, the visual thinking we use in our scribing helps to make the points more memorable and understandable. We do this by using visual metaphors and humour, this means we can take technical or abstract content and translate it into accessible imagery. We find that people remember images more vividly, and this helps to anchor key messages in their memory for longer.

Scribing also creates a unique and lasting record of the meeting. Effectively our visual ‘notes’ summarise the key points and make it easier to share ‘take-outs’ with people that couldn’t attend the meeting. You can even use our outputs to promote ideas to a wider audience. We often cut-out specific images and turn them into assets for social media or emails.

Lastly, we usually record the whole meeting, so our clients get their presentation, alongside a recording of our scribing in real time. This creates a film that our clients can use as another creative asset to help them tell their story. 

Does Digital Scribing differ to live scribing?

We visualise the ideas in the same way we would at an event on site, so the outcome doesn’t differ. We’re still producing a visual performance and summarising information that in many cases can overload a listener. Our work frees up a listener’s mind to concentrate on the key information and once it’s all done it gives the viewer something to remember and talk about long after the event finishes.

Do you have a favourite piece of visual thinking from your scribing experience?

In a recent scribing session about the power of purpose in business strategy, the host spoke about how companies use purpose to stay relevant. They used IBM as an example and spoke about how it has been relevant for more than 100 years. I built the IBM logo into an evolution scene, with the logo constituting a body which began as fish and ended as a human, reflecting the presenter’s description of IBM’s history. I really like this piece of visual thinking, it’s a simple but effective visual metaphor. The evolution graphic is one we are all familiar with, and framed like this captures the spoken content in an engaging way. This combination of relevance, creativity and synthesis is what we aim for in every scribing session.

You can watch Tom’s full scribing session for Caffeine here. Do you need to create more impact at your virtual meetings or webinars? If you’d like to explore digital scribing as a way of engaging your audience and landing your messages, contact us today.

Cognitive are award-winning pioneers of whiteboard animation, and the creators behind the RSA Animates series. We help corporate, academic and charitable organisations like the BBC, TED, Coca Cola and Sanofi to tell their stories more powerfully. Find out more about us here.