Firms are holding training sessions to teach employees the basics of what's known as visual note taking. Others, like vacation-rental company HomeAway Inc. and retailer Zappos, are hiring graphic recorders, consultants who sketch what is discussed at meetings and conferences, cartoon-style, to keep employees engaged.
Doodling proponents say it can help generate ideas, fuel collaboration and simplify communication. It can be especially helpful among global colleagues who don't share a common first language. Putting pen to paper also is seen as an antidote to the pervasiveness of digital culture, getting workers to look up from their devices. And studies show it can help workers retain more information.
LinkedIn is pretty good at finding relevant content ... which is how I came across this article from the Wall Street Journal on sketching. I have seen and posted a few images of Facebook HQ where there are blackboards and whiteboards everywhere. Seems like the trend is being encouraged elsewhere, helping concentration, collaboration and idea generation. Not only that, companies are employing graphic facilitators (also referred to as sketch artists, or graphic recorders) to annotate conferences and meetings so people don't "zone out". The UX/CX world employs this kind of technique when "envisioning" but I wonder if it will take off as a mainstream trend here in Australia for company meetings. Hope so.
