5 things to know about hiring a live illustrator for your online event EVEN if it's highly technical, jargon heavy or niche AF

This week on Instagram I had a question from Sal Preston and she said 

“Katie, I’m so fascinated to know if you have to understand the subject matter? How do you know the important parts to pick out and illustrate? Do you have access to the presentation ahead of time to practice?”

-Sal Preston

This is a question I get asked all the time and it's a valid concern for companies looking to hire a graphic recorder.

I am happy to just turn up and draw with little to no preparation or research... 

But if it is a very technical subject, or something with lots of internal jargon such as risk assurance or cybersecurity (for example) then I will do a bit of research beforehand. 

Sometimes I set up a call with the client to talk through any jargon that I might need to know about.

When I worked for Plan UK, they very helpfully supplied me with a cheat sheet list of their most commonly used acronyms.

With that by my side, I was able to live scribe an online policy change meeting that was FULL of acronyms about sexual and reproductive health.

This cheat-sheet approach has meant I’m able to live illustrate very complicated subjects even when I’m not an expert in them! Hooray.

How do you know the important parts to pick out and live illustrate at an online event?

When it comes to knowing which parts of the events to illustrate and which key points to focus on this is something that I rely on my intuition for.

If there are especially important points a client can highlight those in an email or in our pre-event call. this means that I definitely won't miss any of the points that you really want to have included in your graphic recording / live illustration.

visit www.katiechappell.com for more information and to book a live illustrator for your next virtual event.