Getting your big ideas across by using simple cartoons – learning from graphic or visual facilitators

An introductory web page from Brandy Agerbeck defines that:

“Graphic facilitation is the practice of using words and images to create a conceptual map of a conversation. A graphic facilitator is the visual, usually silent partner to the traditional, verbal facilitator, drawing a large scale image at the front of the room in real-time.”

In 2012 she published a 306 page book titled The Graphic Facilitator’s Guide: how to use your listening, thinking & drawing skills to make meaning. You can find an excerpt.

Simple cartoons like Doug Savage’s Savage Chickens can convey lots of information. For an example, see this 2013 one about those nasty interview questions on your greatest weakness. Cartoons can wind up either on flip charts or in PowerPoint presentations.  

As shown above, how to draw is demonstrated in a 4-1/2 minute YouTube video titled Learning Graphic Facilitation – 7 Elements by Bigger Picture. Two follow ups are a three-minute video titled Learning Graphic Facilitation – Tools by Bigger Picture and a four-minute video titled Learning Graphic Facilitation – 8th Element by Bigger Picture.

How can you begin learning this pared-down style of drawing without attending a training course? There is a free 89-page Visual Facilitation Cookbook from 2016 by Torben Grocholl, Deniss Jershov and Kati Orav which is described in a web page and can be downloaded. Pages 31 to 35 are very useful illustrations of visual vocabulary for concepts. Goodreads has a web page with a list of 42 Popular Graphic Facilitation Books.