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I've posted up a couple of blog posts recently about my sketched notes and they've been very popular. A few people have said they wished they could do something similar so to encourage you all I thought I'd share a few things that help me.

1. The length of 'presentation' you are listening to doesn't really matter, I've sketched notes to 20 minute sessions. I find I can fill 3-4 pages in a day so a short session might just fill one page.

2. Sketching to fast talking presenters is hard as there's too much information to get down on paper.

3. You need time to sketch so if you're getting big idea after big idea then I'd suggest you abandon the sketching and just write like the wind.

4. You do need enough material to go at though so very short presentations are hard.

5. It doesn't matter where you start on the page. I always start in the top left hand corner.

6. Don't plan it. It will evolve by itself and it's nice to see the end result.

7. If you like something the speaker says write it BIG, mixing up the styles and faces of your big ideas will help them stand out.

8. I don't use colour but I'm planning to try it.

9. It's a good idea to have a variety of pens with different thicknesses of nib so you can sketch faster. I got a set of different size nibs and coloured pens for my birthday so watch out for some more colourful sketching soon. But don't let that hold you back, I started with a biro.

10. Most of your sketches will be words but if you can fill spaces with pictures the overall effect will be better. I'm quite literal so in my latest post the word 'Secrets' bought to mind a secret garden so I drew branches and leaves.

11. Mind map type diagrams are good with a nice 'style' of arrow.  

I hope the tips help you give it a go yourself sometime. If you already sketch notes and have some tips of your own please share in the comments below. 

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This week I spent a day and a half at the Shift Happen's conference in York. You can find out more about Shift Happen's by visiting their website. It was a varied and interesting couple of days and I've come away with lots of things to look up and think about which is great. I sketched my notes over the two days, they show you the things I found useful, important or interesting. The bigger and bolder writing, the more important I thought it was.

These images are licensed under a Creative Commons license, just go to the kilo75 Flickr page to view and download.

If you want more of an overview about the conference then check out Matthew Linley's blog, there are comprehensive posts about both days. (Day 1, Day 2 Morning,  Day 2 Afternoon).

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