This year I’m going to try something different for the Tableau Customer Conference: I’m going to try to Sketchnote some of the sessions I attend.

What’s a Sketchnote?

I don’t blame you if you’re not familiar with this term. I wasn’t until recently. In my mind, I position Sketchnotes as an extension of the concepts introduced by Dan Roam in his “Back of the Napkin” books. I loved these books, but never could really master the framework(s) for visual note taking he suggests. Sketchnotes are simple, highly visual drawings of the concepts you take away from an event, lecture, book or video. Instead of trying to capture every detail of a talk you listen to the talk. Really listen.  You let yourself see the concepts the presenter is sharing, you think about those concepts then you capture them with simple drawings and a few words. I love this because it encourages you to be fully present for the talk.  I’m sort of bad at taking notes because I hate being distracted from the experience of the talk. As I learn to become more comfortable with my less than great drawing ability, I predict I will have great fun Sketchnoting the talks I attend.

Show Us Your Sketchnotes from TCC13

I’ll bet some of you have tried Sketchnoting. I’d love to see your work. Even better, I’d love to see what you Sketchnote at TCC! 

Tweet your Sketchnotes to #DataLove #tcc13. The best Sketchnote of the week will get some InterWorks swag!

To get the ball rolling here is my very first Sketchnote, followed by a part of a MUCH better Sketchnote by Sacha Chua to give you some context. Check out the links in my Sketchnote for some resources.

Managing OnesSelf Sketchnote by Sacha Chua