Visual minutes involve pens, big pieces of paper and people. Also known as graphic recording or facilitation, when used at meetings and events it can enable innovative thinking and effective communication between individuals and groups. It encourages people to be dynamic and think about information in pictures. This supports better engagement with topics by creating accessible visual summaries that are quick to digest.
Here ‘s an example of a time line created for the York Human Rights City Launch. 
Typically how it works is that a visual minuter attends the meeting or event and, on big bits of paper draws what people are saying, capturing the mood and themes arising. At the end of the event the visual minuter will talk through the image and summarise the content of the day. The image produced can then be used as a record of the event.
In October 2021, to coincide with the Big Draw festival, and in the run up to Remembrance Day 2021, I worked with York Army Museum to facilitate ‘A Big Draw to Remember’. Within the Museum, alongside military memorabilia and human stories from service and war, we stretched out a 7 metre paper canvas upon the officers mess table and around an elaborate silver centre piece.
Visual minutes can also be used as a participatory and inclusive method for capturing ideas and information. Here’s a ‘group doodle’ example, created for ‘York’s Dead Good Festival’ and ‘Dying Matters Week’ 2019.