GROUP RECORDING
AND GRAPHIC FACILITATION
T r a i n i n g T o m o r r o w ’s L e a d e r s
GROUP RECORDING is the practice of taking notes during meetings in a place that everyone
can see while the discussion is going on, creating a shared memory of the ideas discussed and
decisions reached. Usually, this is done on flipchart paper, larger sheets of butcher paper, or dryerase white boards. It is a practice that is so common that it is taken for granted as a way of doing
business. It is worth remembering the value of this technique, what it is useful for and what it is
not good for, and the skills it takes so that the record created is accurate and useful.
Benefits of group recording
 Creates a shared memory of proceedings.
 Lets participants know they have been heard.
 Lets people correct misunderstandings in the moment.
 Keeps people’s attention together, focused on the front of the room and each other, rather
than with heads down taking their own notes.
 Shows everyone commitments made for next steps.
Considerations for when to use group recording
 Useful for keeping track of lots of ideas and collecting input before decision-making.
 Creates a record of information uniquely generated by the group that hasn’t been
assembled elsewhere.
 Useful when people are agreeing to decisions and next steps.
 Not usually appropriate in discussions of personal feedback or highly charged emotional
situations.
 It is much more productive to record on paper rather than use dry-erase boards in order to
preserve the work. Pages can be moved aside but remain visible for reference purposes
throughout the conversation.
 If dry-erase boards are used, the notes must get transcribed before they are lost, and the
transcription must be faithful to the original version on the board.
Limitations of group recording
 Short phrases reduce complex thoughts; subtleties of meaning may be lost. All that
people remember are the bullet points, forgetting that “the word is not the thing.”
 Ideas usually don’t come out in a logic order. Notes are therefore disorganized. To
overcome this and be true to group memory, the group must work together to reorganize
into useful categories, chronology, etc.
 May not have much meaning for people who did not attend the session. Traditional
minutes with full sentences and a logical structure usually convey more meaning for
them.
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Group Recording and Graphic Facilitation
Page 2.
Recorder role
 The recorder needs to curtail his/her own input while taking notes, in order to capture
everyone else’s ideas and to maintain the group’s trust as a neutral party who will capture
the conversation accurately.
 When possible, having a facilitator separate from the recorder is valuable so that one
person can manage the group and its input while the other takes the notes.
 In some groups, the recorder can occasionally step out of the recording role in order to
add his/her own input.
Tips for capturing the content of discussions
 Listen intently and remember what people have said. This is demanding during the fast
give-and-take of free-flowing conversations.
 Use the speakers’ words as closely as possible in the written record. Avoid reinterpreting
the idea in your own language. This may lose the nuances of the conversations, or worse,
misrepresent what was said.
 Ask for clarification only when you don’t know what to write, not because you want to
challenge an idea.
 Limit what you write to what the group is saying. During the session, do not add your
own structure or ideas that weren’t part of the discussion. Organizing the information
may come later, but should be done with the group. Starting to process the information
yourself (unless the group has granted permission) is a subtle but inappropriate means of
controlling the agenda.
 Ask speakers to pause while you catch up if you are getting behind. However, you need
to work quickly and try to keep up. If the conversation is slowed down just to
accommodate the recording, much of the energy of the group may be lost.
Tips on the mechanics of recording
Graphic recording ranges in sophistication from simply listing ideas where people can see them
to elaborate use of visual templates, colors, drawings and symbols to draw out meaning and aid
with decision-making. This article deals primarily with the simplest elements of capturing the
content of discussions. (See the last section on “Graphic Facilitation” for sources about the more
expansive uses of visual techniques.) The following are some tips for doing graphic recording.
They may seem overly detailed, but small practices can make the difference between an
energetic, productive meeting and one that stumbles along without productive outcomes.
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Be sure you have a full supply of markers before you start and that they are still working.
Hard as it may be, throw away stale markers that barely write.
Be sure you have flipchart markers for paper, dry erase markers for white boards. Neither
one works properly on the other surface. Be sure your flipchart markers do not penetrate
through the paper, especially if you have the pages posted on a wall. (Watercolor markers
will usually not bleed through.)
If using flipcharts, before beginning, separate a couple of inches of the perforations on a
number of pages. This will make tearing them off easier when you are trying to move
quickly during a conversation.
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Group Recording and Graphic Facilitation
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If using masking tape to post pages, tear off pieces of tape in advance. They can be saved
along the back edge of the flipchart easel and then grabbed quickly when you are ready to
post a page.
If it isn’t disruptive to their participation, have someone help you by posting the filled
pages while you continue to record.
Write big enough for everyone in the room to read the notes easily.
Write as quickly as possible while remaining legible.
Put a short heading on every page or section that identifies what the topic of conversation
was.
Number the pages as you create them. This helps people follow the sequence during the
meeting and makes transcription afterwards much easier.
Avoid using yellow or pastel colors to write information, which can be hard to see. Those
colors can be used to highlight items later when the data is reviewed.
Start each item with a simple bullet to keep track of where each ideas starts.
Alternate color of text items in a list to help keep the ideas separate.
Use different color combinations for different agenda items. As pages are posted on the
wall, this will make it easier for people to find something they want to refer back to.
Use hash marks to note multiple expressions of the same statement –
If the conversation begins to look for patterns – ideas that are similar, ideas that people
think are important, etc. – use symbols or colors to highlight them. Stars can highlight
important items. Lettered labels (A, B, C) can identify items that belong to similar
groups.
Arrows can connect related items that emerged at different points in the discussion.
When using colors or symbols, be sure they are straightforward. Elaborate coding
systems may not mean anything to the participants and begin to distract from
understanding.
Other group memory templates
The same benefits of having common information available to the whole group can be derived
by having these additional tools on the walls, visible to the whole group:
 Meeting agenda
 OARRs (Outcomes, Agenda, Rules, Roles)
 A “parking lot” for ideas that cannot be dealt with during the current conversation but
that people want to return to at an appropriate time in the future
 “Dot Voting” is a visual means for identifying group priorities.
Graphic facilitation resources
Beyond the basics of doing good recording, the use of more refined graphic techniques for
facilitation has become a special area of expertise. Notably, former Coro trainer David Sibbet,
founder of The Grove Consultants International, has advanced the field of graphic facilitation.
Well thought-out strategies use visual formats to structuring agendas, guide small group work
and capture non-linear group discussions of such things as organizational history, brainstorming
ideas, strategy development and setting priorities. These ideas continue to appear in Coro
training through David’s ongoing work with many Coro trainers, program participants and
boards. www.grove.com
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Group Recording and Graphic Facilitation
Page 4.
A former member of The Grove Consultants’ staff, Christina Merkley, has a website with
numerous how-to articles at www.makemark.com/articles. They include an overview of graphic
facilitation and tips for developing graphic skills, among others.
Tom Wujec, a Fellow at the software firm Autodesk, shows how graphic facilitation engages
brain functions to increase learning in a 6-minute video talk from TED (a nonprofit devoted to
“ideas worth spreading” in technology, entertainment and design):
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/591
A variety of ideas and resources appear on a blog called The Center for Graphic Facilitation:
graphicfacilitation.blogs.com
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