It has been awhile since I have done live sketchnotes but when someone gives me a blank notebook, I have to break it in. I attended the EdTech Team Summit in Roseville over the weekend and received a new Rocketbook. Even though I brought my iPad for this purpose, I briefly took it out of my bag and put it back in exchange for pens.

Of course, the sketchnote on Accessibility is my favorite because it provided an opportunity to combine my two passions–Creating and Increasing Awareness on Accessible Design. This was a regular session, presented by Adina Sullivan-Morrow and having a lot of background knowledge of the content helped a lot during the creation process. Also, the impact of having a flat table surface and not having to worry about your losing any of your pens is not to be overrated.

Whereas, keynotes are always challenging especially with speakers who are new to you because you don’t know their style, the arc of their story, or the timing which can make space planning difficult. This is definitely more of zig-zag sketchnote pattern for me as the RocketBook is smaller than my usual 7×10 sketchbook.

It was refreshing to return to creating pen and paper Live Sketchnotes. It only seemed appropriate that this occurred at the Roseville Summit. It was two years ago, that I presented on this topic and captured videos of the sketchnote process during two of the keynotes. Moving forward, it’s likely the iPad might stay at home when I attend my next conference which would leave room in the bag for extra pens!