TED Talkin’: Hayley Langsdorf on the power of doodling during meetings

Hayley Langsdorf is an artist that uses Sharpies to illustrate big ideas from board rooms and beyond. She is a self-described “live scribe” for events, meetings and conferences and "Doodler in Chief" for Thoughts Drawn Out. 

Hayley’s 2019 TED Talk, “Drawing out our collective intelligence", draws out—literally—the power of the pen. As humans, we’re all moved by story; and when visuals are added, it’s extra memorable. 

Even simple figures and shapes—doodles during meetings to help illustrate what was talked about can create a more powerful record than a list of bullets. 

Hayley’s talk reminds us that simple visual storytelling can help support day-to-day communications. She argues that drawing out ideas to get on the same page could help reduce over-used jargon, excess emails and even combat stifling office environments. 

Business communicators, consider this your cue to get the colored pack of Sharpies.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet? 

Watch Hayley’s talk for yourself:

• “Drawing Out Our Collective Intelligence”

Find more of Hayley’s work

• Thoughts Drawn Out
• LinkedIn

This TED talk reminded us of…

• The “Marketoonist” extraordinaire, Tom Fishburne - author of Your Ad Ignored Here 
• Tim Pollard’s work - author of The Compelling Communicator
• Wes Kao’s work on keeping people engaged

Hayley’s dream talk (according to us)

• Venue? - Something hosted by Bic or Micron or Sharpie?? 
• Walkout song? Beautiful World by Colin Hay