Tuesday’s session, Sketchnoting Makes Your Notes Come Alive!, was the epitome of an engaging session for everyone involved. It held all the elements of a stellar experience. I LOVE working with teens!

The Scene

The room was sitting room only—in a room set for 90 students, there were 100, so some were sitting and working on the floor in their business attire/nice clothing. (This was the annual FBLA/ Future Business Leaders of America conference for Pennsylvania—5000 students, and their advisers were attending.)

The students were:

• early 
• present and attentive
• curious
• vulnerable 
• excited to learn
• willing to experiment and step outside their comfort zone 
• totally engaged 
• responsive to my questions 
• hungry for resources 
• full of ideas
• receptive to key ideas that might run counter to what they were hearing in their other sessions, such as: 
• learn the methods, then create your own style—lean into it!
• when you make a mistake—and you will because you’re human—learn from it and try again. (This was made real by my difficulty drawing a star in the way I planned—one of my signature icons, and I didn’t like what I drew… I called it an “epic fail” {perhaps a bit of hyperbole}, and yet they saw me make a mistake, in my area of expertise, in front of 100 people, call it out and move on to do it again better.

How often do adults show their vulnerability in front of teenagers? Or presenters in front of their audiences? 

After learning and practicing icons, graphic elements, figures, lettering styles, and layout (in this 45-minute session), the room erupted in conversations when given the opportunity to chat with a neighbor. They reveled in talking about their newfound skills.

Perhaps most exciting were their responses to my query about how they would use their new skills—every day in their classes because…

And their feedback, shared on sticky notes as they left the session, revealed their enthusiasm for the content learned and the experience. One young woman came over to speak with me after the session. She said, “This is what I love to do!” She showed me an origami crane and moved it. I loved it! I was so impressed that she had made it with a 3-inch square sticky note that I had given out for sharing their thoughts. She then gave it to me as a gift.

Just like the students in my session. This is one experience I won’t forget. 

When was the last time you completed a session, feeling energized, confident, and committed to using your new skills? I hope it was not too long ago!