This was the question for participants at our recent #SoYouThinkYouCantDraw workshop to answer. They were asked to graphic record, of all speeches, President Trump’s inauguration speech.
Guess what happened? And what did we learn as visual facilitators?
Here’s what happened:
Before the speech even “started”, some participants were already preparing portraits of Trump that came with catch phrases like “You’re fired!”, pointed finger, and what was described as “nazi” hairstyle in one case.
(By the way, you can view/listen to Trump’s speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRBsJNdK1t0. I personally think it’s a clear message simply put, but you can disagree.)
Yes, I did expect most participants to be less-than-welcoming to President Trump. What I wasn’t expecting was how strongly their biases showed up.
In case you are wondering, the graphic recording on this post was something I did while watching the group work on their 3×4 graphic recordings. I certainly I hope I did my “client” justice, though the way I saw came through too!
What have I learned from this experience?
- It’s impossible to be neutral. After all, we draw what we see and think.
- Choose your clients. This way, you can honour every client you work with. Walk away if you can’t do it with honour.
- Know the conversation. Don’t presume, nor assume. You are there to listen.
I was glad that this experience gave us the opportunity to talk about the ethics (vital!) of working visually. To me, this might have been more important to sustainable practice, than the skills we covered.
Can’t wait to join our next workshop in Q1 2018? Waitlist here for first dibs: https://eepurl.com/cImp1T