Visual Minutes from a Recording: Unlock Post-Event Visual Note-Taking

Julia Bakay
3 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 9 hours ago

Why take Visual Minutes of an event that has taken place?

If you're new here, let's start by exploring what Visual Minutes are at all!

Visual Minutes (also known as Visual Notetaking or Live Illustration) are creative, real-time drawings that capture the key themes, insights, and emotions of a conversation, event, or workshop. It’s like watching your ideas take shape in real-time.

Leading up to an event or workshop, one doesn't always have time to set up all the extra things that will add pizazz to your event, like bringing a Visual Minuting Artist on board to draw live. But you might still want the long-term benefits of having your event visually summarized...

So here's the good news: if you decided to hit 'record' on that video call or in-person session, you can still unlock the value of Visual Minutes - even after the fact.

In this article, I’ll walk you through this lesser-known form of Visual Minuting - based on a recording - and share the many benefits this offers, especially if you didn’t or couldn’t plan for live visuals during your event.

What are the benefits of doing Visual Minutes based on Recordings?

Flexible timing when it comes to Visual Notes based on Recordings

One of the biggest advantages?

The flexibility.

You don’t need to coordinate calendars, block out a full day for the artist, or rearrange schedules. Once the recording is ready, the Visual Minuter can work from it at a time that suits you both.

This makes it especially useful for:

Events with changing agendas
Sessions across multiple time zones
Last-minute workshops where you didn’t have time to prep for live visuals

And the result? You still get beautiful, insightful Visual Minutes—just on your own time.

Less hassle when it comes to Visual Minutes based on Recordings

Live sessions can come with their fair share of technical curveballs - AV tests, screen sharing, microphones, Zoom links, and so on.

With recorded Visual Minutes, you skip that entire setup.

It’s a much smoother process for you, especially if you’re juggling lots of event logistics already.

Visual Minuting from a Recording tends to be cheaper

Because the artist isn’t blocking out a full day for live attendance - and there’s less technical setup involved - Visual Minutes from a recording are often more cost-effective.

You’re still getting a custom, high-quality visual summary—but in a way that can better match your budget, especially for internal events or pilot sessions.

You can look for a Visual Minuter once you've had the event

This one’s a game-changer.

You might not know in advance whether your event is worth illustrating. And that’s okay! That’s where post-event Visual Minutes shine.

Sometimes, a session unexpectedly sparks amazing ideas or profound conversations. That’s when people often reach out and say:

“We had this incredible workshop yesterday, and we’d love to capture it in a creative way—can you help?”

With a recording in hand, the answer is yes.

This is a great way to go if you'd like to review your session, make that decision with confidence, and bring in a Visual Minuter only if and when it feels right.

Or get the Visual Minutes with a super fast turnaround

If you know you want visuals quickly after your event, this is the way to go.

Schedule the recording, then send it off to your Visual Minuter who can get started immediately. If I can schedule it in advance, I can offer to deliver the completed visual notes within 24–48 hours (sometimes even same-day!).

This works really well for:

Conferences where you want to share takeaways on social media fast
Workshops where you’ll follow up the next day
Internal sessions where momentum matters

You can better control what goes into the Visual Minutes

Another underrated benefit: direction.

When you hand over the recording, you can highlight:

Key segments to focus on
Time stamps for major moments
Which parts of the session don’t need illustrating

This is especially handy if your event includes breakout rooms, dense technical content, or moments you’d prefer to keep private. This way, your Visual Minutes are intentional, focused, and tailored to the impact you want to create.

How can you use Visual Minutes created from Recordings?

While we lose some of the real-time magic and attendee engagement that live visual minuting brings, there’s still so much value to be gained from post-event Visual Minutes.

Here’s how they can still work their magic long after your event:

Send them to all attendees in a follow-up email
A great way to wrap things up and reinforce the key messages.
Post them on social media
Show off the brilliant thinking, culture, and collaboration that happened in the room (or on the call).
Publish them on your website Perfect for reporting back to funders, clients, or stakeholders — or adding colour to an event recap blog.
Use them to kick off your next event Start the next session with a visual look-back. It’s a fantastic way to connect the dots and maintain momentum.

So if you have an upcoming event that you're allowed to record, make sure to do so—even if you don’t plan to do anything with it just yet. You might just find yourself saying afterward: