Sketchnoting The Summit Series

THE SUMMIT SERIES is an unconventional conference, created by and for young entrepreneurs to connect, teach, learn and change the world for the better.

I've been commissioned to capture Summit Series Basemcamp in Lake Tahoe's Squaw Valley this weekend. I'm stoked to experience this fascinating event and capture it visually as a blend of both traditional and travel sketchnote styles.

What's the Summit Series?

The Summit Series began several years ago as an invite-only ski trip to connect with selected guests, financed on the founder's personal credit card. Now the Summit Series hosts thousands of luminaries at a time, meeting in unusual locations like cruise ships and ski resorts, featuring a wide variety of un-conferency activities like yoga and rock climbing as well as talks and workshops. The Series is managed by a team of young entrepreneurs who work together from different locations around the world.

The ultimate goal of the Series is to get interesting people together and share the experience of learning, giving and making a difference as a community.

The event I'm attending and sketchnoting Basecamp, a smaller gathering of about 650 guests at Sqauw Valley Resort in Lake Tahoe.

I can't wait to share my experience here when I return.

Lambeau Field Pilgrimage

A CRISP WIND rolled across Lambeau Field on a sunny, December day. My pilgrimage to Green Bay to see the Packers host the Oakland Raiders was my second — the first happened many years ago when I was just a child.

Lambeau is a beautiful stadium, updated in such a tasteful way that tradition is maintained while wrapped in a well-designed, modern structure.

The Packer Hall of Fame was a treat, featuring all sorts of items and artifacts from previous teams, players and championships. I can't wait to make a return trip, to spend a full day exploring the Hall in detail.

The game experience was wonderful. Our seats were ideal, with a great view of the field and access to Lambeau's club level. Cheering fans and a 46-16 win over the Raiders completed my "Frozen Tundra" experience.

Here are a few images from my Lambeau Field set on Flickr:

Storyline Conference Sketchnotes

I'VE BEEN BACK HOME for a week since attending Donald Miller's Storyline Conference in Portland Oregon. While I was there, I captured live sketchnotes of the event for myself and to share with others. I had a fabulous time.

I was inspired by the stories Don shared, encouraged to review and better understand my history and challenged to live a better story.

If you look at the Storyline Flickr set, you'll see iPhone photos of my sketchnotes taken at the event (black & white) and the scans with cream backgrounds.

The sketchnotes have been well-received by Don himself, fellow Storyline attendees and even those who weren't able to make the event:

"Check out @rohdesign's notes from the recent Storyline Conference!"
- Don Miller

"Mike, thanks for doing this and putting them out there. A "light" went inside my head today on Donald Miller's book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" and the "spark" is your notes you took. I will report back to you and then you know how things are going."
- Chad Jackson

"Thank you, thank you!!! I was just the slightest bit devasted that I couldn't make it to Storyline and what a blessing to get to read this!! And the design made me want to go make stuff. Thanks, endlessly, again..."
- Tonya

"Awesome!! Can't wait to look through these! What a treat for those of us who didn't make it!!!!"
- Kim Alford

I've included the entire set of scanned sketchnotes here for your viewing enjoyment.

Be sure to check out my Portland Travelogue Sketchnotes too.

Portland Travelogue

WE'VE JUST RETURNED from a wonderful 5 day trip to Portland, Oregon, for Don Miller's Storyline Conference. During our travels, I captured a sketchnote travelogue and photos shot on my iPhone of our experiences in Portland.

I've decided to post my sketchnote travelogue and selected photos here, to speak for themselves.The complete set of sketchnotes and photos are on Flickr.

Storyline Conference Sketchnotes I captured live are also on Flickr and I'll post my thoughts and sketchnotes from Storyline next week.

We can't wait to visit Portland again soon.

Resources

Post: Living a Better Life Story: Storyline Conference

The Power of Capturing Memories

I VISTED my old neighborhood on Tuesday.

Feeling the power of childhood memories flooding back has helped clarify why I'm currently so fascinated with capturing life experiences as sketchnotes.

The Fish Keg is an iconic place in my memory, a keystone of memories from my childhood days in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Chicago's North Side.

As I entered my old neighborhood, each city block, each bit of sidewalk, every old sign brought childhood memories sharply in focus. It was enlightening to see inanimate objects and places bring to mind many long-forgotten memories with such clarity.

This is why I sketchnote experiences and encourage others to do it too.

Feelings and thoughts fleeting past during an experience or an event can be captured visually, awaiting future moments to expand themselves and reawaken memories for my benefit or the benefit of others.

Consider my sketchnotes from a dinner at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California:

Time was invested in capturing my experience visually, but now I can look back and recall in vivid detail how the spaghetti tasted, what the environment felt like and the fun I had experiencing a dinner with my friends Kate and Kris.

In this image, those and other memories spring to life, offering a clearer recollection of that moment in time. To a degree, my experiences can communicate to complete strangers who may be curious about the Chez Panisse experience.

If there's anything that would encourage you to try sketchnoting an event or an experience, let this be the reason. Invest time in capturing what you're experiencing as multidimensional map of your thoughts and feelings so you can recall them with clarity and share those memories with others.