About me
“James is incredibly talented in capturing in one picture the essence of an entire conversation or presentation. His ability to listen and crystallise the key message as well as his amazing drawing skills and witty sense of humour are a winning combination. He creates visual reminders that will stay with people long after the session is finished – both in terms of learning and literally as many of our participants take the drawings home with them to re-use and show others.”
Why work with me?
I’m an expert in visual storytelling, with nearly 30 years of experience as a scribe and illustrator. I’ve worked with practically every kind of organisation, from technology to accounting and government to pharma and on just about every type of event.
I love scribing. I’m passionate about its potential to help people share their stories vividly and communicate information in creative ways that bring it to life. I enjoy adapting my approach to the conversation as it changes and I use my skills and experience to:
bring together all of the small clues and cues, as much as the big headline, to create a record that feels truthful to the people I’m listening to
ensure that people feel I’ve really listened and got it
use humour and metaphor to reflect the content back in ways that make it fresh and human. Sometimes that just means tuning into the humour participants bring to how they describe their situation
engage with complex topics that require nuance and sensitivity
create highly sticky communications content that will help you to transmit ideas and get buy-in from your stakeholders.
Experience
I joined Ernst & Young’s Accelerated Solutions Environment in 1997, where scribing was a facilitation technique within M.G. Taylor’s collaborative workshop process. The emphasis was on capturing content so it could be used to aid decision making. We had to quickly understand and synthesise the conversation at hand. This meant that listening skills were as critical as imagination. I was one of the first people to incorporate illustration into the formula, which has now become the standard approach for scribing.
I have since worked in other facilitation centres, such as PwC’s The Difference and CapGemini’s Les Fontaines, for various facilitation companies and directly with clients.
I was a founding director of Scriberia and grew their approach to scribing and developing new talent.
I have worked with FTSE 100 companies, public bodies, universities, third sector organisations and individuals.
Find out more about how I can help you.
James Baylay
