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Episode 166

May 25, 2022

166:Scribing: A Social Art and Facilitative Practice with Kelvy Bird

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    Intro

    We collaborate through conversation and speech, but if we want to understand our work together in greater depth, we must look beyond words.

    Kelvy Bird has been a scribe for almost 30 years – there are few people better placed to share insights and reflections on the discipline and its impact on collaborative work.

    Scribing is far more than ‘just’ drawing pictures or transcribing speech, as Kelvy explains with perfect clarity and engaging spirit in this episode.

    Join us as we plumb the multi-sensory depths of her work. We explore what it means to listen without seeing, to participate without influencing, and to join art and information for the benefit of the group (and beyond).

    Find out about

    • What scribing is and how it enhances our collaboration
    • Why ink and pencil marks are only the tip of the iceberg in the multi-sensory world of scribing
    • How perception, knowledge, and drawing come together in scribing
    • How Otto Scharmer’s four levels of listening translate to scribing
    • What feedback looks like when we accept that no drawing can be ‘bad’
    • Why Kelvy recommends for anyone interested in exploring scribing

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    Questions and Answers

    01:08When did you start calling yourself a facilitator – if you do? 04:09What did you have to leave behind from your education in art to become a ‘real’ scribe? 05:57Can you explain the difference between scribing and graphic facilitation? 11:03How do you perceive your impact on the group – does scribing change the course of a workshop? 13:28How do you represent silence, pauses, and the unspoken? 16:43Can you read other scribes’ work in ways that participants can’t? 23:01What’s the difference between reading body language in-person and online? 25:46Has there been a particular moment when you’ve felt proud of the group’s reaction to your drawings? 29:59More emotion comes through in drawings, does that make them more memorable than traditional minute-taking? 31:21Where is the line between art and information in your work? Do the two merge? 32:56How do you retain independent creativity whilst trying to meet the expectations of the client? 36:20What I’m hearing is that you may feel you’ve lost some sharpness, but gained more ‘sensing’? 38:25Could a university professor use a scribe to capture their first iteration of a lecture and then use those drawings as their presentation in the future? 45:24Could you imagine a museum or gallery for scribes? 49:34Is the sense of care and depth of listening a way to distinguish between a good scribe and a bad scribe? Is there such a distinction? 01:28Can one be taught to read non-linearly? 04:30Do you ever feel frustrated at a group for going in a different direction than you expected? 08:24What makes a workshop fail – and how does it feel as a scribe to witness? 11:01You’ve written books about scribing. Where do you start when teaching it? 17:39How do you avoid anticipating the movements of a group? Do you have to hold yourself back? 22:27Though we agree that there is no such thing as a bad scribe, what would you recommend to someone who wants to improving their scribing? 26:39What’s your favourite exercise?

    Links

    Kelvy’s website

    Kelvy’s up-to-date upcoming programs

    Kelvy’s Scribing Essentials course, this October

    The Generative Scribing book

    Kelvy’s Medium profile

    Connect to Kelvy

    On LinkedIn

    On Twitter

    On Instagram