The Sketching Professional

Do you fart in meetings?

Brain farts – do you suddenly get the urge to let out an idea as it happens?

You suddenly see the solution in your mind’s eye, lean forward, and “PFFT” out pops a ripe and raw idea into someone’s face.

I know, right? Sometimes you lose control, and they just slip out. We have all been there.

However, in a meeting, this is so not professional.

You cannot offload your fresh, ripe ideas at people as you have them, all tangled up in complex and confusing explanations.

You wouldn’t like it if someone came and let their ideas off at you without warning.

Well, think about how your colleagues feel.

When a meeting is full of stinky brainfarts, everyone just wants to get out of there.

Stuck in a brainstorming session breathing in other people confusing ideas.

Stop letting off brain farts in meetings.

But we are in a brainstorming meeting. I need to share my ideas as I have them.

YES – but not as brain farts, puffs and guffs of brainfarts that leave people gasping.

Well, what should I do?

You can clear the air with a sketch.

When you visualise your ideas on a whiteboard with a wireframe, a stick person, a diagram full of geometric shapes, people can see what you are saying and thinking. A sketch removes complexity and means ideas are clean and fresh, not confusing and ripe.

But I can't draw.

Great!!!

We are not drawing – we are sketching.

Sketching is not drawing.

You do not need to be able to draw to sketch.

Drawing is measured on how accurately it resembles something.

Sketching is measured by how clearly it communicates something.

If it communicates, it wins.

A drawing is not helpful in a meeting because

It is not fast enough
It’s not simple enough
It’s not focused on the essentials
It doesn’t include others

Sketching is what solves problems in meetings and moves ideas forward, not drawings.

In fact, forget drawing leave it to the artists – we are problem solvers.

Wasting time

Way too much time is wasted in meetings because we are stuck in a room of invisible stinky brain farts which we can’t see, so they are tough to do anything with except want to leave and close the door on.

And don’t think because you are in a virtual meeting, you can brain fart.

Virtual meetings amplify brain farts and take their stench to another level because we miss so many subtle communication signals because we are not in the same room.

(BTW, you can fart in virtual meetings all you want; just disguise the lean-to one side motion it is a real tell)

Instead of brain farting, become a Sketching Professional

Rediscover the skills and confidence to jump up to the whiteboard and drop an idea as a clean, fresh sketch for all to see, teammates in the room and those online.

Fart into a sketch. (they don’t mind, because they can’t smell)

This will really help avoid sharing messy, stinky ideas in meetings.

This will help you stop talking at people.

This will stop people from resenting you.

Because when you brain fart on others, you are expecting them to clean up your ideas.

Which is like a dog owner who doesn’t pick up their pouches warm parcels. “Hang on a minute – You mean I have to clean this mess up. NOT COOL!!!”

However, when you sketch your ideas, you can see them, your teammates can see them and together, you can flip them into better, faster solutions.

You have the ideas.

Now you need to communicate them clearly, and a sketch will help you do this.

Become a Sketching Professional and share your ideas with a simple direct visual, which means you can talk less, include others and work towards solutions as a team.

With sketching, you will be effective in your brainstorming sessions and deliver the visual, tangible sparks which are the beginning of exceptional results.

In the Sketching Professional online course, you will:

Learn to sketch from 12 video lessons
Practice in private with personalised feedback from me
Complete a series of simple sketching challenges
Practice some more
Share your sketches with like-minded people on the same journey in a bi-monthly meetup
Give each other feedback
Share your ideas and feel amazing
Reflect and discuss in a 1on1 coaching call to focus on your individual needs

The Startup Pitch Accelerator works to your schedule and we stay in weekly contact in direct message as well as group calls.

As soon as you have booked your spot, you’ll receive a link to schedule a 20-minute 1-on-1 call to get started.

Learn in your time from 18 online videos (4 hours total).
Supported with 18 worksheets to organize your thinking & progress in a structured way that gets results.
Access your private Volley pitch channel to send me videos as your performance improves and get personalised video feedback.
Practice in weekly group sessions with peer feedback, self-assessment & live coaching.
Write your pitch slide by slide with personalized feedback.
Share and reflect in 1-on-1 calls to really discuss your personal development.
Stack your learning & grow your confidence in a structured way following a process.
Perform in increasingly challenging moments.

Learn a process you can use for every future pitch.

Professionals who have rediscovered their sketching skills

I have unblocked dozens of professionals sketching ability allowing them to use the power of sketching in meetings, presentations, team training, social media content, workshops, as well as generating interest in a book deal.

“I can’t say more about the fact that it was Martin and my luck for deciding to take his workshop that got me on this path, and I want to thank Martin. I encourage you to learn his methodology because it’s powerful, it will change your life, it certainly changed mine.”

James LaLonde

Co-founder, Co-CEO at Yodo1 Games, Serial Entrepreneur, University Professor, Author, Artist

“Taking Martin’s sketching workshop helped my business plans stand out in the crowd and gave them an authentic touch. This is a workshop you don’t want to miss!”

Rebecca Ide

Circular Economy at Technische Universiteit Delt

“After Martin shared the Visual Alphabet with me, I had so much fun exploring how my finger was playing with the iPad screen. It actually brought me into the space of not needing to create anything specific, so it gave me a lot of freedom, and that was at first was very liberating.”

Dalida Turkovic

Mindfulness Coach

Not convinced? Still, think you can't put pen to paper?

Sit and think for a moment, back to your childhood. The fun you had letting your imagination flow over a blank page, seeing your ideas, creating whole worlds, inspiring friends and having fun.

Now, think back to a stinky, fart filled meeting room with people struggling to share complex, intangible ideas with each other.

With sketching, you can open the window on smelly old meetings and let in a breath of fresh air with a handful of sketches. Share your ideas, visualise other peoples ideas and become a highly valued member of the team. The teammate others request to join meetings because you make things visible, tangible and get results. Colleagues won’t ghost your meeting notes when they can see their ideas on paper.

Who am I to sketch?

I am Martin and I have 20 years of experience working in London and Beijing as a graphic designer and creative director in advertising, educational games, film, events and startups. Sketching has helped the projects and teams I am part of getting results at every moment of my professional career.

I have jumped to the whiteboard in meetings with CEOs and in front of them visualised their thinking.

I have been requested to join tons of meetings because people want to see their ideas.

All because I can sketch, I can’t draw.

I have created sketches for 3-day innovation workshops at Mercedes.

I have been the visual notetaker at 3-day leadership meetings with VW.

I have created sketches to visualise HR workshops for Johnson & Johnson.

I have delighted speakers after talks with Startup Grind and B-Corp by sharing my sketch notes.

And on the scale of ‘drawing’ ability, I am way closer to the bottom than the middle. In fact, I don’t use the word ‘draw’ for myself or The Sketching Professional.

I love admiring other people’s drawings, but I can’t do it. I can sketch, and so can you.

I also have a PGCEi teaching qualification from the University of Nottingham in the UK and have 6 years of experience teaching design to students in Beijing.

I know that you will soon learn to sketch because it’s not about how much you know. It’s how you improve from practice and demonstrations of your learning.

This is accelerated with peer feedback from the regular lifetime entry to The Sketching Professional bi-monthly meetups.

Fart free meetings

If you want to clear your next meeting of stinky brain farts and be the one who makes meetings visual, fun and results-driven, learn to sketch.

Signup for The Sketching Professional online course here.

I can’t wait to help you start sketching.