Live Notetaking at the Waste & Water Summit 2024

Transformational change is achieved through concrete steps and actions by key drivers. In the case of waste and water management, our Local Government Units (LGUs) play a vital role in this vision. The recently held Waste and Water Summit at the SMX Convention in Pasay, was joined by roughly 300 participants from different LGUs across the country, and had provided a platform for conversation and challenging the status quo. Habi was tasked to create a live visual note of their breakout discussions.

Live Visual Note Taking is a creative documentation process that captures in real-time key messages and discussion highlights of a meeting, conference, or gathering. When presented before the event closes, visual summaries create a peak moment, bringing delight and inspiration to its audiences.

Task

How might we inspire collective action and agency in LGUs towards improved waste and water management?

Design

A live visual note-taking for a 1-and-a-half-hour breakout discussion on water and waste management.
Client

Environmental Management Bureau under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Proactive Approach

After seeing our live visual note during the Raya Teachers’ Conference last September 2023, a recommendation was made to the DENR to have Habi synthesize the discussion with the same visual tool. In consideration of a tight timeline, Habi took a proactive approach and asked these questions, “what is the collective vision of the LGUs on waste and water management?”, “what were they hoping to achieve towards the end of the summit?”. These questions became our anchor when we crafted the visual template and the user experience using our design principles: clear, inclusive, human, and inspiring.

Before the event, Habi prepared the visual template, complete with the visual elements we might need as we package the final look. Habi also prepared a one-page facilitation guide to aid the flow of discussion during the breakout sessions.

Adrenaline-fueled Note-Taking

Combining active listening, clear documentation of narratives, and designing the visual template was challenging, and adrenaline-fueling. What helped the Habi team was working with a documentation team from the DENR. It allowed for collaboration and alignment of insights to be smooth sailing. Sharing the early draft with the partner also allowed changes to be welcomed, ultimately improving the quality of the final work.

Balancing Clarity and Creativity

Unlike documentation reports, visual notes offer bite-sized content in a delightful and engaging way. Having heard a handful of stories from the six breakout groups, conciseness can be easily lost. Habi made sure to put clarity at the heart of our work; with our target learners being the LGUs, the language must be straightforward. With our content already being clear, it invited creativity to soar and do its magic.

Designer's Note: The power of LX Design in Taking Notes

With this project, we can see how taking down notes is also a learning experience. As Documenters and Media Makers (aka Scribes and Graphic Designers!) in this project, we had to ensure that we designed and presented key information from the discussions in such a way that our participants would understand clearly and inspire them to action in improving waste and water management.

Making Live Notes may seem daunting, as it requires you to be creative and quick in making good quality work. From preparing our workspace to designing the actual live notes, what we kept in mind was Habi’s Design Principles. How might we ensure that our work is Clear, Inclusive, Human, and Inspiring?

Clear / Malinaw

The day before the summit, we prepared the general structure and layout that had clear sections based on the discussion’s guide questions which were: Problems, Solutions, and Ways Forward. During the note-taking, visualizing the layout in grid form helped in ensuring a clear flow of information and there were spaces to breathe in between information.

Inclusive / Kasya Lahat

To ensure that this design principle will be met, we made sure to incorporate the diverse perspectives and contexts of the participants. Each of us was present in the different breakout rooms and alongside our collaborating DENR documenters, we were able to include these varying and similar insights in these discussions. These were translated into succinct points to make sure the information was easily understood by all.

Human / Makatao

We wanted to be able to capture authenticity in the Live Notes by including some statements from the speakers and participants in the breakout sessions. With the support of our documenters, we added direct quotes showcased in the main icons to spark reflection and dialogue among participants.

Inspiring / Nagsusulong

With the purpose of inspiring action, we framed the key points in an action-oriented manner and made them visually distinct with the arrow shape and icons for more emphasis. Furthermore, we also embraced our creative freedom in the process– experimenting with colors, fonts, and graphics– to capture the participants’ attention and add more delight to their discussions.

Grounding our work on the Design Principles allowed us to transform note-taking into Learning Experience Design. We intended to not only take notes but also to deepen understanding, spark dialogue, and inspire action for the participants.

If you’re interested in working with us on creating a visual live note for your next workshop, feel free to email us at kumusta@habieducationlab.org and share your vision with Habi!

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