The power of visual content or why live scribing is the future of events

Visual content is everywhere. We often do not pay attention to the amount of information we process visually. However, according to the data published by the Visual Teaching Alliance over 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. Furthermore, visual learning is the dominant style and 65% of people are visual learners, which means they are much more likely to remember what they see than what they hear.

The studies conducted by the educational psychologist Jerome Bruner of New York University revealed that people tend to remember only 10% of what they hear and 30% of what they read. However, when it comes to visual content, data shows that the retention of information is much greater since people can recall up to 80% of what they see and do. Similarly, the picture superiority effect described by Allan Paivio in 1971 supports the fact that pictures have advantages over words as they are more likely to be remembered.

Studies revealed that people tend to remember only 10% of what they hear and 30% of what they read

We live in an information age where communication technologies are constantly changing and evolving. The digital revolution is gradually transforming the oral and written tradition into a visual one. The rising popularity of digital visual content has completely transformed the way we produce and consume information. Nowadays it is hard to find engaging plain-text content. On the other hand, visual storytelling has become an integral part of any promising communication strategy.

According to the data provided by HubSpot, visual content is forty times more likely to get shared on social media and content with relevant images gets 94% more views. Social media channels which rely predominantly on visual content such as YouTube or Instagram are among the most visited sites on the web.

However, an important question arises. How can all this be applied to the professional events industry? For example, everyone knows that at conferences information is predominantly delivered to the audience via speeches, presentations and written content in brochures or booklets. If this is not supported by visual content (e.g. images or videos), the audience will initially remember only 20–25% of the presentation, which after a couple of days will go down to 10% or less. Even if a speech is accompanied by a visual presentation it is not always possible for the speaker to engage the listeners at an emotional level. Unengaging content tends to be forgotten quickly and after the presentation is finished the attendees have no summary of facts and ideas which would help them to recall the important points made by the speaker. The organiser unfortunately has no visual content based on the information shared during the event and therefore cannot keep attendees engaged after the event is over.

Images are able to evoke emotions and if verbal language is accompanied by powerful real-time visuals the effect is magnified. Live scribing is the future of the event industry as it can help organizers create unforgettable experiences and maintain attendee engagement after the event is over through visually rich content. The fact that the visuals are created in real-time allows the audience to feel engaged with the process and guarantees strong emotional connection between the speaker and the visitors which makes the experience even more memorable.

“The ‘WOW’ element — visuals created in front of the audience while a speaker is giving a talk evokes an emotional connection.” Smartup Visuals

“It is a fun and entertaining process that will help your audience feel more engaged with the spoken material and help you create a lasting impression.” Smartup Visuals

So what makes live scribing such a powerful tool in the hands of an event manager?

1. The information presented is accompanied by visuals, which makes it more memorable.
2. Information-based content is created live, which helps increase audience engagement during an event and adds a FOMO (fear of missing out) component.
3. An event can be captured from any part of the world as long as the venue has a stable internet connection.
4. The audience is able to watch scribing happening live via the event app or the Social Wall.
5. Visuals created during an event can be used for visual content marketing after the event is over.
6. Sharing visually rich summaries helps to maintain attendee engagement and increases interaction between speakers and visitors.
7. The images can be instantly shared via social networks which significantly increases event exposure.
8. Images can also be taken away by the visitors to remind them of the event and help recall the main points made.

Visual content can have a great impact on the audience on it’s own. However, an oral presentation accompanied by powerful visual images based on the content created live during an event is able to create a strong emotional connection between speakers and attendees. This makes the presentation more memorable and engaging as well as increases attendee interaction after the event. That’s why TapFuse has partnered with Smartup Visuals in order to provide organisers with a digital scribing app, transform events by engaging the audience in real-time and turn a lot of content into a visually appealing summary ready to be shared and enjoyed.