#VisualizeIT: A free online series of workshops to build your visual storytelling skills!
Tags: sketchnoting, visualizeit, beginners, storytelling
Published: 2020-12-01 14:00:25

---
title: #VisualizeIT: A free online series of workshops to build your visual storytelling skills!
published: true
description: #VisualizeIT is a free online series of workshops for creative technologists, from @MSFTReactor, @azureadvocates and members of the @letssketchtech community.
tags: sketchnoting, visualizeIT, beginners, storytelling
series: "#VisualizeIT 2020: Visual Storytelling Workshops For Beginners"
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/kbao7u9g9aamxnxbn70l.png
---

> _This free online virtual event series is being organized by the [Microsoft Reactor](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/reactor/) team in collaboration with [Azure Advocates](https://dev.to/azure) and the [Lets Sketch Tech](https://dev.to/letssketchtech) community. Join us and #VisualizeIT for yourself!_


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# 🎨 Visualize IT: Origin Story

The #VisualizeIT series is a free online series of workshops that we hope will inspire and motivate more technologists to embrace visual storytelling as a key skill for creative and inclusive communications.

The idea has been percolating for a while among us and this seemed like the perfect time to launch it as we all head into the holidays and think about our resolutions and goals for the new year.

This first series is a 6-part collaborative effort involving a number of talented and community-oriented folks in North America. Read on for more about what we hope to accomplish, and why this matters.

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### 🌟 What is it?

You can read it as "Visualize it!" or "Visualize I-T" (IT being an acronym for Information Technology). At its core, it's about building your creative storytelling skills to complement your software development expertise.

We all know that storytelling is a powerful way to communicate complex ideas. Visual storytelling is about using imagery, colors, fonts and other visual aids to make complex tech concepts easier to comprehend, retain and recall. 

The current sessions cover digital sketching (with Procreate) to creative journalling, tech doodling, sketching tech concepts and enhancing your public speaking. We also hope they provide an opportunity to meet and connect with other creative technologists, and build a sense of community around visual storytelling.

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### 🤗 How can I join?

The series is being run as online workshop events happening once a week (on Saturdays) and hosted by Microsoft Reactor. The time was chosen to be friendly to audiences in all North America timezones.

Because the series launches before the holidays, we are running it in two parts - with 3 sessions in December and 3 in January. Each session features a different creative technologist to teach you a new skill or gives you a new perspective to build your storytelling toolkit. 

Interested in attending? Just RSVP to the workshop of interest on the Microsoft Reactor meetup page below:

| Workshop | Facilitator | Date/Time | RSVP |
|:---      |:---         |:---       |:---  | 
| Introduction to Procreate | Kaitlin Gu | Dec 05 | [RSVP](https://www.meetup.com/Microsoft-Reactor-Toronto/events/274684765/) |
| Creative Journalling for Technologists | Brittney Braxton | Dec 12 | [RSVP](https://www.meetup.com/Microsoft-Reactor-Toronto/events/274684784/)|
| Sketch The Docs & Chalk The Talk | Nitya Narasimhan | Dec 19 |[RSVP](https://www.meetup.com/Microsoft-Reactor-Toronto/events/274768798/) |
| Tech Doodling Workshop | Denise Yu | [Jan 09] |[RSVP](https://www.meetup.com/Microsoft-Reactor-Toronto/events/275540821/) |
| Using Visuals To Communicate Ideas | Ashton Rodenhiser | Jan 16 | [RSVP](https://www.meetup.com/Microsoft-Reactor-Toronto/events/274684808/?isFirstPublish=true)|
| Sketch The Tech  | Marlena Compton | ~~Jan 23~~ <br/> Feb 6 | [RSVP](https://www.meetup.com/Microsoft-Reactor-Toronto/events/275966654/) |


Don't forget to 👈🏽 bookmark this page or 👇🏽 [subscribe](#comments) to the comments to get notifications on updates to the series!

![](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/rn3vlzto3evf2302fecp.png)

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## The Sessions

You can find all the recordings on the [#VisualizeIT Playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmsFUfdnGr3zbpJOZ7karFnHuaeJ3TzNM) on YouTube. Or check out the individual talk posts (above) to see an embedded video for that session, along with attendee feedback.

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# 👩🏽‍💻 Behind The Series

This series would not happen without the collaboration between various members of the [LetsSketchTech](https://twitter.com/letssketchtech) community, [Microsoft Developer Relations](https://twitter.com/azureadvocates) and [Microsoft Reactor](https://twitter.com/MSFTReactor/). Learn more about each below.

<br/><br/>

### ❶ [Azure Advocates](https://twitter.com/azureadvocates) / Technology

[@AzureAdvocates](https://twitter.com/azureadvocates) refers to the [Cloud Advocacy](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/advocates/) organization within Microsoft Developer Relations. Our charter is to help every technologist on the planet succeed through community outreach, content creation and developer skilling and engagement at events worldwide. 

We focus on multiple platforms including [Azure](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/azure/) (Cloud+AI), [M365](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/m365/) (Productivity) and [Power Platform](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/powerplatform/) (Low-Code Development). 

Want to learn more? Follow our Azure publication right here on dev.to

{% org azure %}

<br/><br/>

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### ❷ [Lets Sketch Tech](https://twitter.com/letssketchtech) / Community

Our community partner for this series is [LetsSketchTech](https://twitter.com/letssketchtech) -- an initiative from [Marlena Compton](https://appearworks.com/contact/) -- focusing on building a community of people who value sketching and the powerful role it plays in business and technical communications.

One key outcome here was the 2020 [Lets Sketch Tech Conference](https://letssketchtech.com/). Many of the #VisualizeIT speakers are organizers of that conference, and we all met virtually there for the first time. 

If you like their mission, follow them [@letssketchtech](https://twitter.com/letssketchtech) or support them [on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/letssketchtech). 

You can also follow the [Lets Sketch Tech organization](https://dev.to/letssketchtech) here on dev.to 

{% org letssketchtech %}

<br/><br/>

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### [Microsoft Reactor](https://twitter.com/MSFTReactor/) / Events

Join [Microsoft Reactor](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/reactor/) and learn new skills, meet peers and find career mentorship with other developers. Our mission is to `Learn. Connect. Build.` and we do this through virtual events that run globally, around the clock! Join us anytime, anywhere. 


Check out our meetups and [find your next skilling event](https://www.meetup.com/pro/microsoft-reactor)!

![Learn more about the Microsoft Reactor](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/0tk9y7l1rehtxaju4bra.png)

<br/><br/>

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### The People!

Want to follow our amazing speakers and collaborators? You can find them here and on Twitter.

##### Speakers

 * Ashton Rodenhiser | [@mindseyeccf](https://twitter.com/MindsEyeCCF) - [Minds Eye Creative](https://www.mindseyecreative.ca/) 
 * Brittney Braxton | [@mintiiB](https://twitter.com/mintiiB) - [Website](https://brittneybraxton.com/)
 * Denise Yu | [@deniseyu21](https://twitter.com/deniseyu21) - [Blog](https://deniseyu.io/blog/) 
 * Kaitlin Gu | [@_gubean](https://twitter.com/_gubean) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/gubean/)
 * Marlena Compton | [@marlenac](https://twitter.com/marlenac) - [AppearWorks](https://t.co/Cl1eJJxzhj?amp=1)
 * Nitya Narasimhan | [@nitya](https://twitter.com/nitya) - [Blog](https://kotlin.fyi)


##### Organizers 

 * Aaiman Amir | [@aaiman_a](https://twitter.com/aaiman_a) - [Microsoft Reactor](https://www.meetup.com/pro/Microsoft-Reactor)
 * Dionne Corey | [@DCorey09](https://twitter.com/Dcorey09) - [Microsoft Reactor](https://www.meetup.com/pro/Microsoft-Reactor)
 * Nitya Narasimhan | [@nitya](https://twitter.com/nitya) - [Azure Advocates](https://dev.to/azure)


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> _This free online virtual event series is being organized by the [Microsoft Reactor](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/reactor/) team in collaboration with [Azure Advocates](https://dev.to/azure) the [Lets Sketch Tech](https://dev.to/letssketchtech) community._