Today we’d like to introduce you to Virginia Montgomery.
Hi Virginia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m an artist and professional Graphic Facilitator, which means I draw live visual notes during conferences, meetings, and workshops. Through my company, Big Bright Visuals, I work with global nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies to turn conversations and complex ideas into colorful, large-scale drawings that help people remember what they’ve learned.
I started doing this work in 2012 while working at an agency in New York City. More than 14 years later, I still love the challenge of listening, drawing, and bringing people’s ideas to life in real time. I was born and raised in Houston, TX. And today I’m happy to be working regionally in Texas, and working nationally to support conferences and workshops across the USA. I love to travel and learn, so for me that is what I love most about my career as a graphic facilitator!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While illustrating for my clients in locations such as Austin, Dallas, Houston, New York, Miami, San Francisco, etc., I often scribe upon a large whiteboard in front of audiences of thousands of people who are watching my every move as I draw. So it’s very important to always remain focused and to provide audiences with an awesome visual note-taking experience. It can be a high pressure situation, but I also love the challenge of bringing ideas to life with visual notes.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Big Bright Visuals is my Graphic Facilitation company based in both Houston and Austin, Texas. Graphic Facilitation—also called Visual Note-taking or Graphic Recording—is a way to capture ideas through live drawing at business meetings, nonprofit workshops, and public conferences.
As people speak, I listen and turn their ideas into big, bright visual murals filled with drawings, words, and connections. The artwork takes shape in real time, giving audiences a way to follow the conversation and see how ideas fit together.
One of my favorite things about this work is that the drawings remain useful long after an event ends. When a keynote or workshop is packed with information, it can be hard to remember everything you heard. Visual Notes give people something to revisit, share with their teams, and use as a reminder of what they learned.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
People can work with me through Big Bright Visuals by bringing me in to create live Visual Notes for a conference, meeting, or workshop, either locally in Houston or elsewhere in country, because I’m always happy to travel to events! I work with businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations to capture conversations in colorful drawings that people can revisit and share afterward. I’m based in both Houston and Austin, Texas, and I’m available for events in person or online.
If you’re planning an event or have an idea for a collaboration, I’d love to hear from you! You can learn more and get in touch through www.bigbrightvisuals.com. Following @bigbrightvisuals on Instagram, sharing my work, or recommending me to someone planning an event are also wonderful ways to support my small creative business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bigbrightvisuals.com
- Instagram: @bigbrightvisuals
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/virginia-artist
