Want to Stand Out? Hand-Drawn Sketches Beat Perfect Slides

A junior team member, Sarah, is nervous before her first big presentation. Everyone else at her company relies on flashy slides, but her mentor suggests she try something different. During the meeting, she walks up to the whiteboard with a marker in hand. Her sketches are rough—circles, arrows, some hasty stick figures—but as she draws, her explanation becomes both visual and collaborative.

At first, a few managers look surprised, but something shifts as Sarah pauses and asks if anyone wants to add to the drawing. Before long, someone in finance walks up and draws a missing step. The conversation, now focused on the evolving sketch, becomes animated and far less formal. Rather than feeling like a test, the team responds eagerly. People debate, laugh over her cartoonish dog, and even the skeptical VP takes the highlighter to suggest an alternative route for the process.

Later, Sarah realizes the impact wasn’t from artistic skill or software polish, but from making her thinking visible and inviting others to participate in problem-solving. Behavioral science supports this, suggesting rough, dynamic visuals lower defenses and boost group creativity—everyone feels their input matters when the sketch is clearly a work in progress, not a finished piece.

Next time you’re at a meeting or explaining a tricky concept, resist the urge to make it pretty with digital tools. Grab a pen and sketch as you talk, letting your rough lines drive the point home. Then, pause and invite your colleagues to chime in or even add their own ideas directly to the drawing. Watch how the atmosphere shifts to one of shared discovery and laughter, opening space for honest feedback. Try it at your next team huddle or family brainstorm—see how much farther you get together.