Slides are great for structure, but they’re fixed. When you draw or annotate live on screen, you think with your audience—and that makes a big difference for learning and engagement.
Slides vs. live drawing
Slides are prepared in advance. Everyone sees the same thing at the same time. That’s useful, but it can feel one-way. Live drawing is different: you build the picture step by step. People follow your hand and your reasoning, which helps them understand and remember.
Why it works
- Pacing. You slow down to draw. That pace is closer to how people actually learn.
- Focus. One idea appears at a time instead of a busy slide.
- Clarity. Arrows, circles, and underlines make relationships between ideas obvious.
- Presence. You’re doing something in the moment, which feels more personal than clicking through slides.
When to use it
Use live drawing when you’re explaining a process, comparing options, or solving a problem. Use slides when you need dense reference material, exact wording, or a strict agenda. Many sessions work best with both: slides for framework, drawing for explanation.
Getting started
You don’t need to be an artist. Simple shapes, arrows, and short labels are enough. The goal is to think out loud on screen, not to create perfect graphics. With a tool that lets you draw on top of your screen or app, you can annotate anything—browser, code, document—without switching context.
Try adding one "drawing moment" to your next session and see how your audience responds.