NOVA Scribes

In this first of our new workshop series, Practitioner Process Talks, acclaimed visual scribe, Ashanti Gardner will give us an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at her creative process. Whether you're a visual practitioner, facilitator, educator, or just curious about the world of graphic recording, this session offers a rare opportunity to learn from one of the field’s superstars.

Ashanti will walk us through her end-to-end workflow, beginning with how she meets with clients to understand their goals and message. From there, she’ll share how she prepares, develops layout frameworks, and selects colors and objects to guide the viewer’s eye. She’ll break down how she composes a chart—from synthesizing complex content to choosing the right mix of lettering styles and illustration techniques. Along the way, Ashanti will share tips for staying present and responsive in fast-paced, real-time sessions.

You’ll learn how to:

• Structure a chart with clarity and flow
• Choose palettes and lettering styles that elevate your message
• Use Adobe Fresco tools for digital scribing
• Balance preparation with flexibility in a live setting
• Translate client conversations into powerful visual frameworks

Whether you're new to digital scribing or ready to refine your technique, this webinar is packed with practical insights and creative inspiration to take your work to the next level. We hope to see you!

Ashanti Gardner is the founder of The Social Art Complex, formerly Visual Scribe at Work since 2019. Ashanti is a traveling visual practitioner and artist based in the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area, and she holds certifications in KMI knowledge management, LUMA design thinking, and IDEO creative leadership. Ashanti is also a proud member of the International Forum of Visual Practitioners.

Dialogic Facilitation – Creating Space for Deep Listening and Relationship Repair

In the midst of polarized discourse and fractured relationships, dialogic facilitation offers a different path. The goal isn't agreement, but understanding. In this NOVA Scribes workshop, we’ll explore facilitation techniques grounded in the principles of dialogue: suspending judgment, listening deeply, surfacing assumptions, and creating space for reflection and inquiry.

Drawing from resources like Holding Change, Not Light, but Fire by Matthew R. Kay, Resetting the Table, and the Sustained Dialogue Institute Handbook, this workshop centers facilitation as a relational, transformative practice. Dialogic facilitation does not steer participants toward consensus or outcomes; it prioritizes the quality of the interaction encouraging moments of mutual recognition, clarity, and healing.

You’ll learn how to:

• Design and facilitate LifeMaps: influential moments of time
• Create psychological safety for vulnerability and truth-telling
• Intervene skillfully to foster depth, clarity, and connection
• Support groups in slowing down and moving from positions to values
• Apply frameworks from Sustained Dialogue and Resetting the Table to your own contexts

Whether you're facilitating community dialogues, conflict transformation, or simply seeking to strengthen the connective tissue in your work, this workshop will deepen your capacity to hold space for what matters most: people seeing and hearing one another.

Who this is for:
Facilitators, mediators, educators, organizers, coaches, and anyone committed to relationship-centered group process.

Wendy Low has made a career out of bridging differences by facilitating discussions, coaching, and designing curriculum that encourages engagement with topics that most people run away from. She helps people communicate better by transforming the invisible into moments of clarity. She believes in the power of diverse perspectives and the energetic engagement of differences to create a more connected, pluralistic, and productive society.