Live Illustration Makes your Event Content Entertaining, Memorable & Sticky
Live Illustrator Matt Orley brings your content to life in real-time on big paper boards- creating additional attendee engagements throughout an event.


- Engage Visual-Learning Attendees
- Live Illustration In-Room Complements Speakers
- Words Live Beyond the Moments they are Spoken
- Attendees SeeYour Event as Fresh and Innovative
for...
- Association Conferences
- Strategy Meetings
- Sales Meetings
- User Conferences

Live Illustration Brings Dimension to Linear Content
Yawning Attendees are Unhappy. Not all speakers for conferences and meetings can engage with an audience. Speakers can drone on and on, come unprepared, speak in monotone, or rattle off content that "could have been an email".
Clock-watchers, bathroom-breakers, and email-checkers seems to groan in unison because of the lack of stimulation at a conference session. Human beings aren't made to sit and listen for hours.
Big Paper Strategy's Matt Orley adds a real-time visual and active element to keynote, plenary, and meeting formats by taking large format sketchnotes for your attendees.
Benefits of Hiring Big Paper Strategy for your Event
Attendees Interact with Event Content
Extending the life of your event's content effectively extends the life of your conference- and makes it memorable for next year's attendance.
Your Guests are Entertained
Illustrating live in a room in tandem with your speaker gives attendees another component of your event to look at.
Social Media Sharing goes up!
Faces, food, and Event Functions are great FOMO fodder for social media- but only live illustrations help tell your conference's educational story.
Some of Our Live Illustration Clients!

Talking about Big Paper Strategy

"You were tremendous this week, man! Please consider MCCA among your fans.
There were a lot of consistent comments about the quality of the venue and whatnot, but the most consistent thing I heard was compliments on your work and what you contributed to the convention.
We'd love to book you for next year's convention..."

"So some exciting news for you… our Executive Leadership Team, specifically our CEO, was so impressed by this art piece that he wants posters made to put in ELT offices and other M Health Fairview venues to remind us of our ongoing work and connection to the community. How awesome!!"

"...We were looking to add major BUZZ and WOW factors for members to enjoy, and Matt delivered! Our attendees were fascinated by his process, giving him and the resulting illustrations major kudos.
...Matt adds a critical layer to the learning process and knowledge retention.
We can't wait to have him back!"

See more customer comments on the bottom of our Live Illustration page and our Google Business profile.
Dear Live Illustrator, What do I get when I Hire you?
- Real-Time Drawing: Immediate output for your audience
- Color Usage: Utilizes colors to highlight key points
- Iconography: Employs universally-recognizable symbols
- Visual Mapping: Creates diagrammatic representation of ideas
- Text Incorporation: Includes key phrases or quotes
- Graphic Metaphors: Conveys abstract ideas through images
- Sketchnoting: Combines handwriting with drawings
- A Keen Intellect (I'm not bragging, this matters)
- Multitasking Capability- Listening while distilling while drawing
- World Class Spelling
- Layering and connections: Depth to express complex ideas
- Showcases interconnected ideas
- Easy to work with and self-reliant - no babysitting needed
- Experience with scores of events and meetings of many sizes
- Research and Review prior to your event as applicable
- Onboarding web portal for onboarding, logistics checklists, and setup
- Headshot Stickers for major speakers
- Colored ink on white foam core boards, or White Ink on Black
- Canvas Sizes: 30"x40", 40"x60", and 48"x96"
- Customer-supplied unique materials
- Any size canvas is possible with a big enough wall
- Live Interaction: Glad to interact with your speakers IF they choose
- Audience Engagement - Listening Wall options
- Typical drawing speed: 16sqft/content-hour
- Creation of an artwalk when multiple boards are illustrated
- All content photographed
- Digital Enhancement: Post-production modifications included
- Sponsor Friendly - Visit our Sponsor Page
Answers to Common Questions
I illustrate association conferences, publishers conferences, user conferences for software companies, national sales meetings, CEO retirement events, strategic planning sessions, consumer panels, virtual events, brainstorming and creative events, and a variety of industry-specific gatherings.
I've drawn for as few as 10 people, or as many as 1800 within a single venue.
I have two answers to this question:
Time: A full day is up to six hours of drawing over 9 hours, and a half day is 3 hours of drawing across four hours. Virtual events have slightly smaller hour counts.
Square feet: For conferences with a fixed schedule of speakers, I may draw on six 40" x 60" boards in one day- or about 100 square feet per day. For events like strategic planning sessions that rely heavily on attendee engagement, the count may be only 2 boards, totaling roughly 33 sqft - these are often much more detailed. I can also draw on paper, constructed walls, and whiteboards - with any number of dimensions.
I charge by the day, and occasionally by the half day depending on flight logistic options. Local rates available within a couple of hours of my Cleveland area zip code.
Travel, lodging, and materials are accurately estimated up front, and charged separately.
Virtual events are charged by the hour. See the virtual event calculator at the bottom of the virtual event page.
At your request, you will receive a quote that outlines my services that looks like the below (2023 version). This style of quote is helpful to share with your decision-makers.
Increasingly, association, publisher, and non-profit events are booking my services and finding corporate sponsors for my services.
See the Big Paper Strategy Sponsor Page
This win-win situation benefits the event at large, and the sponsor benefits from the visibility in a variety of ways.
I have been accused of having a background in tribal law, healthcare, and even petroleum by people in those respective sectors.
The truth is I leverage my education in engineering, my years in corporate America, my years visiting manufacturers across the nation, and my decade supporting those in the fight against human trafficking. As a live illustrator, my experience supporting dozens of industries in a wide range of sectors, government levels, NGOs, and across the humanities have given me the most general of generalists' backgrounds.
I pride myself on being easy to work with. David Blansfield of Northstar Meetings Group had this to say about me after a 2022 event:
Moreover, I know we all agree that your style – low-maintenance, self-reliant, easy-going, always professional – is doubly appreciated. You meshed really well with our team and our value proposition, which is very important to us!
I am highly communicative with published logistics checklists up to the days of your event.
I am also experienced in turning on a dime to make sure my services are best received (examples: having paper boards stolen and deciding to use the backs of the other day boards, having a speaker start in her promised direction, and turn 90 degrees in another direction, delays, abruptly short talks)
You made him look good. - Attendee upon hearing an unprepared/ lackluster keynote speaker.
When you provide dates for an event, I'll return to you a visual quote that outlines my costs. With your approval, this is followed by an agreement for signature and setting myself up as a vendor within your organization for a 50% down payment invoice. I will accept credit cards as a form of payment - with a 3% adder.
Expect a customized digital checklist for your project. This will include line items for travel clarity, content evaluation, material procurement & sources, any sponsorship discussions, and basic equipment (easels).
Check out my What To Expect page for more information.
Detailed Visual Quotes are Fun to Review
Ask for one today!
Big Paper Strategy LLC
175 Kendall Park Road, Peninsula
5.0 12 reviews
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Jaime Ellis ★★★★★ a week ago
I recently facilitated a 2-day off-site with Matt as the illustrator. As an executive coach, I have designed and attended many events over the years. I’ve not seen someone able to observe, process, and depict the nuance of deep conversations as quickly and thoroughly as Matt did. It truly felt like he didn't miss a beat the entire event. His illustrations went beyond spoken words, capturing larger … More themes, underlying energy, and emotions in the room. They became a powerful medium through which our participants could revisit and reflect upon, sparking curiosity and engagement during and after the event.
My job as a coach is to create meaningful experiences for my clients, and he played a big role in achieving that. Simply put, Matt amplified the content I designed for the group...and made me look good! I look forward to working with him again in the future. -
Caitlin Shaw ★★★★★ 4 months ago
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Matt brought a unique, engaging, and memorable experience to our company's first annual Summit. He was flexible and professional to work with, and did an impressive amount of research and prep work prior to arriving at our meetings. His illustrations perfectly captured each of our sessions over the two-day Summit, and we’re ecstatic to have them to look back on. If you're … More on the fence, JUST DO IT!! -
Taryn Struck ★★★★★ 4 months ago
Matt was absolutely wonderful to work! Not only is he the nicest guy in the world, but he has this amazing talent to listen and illustrate collective ideas in such a fun and approachable way. We look forward to working with him again in the future! -
Clark Langlois ★★★★★ 6 months ago
We contacted Matt on short notice to join an event with internal and external partners. He never missed a beat! From learning fast in the few days leading up to the event to being the star of the show throughout our meetings, it was a A+ experience working with him and he left us great illustrations that will help us tell the story of the event. I would highly recommend working with him for any event! … More -
Scott Hack ★★★★★ 8 months ago
This review is long overdue. Matt knocked it out of the park for the real estate conference that my wife and I host. He is extremely talented and creates bold visuals that engage with the audience. The drawings also get amplified on social media almost immediately because they are so amazing, easily sharable, and honestly... fun. Do not hesitate in bringing Matt to your event. You certainly won't … More regret it. -
Rachel Connor ★★★★★ 11 months ago
Being in the business of educating people, you are always looking for ways to bring the information, the lecture, the presentation to life for the learner. Matt with Big Paper Strategy does just that! His work appeals to the visual learner, the distracted learner, the dedicated learner...all of which want to be able to look back and remember what was taught. Highly recommend Matt! -
Kim Weis Laugherty ★★★★★ a year ago
I cannot say enough about the level of enthusiasm and creativity Matt brought to our Annual Conference! With this being our first in-person Annual Conference in 3 years, we were looking to add major BUZZ and WOW factors for members to enjoy, and Matt delivered! Our attendees were fascinated by his process, giving him and the resulting illustrations major kudos. They could also envision the applicability … More of his work to strategic planning, process mapping, and other endeavors in their school districts.
By illustrating the education session disussions, the key points, and major takeaways, Matt adds a critical layer to the learning process and knowledge retention.
We can't wait to have him back! -
Nancy Bruce ★★★★★ a year ago
Matt, you are so talented and we feel so honored to have your masterpiece be part of our People Experience, Global Talent Solutions narrative! We have been overwhelmed with compliments from the department! This was such a creative way to bring our global, virtual meeting to life and balance our priority to keep things simple. Can't wait to work together again! 😎 -
Priscilla Gandy ★★★★★ a year ago
Matt with Big Paper Strategy has been an incredible extension of our team in ensuring our events are creative, fun, and engaging! Whether virtual or in-person, Matt's graphic illustrations have allowed us to level-up attendee engagement - so much to the point that we've sent his graphic illustrations to attendees as event mementos! I highly recommend Matt with Big Paper Strategy! -
Alyssa Molinari ★★★★★ a year ago
We thought we were hiring Big Paper Strategy's Matt Orley to record the RESULTS of our Board of Director's Strategic Planning session, but instead he captured the entire process in real-time and provided an outstanding visual that clarified our conversation and direction throughout! Our leadership couldn't have been more pleased. Matt is extremely easy to work with and truly brings … More life to our events. We just signed another contract with Matt to illustrate our upcoming Conference and we can't wait to see what he brings to the table! -
Ohio Society of Association Professionals ★★★★★ a year ago
It was a pleasure to work with Matt and Big Paper Strategy at our annual conference. Highlighting the words and ideas of our keynote speakers, as they were presenting, was an awesome enhancement to the sessions. Attendees enjoyed it, and the speakers did, as well! Matt has such energy, creativity and talent. He definitely adds value to the sessions, and we will work with Big Paper Strategy again!