I am Matt Orley, a professional graphic recorder. I provide live illustration and visual facilitation for association conferences, corporate offsites, and strategic planning roadmaps—capturing attendee attention, synthesizing complex topics, and creating a shared visual anchor that outlasts the event.
Slide fatigue is real and bullet points are quickly forgotten. To help your audience actually retain key insights, I bridge technical complexity and human memory, translating live talks and brainstorming loops into clear, hand-drawn panels.
Capture the core messages of keynotes and panels in real time. I draw visual summaries that attendees photograph, share on social media, and reference to justify registration ROI.
Keep your leadership team aligned. By mapping your brainstorms, roadmaps, and offsite strategy meetings live on paper, I help clarify direction and establish unified agreement.
Convert your booth walls into a live interactive board. Passersby answer key industry prompts, and I sketch their answers in real-time, creating massive booth foot traffic.
Use your mouse or finger to slide through some actual panels.
Event speaker posing with her illustration 
State Banking Association Conference drawings. 
Interactive attendee engagement question board drawn live 
Conference attendee photographing details of the meeting map 
Detailed snapshot of business operations roadmap illustration 
Agriculture and supply chain summit graphic recording board 
The Importance of Fishbone Diagrams 
Mental Health Sector Illustrations, Columbus OH 
Matt ready to be done with the photo shoot 
Panel Discussion Speakers proud of their conference session No more waiting days for post-event cleanups. Attendees and event staff get access to cleaned, high-contrast digital files in under a minute.
Through a proprietary multi-pass image processing pipeline, every photo is automatically straightened, cropped, shadow-corrected, and enhanced for maximum clarity.
Your logo & event branding are automatically attached to the bottom of every file!
Every booking includes standard premium deliverables and operational parameters.
Custom face stickers printed for major presenters to mark their respective board segments, helping their insights stand out visually.
I coordinate directly with you and your operations team, bring my own drawing tools, and maintain a zero-friction setup with a problem solving attitude.
A private, live Notion workspace tracking event checklists, agendas, shipping, and travel coordination from day one.
Pre-event terminology prep: I review your slides and industry acronyms beforehand to guarantee accurate, professional lettering.
Perpetual, non-revocable, infinite internal and external marketing and archival rights are fully granted for all drawings.
Durable 40x60 inch foam core boards that are easy to carry and display, creating a walk-up gallery anywhere in the venue.
Transparent pricing, space footprint parameters, and travel arrangements.
170+ events in—I've drawn in every room setup imaginable. Tight spaces, lackluster speakers or easel nightmares? I'll make it work.
Live synthesis demands premium, durable physical mediums. I don't draw on cheap butcher paper or curling banner rolls. I use heavy-duty, flat foam boards or modular panels designed to be displayed instantly without frame mounts.
40x60 panels neatly fit a one hour drawing pace.
Smart layout ensures attendees can follow the drawing process without distraction, or be surprised upon completion! Place me in the back of the room, off to the side, below front screens or up on stage. I am used to it all.
Flexible room layouts: Positioned on stage, next to screens, or at the back of the room depending on your preference for visibility vs. low distraction.
The value of the illustrations doesn't end when the session does. Instant Digital Assets mirror the physical medium. Expect up to 100sqft of drawings per day.
Raw Board Photo 
Cleaned Digital Asset Multi-pass scan workflow: physical boards are captured, straightened, and immediately hosted in a mobile-ready live gallery.
Planning a high-impact event requires flexibility. I provide clear baseline rates that scale with your project’s complexity, duration, and goals. All engagements include comprehensive pre-event prep, full-scale live illustration, and high-resolution digital processing.
Transparent cost breakdown. I keep my expenses and operational costs at a minimum to deliver the best service at the best price.
Live graphic recording is highly versatile. Here is a look at client sectors I regularly serve:
Real feedback from corporate leaders, board members, and association planners across the USA.
"Holy wow I love this Matt Orley!"
"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 themes, underlying energy, and emotions in the room... Simply put, Matt amplified the content I designed for the group...and made me look good!"
"You provided great value to IPEC 2022. The proof of that is the apparent new business you may have picked up as a result of your work on-site! There's no better testimonial to your value than having our attendees booking you... style: low-maintenance, self-reliant, easy-going, always professional."
"I've been creating events for 17 years and appreciate a self-sufficient talent. Matt was professional and asked great questions in preparation for the speaker sessions. He is the epitome of set him up for success and he will handle the rest. His in-person demeanor is very cordial where he moves silently but his creations are so impactful. A great addition!"
"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 and Big Paper Strategy elevated our conference from a typical conference to an elevated experience for our entire company worldwide. His ability to capture the key concepts and present them in a fun way accelerated the learning and knowledge sharing."
"Matt, you are so talented and we feel so honored to have your masterpiece be part of our People Experience Global narrative! This was such a creative way to bring our global meeting to life and balance our priority to keep things simple. Can't wait to work together again!"
"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 definitely adds value to the sessions, and we will work with Big Paper Strategy again!"
"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!"
Expert articles on visual facilitation, event planning logistics, and retention strategy.
December 31, 2025
Boost event ROI and attendee engagement with Live Illustration. Transform conferences content into visual narratives that prove event value.
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April 16, 2025
Illustrators, Poets, Calligraphers and Actors- Find out our top 11 artist types that you can hire for your tradeshow or conference.
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February 24, 2025
Client Conference content idea list: realize training, roundtables, and more—and discover how live illustration honors and inspires.
Read Article →Everything you need to know about day rates, booking, and on-site drawing logistics.
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 retreats, and a variety of industry-specific gatherings. I've drawn for as few as 10 people in a private boardroom, or as many as 8,000 in a convention center ballroom.
By Time: A full day includes up to six hours of live drawing over a 10-hour on-site window. A half-day includes up to 3 hours of drawing over a 4-hour window.
By Canvas Area: For conferences with fixed speaker schedules, I typically draw on up to six 40"x60" boards per day (about 100 sq ft). For highly interactive strategic planning sessions, the count may be 2 boards (about 33 sq ft), but with significantly higher detail. I can also draw on paper, constructed gallery walls, or whiteboards of any dimension.
I charge flat day rates, and occasionally half-day rates depending on flight logistics. Local rates are available within a 3-hour drive of Cleveland, OH. Travel, lodging, and drawing materials are accurately estimated upfront and billed separately. There are no hidden fees.
Increasingly, association, publisher, and non-profit events book my services and secure a corporate sponsor to fund it. This is a massive win-win: the event gets live visual synthesis, and the sponsor gets high-visibility logo placements directly on the drawing headers, or even a dedicated custom board. See our dedicated Sponsorship Page for copy templates, placement ideas, and sales sheets.
I have been accused of having a background in tribal law, healthcare, and even petroleum by attendees in those respective sectors! The truth is, I leverage my education in electrical engineering, years in corporate America, manufacturing sales, digital marketing, and advocacy. As a live illustrator, my experience supporting dozens of industries has made me an extreme generalist. I listen for systems, processes, and relationships, which allows me to map complex technical jargon into clean, logical mental models.
I pride myself on being the lowest-maintenance vendor on your planner sheet. I am highly communicative, self-reliant, and provide a digital Notion project portal to keep checklists and shipping logistics clear from day one. I'm also highly adaptable, accustomed to turning on a dime if speakers change direction, sessions run late, or materials go missing. As David Blansfield of Northstar Meetings Group wrote: 'Your style – low-maintenance, self-reliant, easy-going, always professional – is doubly appreciated. You meshed really well with our team.'
Once you share event dates, times, and location, I'll return a visual quote. With your approval, we sign a simple Statement of Work and invoice a 50% retainer (we accept credit cards with a 2% processing adder). From there, you get a customized digital checklist. We'll handle ordering materials (like foam core boards) directly to the venue and ask you to coordinate 2-3 standard easels and a highboy table. That's it! Check out my What to Expect page for a full planner kit.