#27 Posters Round the Clock, Coaching and a Summer Party Chat
Weeknotes — Monday 19 January – Sunday 25 January 2026
Summary of the week
This week was dominated by posters. And I mean dominated. Alongside that a coaching session with Paula, a new brand connection, and a fun conversation about a summer party.
Dot and Dash
Posters for Natural England were the main thing this week. With 18 posters to create, using a standard template. Working round the clock is not an exaggeration. I have estimated I need to do a couple of weeks with around 20 hours a day on it, based on the number of iterations on each poster. I need to get ahead with it by the deadline, otherwise it won't get to the printers on time. One piece of client illustration work got pushed later, and this had the overlapping consequence of doing two lots of illustration work together. Note to self: build in a bigger buffer!
Had a workshop meeting with Alice, in which we are running a session with a large group in the conference. The planning work behind a good workshop is often invisible to participants, but it is where the quality gets made. We had to get slido set up as there are lots of people in the session and data points we need to capture.
Had a chat with a potential client who is looking for a team event that is fun and different. We have been in conversations before, but their budget is tight, and something I can't move on is my rate, as it's my income, and something I cannot budge on given the large capacity of the group it will require a co facilitator and extra materials.
New mini facilitation event which I have been helping out with, sketchnoted some things and a running order
IAF and Conference
Pre-meetings with PK ahead of the IAF core volunteer sessions. It is always useful to align before having bigger conversations with the team. We have a variety of roles and tasks defined out, so this should be easier for volunteers to get started from and figure out areas that they are interested in.
Had a mini-chat with Paul, the chair, in a getting to know you conversation. I really liked this, as we often turn up for leadership meetings, but we haven't had a proper chance to actually find out more about each other outside of IAF. It was nice, and I honestly love doing this at work, going beyond the transactional to the human behind the work.
Coaching
Coaching with Paula this week. I always come out of those sessions with more clarity than I went into them. Highly recommend having a coach. I've achieved far more with it than I would have without it. Over the last six years, I've worked with approximately four coaches: three for dyslexia, one for public speaking, and one for business. I am a firm believer in it now; I never used to be, as I thought it was very fancy and not really necessary. But I have pushed myself to be better and learnt more about myself, the world I operate in and what things I deeply value, and it's helped me navigate difficult times with an alternative mindset.
App Development
Competitor research, the pace where things are being developed is going so fast. With prototyping tools you can use with no design knowledge, with no coding tools again with no knowledge, I have been dabbling in Bubble, Base 44 and Loveable, it's limited though, as I often run out of credits fast. It's incredible what you can produce, but it doesn't capture the human element of knowing all the effective methods and how they fit into the complete process from start to finish.
I wonder... how coaching could be a skill that is used early in your career or life would shape what you become?
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