Change, and strategy, and creativity – another take
29 July 2014I love this! Change as creating. Did I mention how much I love this? Congratulations to Karen Dawson, Julie Huffaker, Ian Prinsloo, Sarah Moyle, Andrea Grant and Leonardo Spinedi, and Laila Woozeer. Lucky people to have had the opportunity to work and play with each other and at the fabulous Banff Center in Canada. Jealous?…
The games we play
10 July 2014It’s no secret that I’m a fan of games, play and movement. Recently I attended a MASHLM Humanitarian Summer School in Lugana, Switzerland. It was three days exploring games for humanitarian and development work led by Pablo Saurez from the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre and Eric Gordon from the Harvard University Engagement Game Lab.…
Bringing a festival mindset to conferences
26 March 2014It seems that conferences are as popular as ever. Yet many of them are stuck in some kind of conference void, wherever any innovation or creativity is talked about rather than enacted. Why do gamification / improvisation / creativity conferences and events, mostly, not use the principles they espouse for others in their own event design?…
But what would you do instead?
19 February 2014That hoary (yes, I like to use archaic words sometimes, it sets the scene for the post I’m writing) old saying (and yes, I know hoary and old mean the same thing and so this is a tautology – it’s about emphasis) , “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is often used as an…
How to be more creative
3 October 2013My late mentor, Brian Bainbridge, used to laugh at the ridiculousness (is that even a word?) of deciding to be creative. He’d tap his watch and say “I’m going to have a creative thought at precisely 12 minutes past four.” Then he’d reach for a glass of red wine and bemoan the state of the…
Courage and vulnerability
2 March 2013Artists perform. They live for their art, whatever that may be. I’m learning more and more about my art – connecting people and ideas aka facilitating – from other artists. This week I offered a workshop on Creative Facilitation. There were people in the room who had known me a long time, others who I met…
Courageous conversations
18 February 2013Sometimes I’m asked how I know about various facilitation approaches, how I know what to do, and what not to do, that sort of thing. One of the ways is to put myself in the shoes of a participant and notice my own reactions, and also learn from the others I’m with. I’ve signed up…
A surefire way to solve problems
12 October 2012I now have a tried and true formula for solving problems. I’ve tested it many times and it ALWAYS works. Most recently was yesterday. I was struggling with some work and finding a way to breakthrough. I was planted in front of my computer and I was frustrated and grumpy. Talking about it (complaining if…
Wish I’d thought of that!
7 September 2012Doesn’t really matter what it is, when I see something I really like, a great idea, a new use for something, I invariably wish I’d thought of that. I do understand that most good ideas are crowd sourced, or group generated – Keith Sawyer did a great job in his book Group Genius in debunking…
Capturing the essence of improv
22 July 2012This is a fantastic summary of highlights and insights from AIN Downunder: Thriving In Uncertainty from April Seymore.