Juice on the Loose

February 2004

I attended "Juice on the Loose" last Tuesday, February 10 - a to-be quarterly event put on by the new Chicago chapter of the Creative Education Foundation.

I found out about this event through the Fast Company local group, named Company of Friends (Fast Company is a magazine about modern business practices). The event was held at Catalyst Ranch, a new space at 656 W. Randolph. The space is interesting as its set up to be a meeting area that should direct people towards creativity (the rooms are themed, with roll-around carts of "junk," a la Ideo, and the chairs are various items picked up from yard sales (that's what it looks like:-)). The meeting was basically:

1. 30 minutes of networking
2. 10 minutes of introduction
3. 30 minutes of a session
   I attended CIA Recruit, presented by Scott Buchanan of Super Group. Scott revealed techniques to introduce creative thinking into your
   culture in a non-intrusive way -- it's called Stealth Creativity -- sneak creativity in under the radar and help your organization get results. Spice
   up boring meetings along the way.
   
   I really enjoyed this. We brainstormed on techniques to subtly inject creativity into situations where creativity seems lacking. We discussed some types of creativity-killers in meetings and ways to move past them. We then tried out three techniques on the problem, "what to buy for Valentine's Day." Here are the other notes from this session.
4. 20 minutes for networking
5. 30 minutes of a session
   I attended Heartful Planning; project plans get done when people care and the best plans don't if there is no heart for them. Alexis Driscoll presented in a simple bottom-up technique that identifies where the drive is, which enables better planning and outcomes.
   
   This one disappointed me; the technique could have been explained and demonstrated faster, and more could have been covered. It was just a peel-back-the-onion approach to finding core interests in an area. This technique would be useful when you're not sure what the core efforts
   should be. However, that said, I did end up using this technique the next day in a staff meeting with some success.
6. 20 minutes for networking
7. 30 minutes of a session
   I attended Just Plug 'Em In: Improv-Inspired Exercises to Meet Specific Group Challenges; Brendan Sullivan suggested interactive exercises that you can add to your group work, enhancing what you are already doing. Need an icebreaker? A stress reliever? A brainstorming spark? Challenges with presentation or listening skills? Brendan helps bring improv into the boardroom.
   
   This session was also quite good. We selected two things we would want to do (icebreaker, stress reliever), and then learned one technique in each area based on improvisation techniques. This has sparked some personal ideas - I used to be in jazz and prog rock groups and improvisation was "where it was at" for us. This session helped remind me how important improvisation concepts are to what we do. I will try to make some time to dust off a book on my shelf at home on music improvisation and type up some of the key concepts we might want to bring to the teams.
   
   For icebreaker, we did people who. In this skit, you have n people and n-1 chairs. The person standing must begin a phrase with "people who..." and complete it with something that applies to themselves. The person standing and each person in the group for which the statement is also true must take new seats, leaving (hopefully) a new person standing. You keep doing this until everyone in the group is feeling a
   bit more comfortable together.
   
   For stress reliever, we did newscast. Start by finding out details about what's stressing out a member of the team, and then assigning other members to be parts of a virtual news cast (anchor, sports caster, weather person, etc.). The anchor passes the virtual mike around to the news casters, who then each do a story about the stressful situation of the person in question. It should be fun, and it should be funny. This results in the person understanding that their peers care and have some empathy with their situation, thus helping them feel a bit better.
8. 10 minutes for closing and a raffle

It was pretty useful, although the networking was too long for me. I believe I was the only person there from a "traditional" line of business - everyone was from innovation studios, design ranches, etc. And, I'll try to attend the next one.

Send email to Bob at electricbob@alephnaught.com
Send email to Aviva at avivakramer@earthlink.net

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