Due to a previous commitment and the absurdly early third Monday this month, I've moved the next Idea Market back to the 22nd of October.  The last several Idea Markets have been very activity-based, and though I'll have a few new activities this time around, I want to make sure to have plenty of "Innovation Time" for members to work with each other.  If you've got something you want to present (using this format, perhaps?) or submit to the group for help, please let me know in advance.  Thanks.

How would your next presentation go if you only had twenty slides and could show each one for "only" twenty seconds (for a total of 6 minutes 40 seconds?  A format embracing these very constraints is called Pecha Kucha, and was started by two architects in Tokyo as part of a designers' show and tell.  It seems like a natural fit for an Idea Market, as a replacement for a panel presentation, or any time a lot of presenters have something to say.

I'm doing a very short speech (nine minutes) on innovation in two days, and am going to give this presentation format a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.  In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more, check out several examples on You Tube, or this recent Wired magazine article.  If you are in the St. Louis area and want to have a Pecha Kucha night, let me know.

I’m pleased to be hosting an Idea Market for the International Association of Business Communicators on August 30th.  Details are here, if you’d like to come.

At tonight’s Idea Market, we are going to do something I’ve tried before, but with a few twists.  It is an Icebreaker Icebreaker.  It works like this:

The room is divided into groups of 4-6 people.  Each group is given 20 minutes to “invent” a new icebreaker exercise.  The “icebreaker” must be easy to explain, it must take ten minutes or less from start to finish, it must introduce everyone in a similarly sized group to one another, and it must be completely new.

After each group develops their icebreaker (and experiments with it on themselves), they pair up with a second group and each group uses their icebreaker exercise to meet the people in the other group.

Finally, depending on the number of people in the room, each team can describe their icebreaker to the rest of the group. 

 

Sorry for the radio silence.  The next Idea Market takes place August 20th at the Art of Living Building.  There are more details here.  I’ve also got some more Idea Market news coming tomorrow!

I’m going to be in Boise, Idaho next Friday to speak on innovation to a group of Idaho lawyers.  While I’m there, I’m going to be hosting an Idea Market with Steve Nipper and Tac Anderson for a group of entrepreneurs and technology folks.  Here are the details from Steve’s Blog:

I’m thrilled to announce the Boise Idea Market. It is something I’m putting together with Tac Anderson (TechBoise) and Matt Homann (http://www.realBIGthinking.com). I’m really looking forward to it.

What is an Idea Market™? Think brainstorming + collaboration + networking + happy hour. The brain child of innovation consultant, retreat facilitator and conference planner Matt Homann, an Idea Market is part think tank, part focus group and part social club. At the Idea Market, attendees bring their business challenges, questions and (of course) ideas, and share them with some of the most creative and generous people in the community as they participate in fun exercises designed to cram the most innovation into a two-hour collaborative experience.

Who Should Come: If you are a blogger, entrepreneur, speaker, consultant, designer, webmaster, writer, artist, salesperson, or technologist, you’ll enjoy the Boise Idea Market. We only ask that you be passionate about sharing ideas and helping others. Everything else will take care of itself.

When: Friday, June 8, 2007 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Where: Louie’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant, 620 W Idaho St, Boise, ID 83702-5930

Cost: $10.00 (to cover pizza & soda & tip)

How To Attend: We’ll have room for around 35 people for the Idea Market. We’ll use Renkoo to handle the invite process. Email me (snipper@gmail.com) and I’ll send you an invite.

 

Want to get your group outside of the box?  Begin by asking them to fill one.  Host a creativity kit scavenger hunt.  Here's how:

1. Divide a group into teams of 3-5.
2. Give each group $50-100 and a big cardboard box.
3. Send each team to a different store.  Possibilities include a book store, hardware store, art store, office supply store, thrift shop and toy store.
4. Require each team to spend their money, to the penny, on items that answer certain questions like, "What would inspire you to think about something new?" and "What item has a unique texture, shape, etc?" or other similar questions.
5. When they return with their "creativity kits," have each team explain to the others why their items fit the questions they were given.
6. Next, the teams exchange their kits with one another and work on some sort of brainstorming challenge, using the kit they've just received.

Keep the boxes around the office and pull them out when you need a creativity boost.

Here are the results from the Idea Market's "Connection Wall" I wrote about Monday.  Everyone drew themselves and we taped their "self-portraits" on the wall.  After every exercise, folks went to the wall and drew lines between themselves and their new connection, along with a word or two describing that person.  Look closely and you'll see some pretty interesting descriptions.  The nametags on the pictures come from this exercise.
..

Riffing a bit off the Innovational Speaker post from last week, I'm going to introduce an exercise at tonight's Idea Market titled:  "What do you REALLY do?"  Here's how it will work:

Everybody will get a name tag and break up into groups of 2-4.  After having a brief "what do you do?" conversation with their partners, everybody must come up with a job title/description that really describes their profession/career/occupation AND that nobody has ever used before.  In lieu of their names, they'll write their new title on the tag and wear it for the rest of the evening.  The descriptions could be nearly anything, but I'm hoping for ones that are more fun than serious.  Just one example:  Divorce Lawyer = Unhappy Spouse Freedom Facilitator.

My seventh Idea Market (link to Meetup site) happens tonight, April 16th, at 6:00 pm at Lucas School House.  I'm going to be trying out a new networking/relationship-building activity that I'm really excited about, and we are going to figuring out ways to make the Gateway Arch blue for Autism awareness.  I hope to see you there!