Archive for the ‘Community Chatter’ Category

Bar Camp Tampa Bay: Learning for learning’s sake

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

By: Megan Hendricks
Editor, the BUZZ
Executive Director, MBA Career Services Council

In its third year, Bar Camp Tampa Bay’s new media day was once again a success. In 2009 and 2010 I hosted the event at USF, which made me an automatic volunteer/planner.  This year, I helped out for different reasons: I like the people who organize it, I think it’s the kind of event Tampa Bay needs in order to achieve its potential as a region, and I attended because of the learning opportunities.

The event is completely free for attendees; paid for by the generosity of its sponsors. The organizers put hours and hours into planning the event, starting months beforehand. They all do it just for the sake of doing it. Attendees receive free coffee, drinks, lunch and not to mention the drinks and food at the half party on Saturday night. This means you can attend, eat and learn for absolutely nothing.

What exactly is Bar Camp? It’s an ad-hoc conference with networking, learning, sharing and knowledge. People show up in the morning and sign up on large post-it notes if they want to speak. If you want to hear them talk, you show up in their room at the designated time. If you don’t like what they’re saying, you are free to leave.

I was only able to attend for part of new media day, but what I did attend was tremendously beneficial. I learned things I’m going to directly and immediately apply to my job. Here are a few nuggets:

  • On the topic of customer loyalty and word of mouth marketing, Freshbooks shared that one of their customers tweeted that they were stood up for a date. The company sent the customer flowers with a note stating “we would never stand you up.” Their advice: do something extraordinary to make it almost impossible for customers not to love you. In the same session, Grasshopper shared that they sent 25,000 chocolate covered grasshoppers to 5,000 of the most influential people in America. Read about it here: http://grasshopper.com/5000
  • In his talk about working for yourself, Peter Radizeski of Rad Info, inc. suggested using an egg timer set at 15 minute intervals to keep yourself from wasting too much time playing on the Internet. One guy in the audience said that was the best advice he had heard all day.
  • Kevin Hale from Wufoo presented on how to run a startup like Genghis Khan. His advice: work like a nomad – be mobile, efficient, and always look for a new market. Focus on resourcefulness, not resources.

35 presentations and 175 people made for a lot of networking and learning at new media day. Did I mention this event is FREE? A big thank you to the organizers and sponsors for making it happen. I hope it continues to grow.

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If you had 5 minutes to teach creative thinking skills…

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

by: Nathan Schwagler
Creativity Researcher/Practitioner

The Creativity & Innovation experts at New and Improved LLC, Blair Miller and Associates, and Innovation Resources Inc., recently produced and presented a joint paper at an international research conference co-hosted by the Creativity and Innovation Management Journal and the International Center for Studies in Creativity at SUNY Buffalo State. The paper addressed the question, “If you only had 5 minutes to teach people creative thinking skills, what would you teach?” According to the experts, this question can be answered with four key concepts, and packing them in your lunchbox tomorrow could win you great favor with the boss. If you happen to be the boss already, congratulations — these principles may help you stay there!

1. Phrase problems as questions. What’s the difference between a “problem,” and an opportunity? Phrasing. Psychologists have known this for a long time. Think of this as the Jeopardy model (the popular game show requires respondents to phrase each of their responses as a question). This technique can be particularly effective in cross-functional teams; especially those who tend to speak their own departmental language.

The practice of phrasing problems as questions tends to create a community of problem-solvers, as opposed to observers of the unpleasant obvious (aka complainers). Although it may seem like a parlor trick for the armchair semanticist, a properly phrased problem lends itself to solution finding whereas traditionally stated problems often contribute to various levels of emotional hijacking – certainly not the frame of mind effective problem solvers thrive in.

Several decades ago, Dr. Sidney J. Parnes, a pioneer in the creative thinking field, suggested that an “invitational stem” be used on the front end of these newly phrased problems. Here are some commonly used invitational stems: How to; How might we; What might be all the ways to; etc.

For example, imagine the coffee machine in your office has just broken. Instead of saying: “but we don’t have room in the budget for a new coffee maker” try, “what might be all the ways to obtain a working coffee maker?” Note: the first option focuses on the fact that there are not funds available to purchase a coffee maker. The second option presents an opportunity to generate novel solutions toward satisfying the underlying issue. Though conceptually similar, in the heat of the moment, these two options will elicit very different responses.

2. To get good ideas, generate a lot of ideas. Seems straightforward, right? Here’s what usually happens. Under the pressure of looming deadlines and limited resources, little or no direct attention is ever paid to the deliberate generation of ideas. The business world often rewards first movers; however, despite an incentive structure geared toward implementation, there is certainly something to be said for making sure you are moving in the right direction! No matter how you slice it, driving home a bad idea… is a bad idea.

The initial solutions people come up with when faced with a challenge are generally lackluster compared to the ones that will follow if people are pushed to produce more. In fact, more often than not, it is essential to get the first thirty or so ideas out of the way before predominantly novel and useful alternatives are generated.

As you think about the ways in which you can apply this, make sure that you are not judging or evaluating the quality of these ideas while you are trying to produce them. Think of driving with one foot on the gas and one on the brake! Essentially, that’s what happening when the two processes (idea generation and idea evaluation) are attempted simultaneously. Don’t do it. Repeat after me, “I will not judge ideas while I am trying to produce them.”

3. Evaluate ideas positively with praise first. So now that you are skilled at generating lots of ideas, how will you determine which ones are worthy of further investment? Affirmative judgment is a great start. Treat each idea like you would a person: with inherent respect for simply “being.” Once the idea has been acknowledged, explore the positive attributes of the idea for value, and be sure to collect (and document) them all.

Once the strengths have been identified, move into the realm of possibility. Consider the ripple effects of this idea as if it has been implemented. Remember the ‘invitational stems’ that were mentioned in section 1? Start these possibility phrases with: “It might.” This will provide you with a more robust projection of its potential impact.

Only after the positives and the potentials of an idea have been assessed is it appropriate to move into the concerns that you have. It will be absolutely essential that each concern be phrased as a question (see section 1). If not, it will be difficult to move forward (especially if working in groups, as the process tends to break down and the unhealthy version of debate takes over).

Now that the positives, potentials, and concerns have been stated, it is time to identify the “deal breakers”– the concerns that, if not overcome, will keep an idea from going forward. This technique is a game changer, and although it can be more energy intense than the rapid evaluation process that we are naturally accustomed to, it facilitates the authentic exploration of ideas for value and contributes to the bottom line.

4. Take personal responsibility for your creativity. Learning these principles to enhance your creative output is not enough to bring about creative change. When it comes time to implement these techniques you will face legitimate obstacles and it will be much easier to resort to your ingrained habits, settling for something ‘good enough.”

Transitioning from understanding to adoption will require you to review the principles early and often and will require a significant investment on your part to internalize the learning. Unfortunately, supportive environments for experimentation will, more often than not, be in short supply. Therefore, it will be essential that you take a “trial and learn” approach to your development. The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work; and nothing less should be expected in the business world.

So why creativity, and why now? You’ve got enough to worry about already right? Think again. Or, imagine a scenario in which you have forgotten the four keys to creativity training and your competition is following up on them tomorrow at 8:30am. Your imagination did not expire as you left fourth grade; it just feels that way sometimes… If you don’t believe me, check out this great TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson.

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Posted in Community Chatter, Creatives Speak Up, News, Newsletter | 4 Comments »

Creative Cities Summit 3.0

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

On April 7-9, 2010 Lexington, Kentucky will host the Creative Cities Summit, building on the legacy started here in Tampa Bay in 2004 and continued in Detroit in 2008.  The conference has evolved from its simple beginnings and in many ways reflects the growth and maturation of the conversations we are all having about our communities.

When Michelle Bauer (CTB President 2004 and a founding “Mother” of the group) and I put together the first Summit we had no idea that it would grow and continue.  We simply wanted to bring together the best thinkers and practitioners from around the world to talk about cities and communities. Beyond education, events such as this should bring together community champions and network them together.  Ultimately it is those champions that will change communities, not the speakers and consultants.

The broad theme of this event is how times of crisis and challenge can force us to become more innovative and creative.  A timely message for every community.  Keynotes include:

  • Richard Florida will be speaking on his forthcoming book The Great Reset which looks at how the economic crisis has established a whole new playing field and how communities will need to respond in this new world. 
  • Rebecca Ryan, Next Generation Consulting & author of Live First, Work Second and expert on communities & young professionals
  • Bill Strickland, the CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Pittsburgh that has created a global model for adult retraining and youth engagement through the arts.  He is one of the finest and most inspiring speakers you will ever hear.
  • Jeremy Gutsche, founder of TrendHunter.com will tell us what trends are impacting people and communities in 2010 and beyond.
  • Tonya Surman, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto will share how they have created a unique workspace and community  for social entrepreneurs
  • Ben Self, founder of Blue State Digital, the interactive & social media group behind the Obama campaign will  discuss how to grow a tech entrepreneurial culture
  • Charles Landry, author of The Art of City Making, will speak on how communities can create a culture where everyone can think and act more creatively

In addition to these keynote speakers, we have many fantastic sessions planned  such as:

  • The Black Creative Class
  • Media & the City
  • Innovating the Built Environment
  • Taming the Car:  Reclaiming Our Cities from the Tyranny of the Transportation Department
  • Using Art to Change Communities
  • Next Generation Women Entrepreneurs
  • Small Towns & the Creative Rural Economy
  • Sparking Social Innovation in Your Community

There is also a Young Professionals Summit that will immediately precede the opening of CCS.  A  video gaming party and a post conference trip to Keeneland, the outstanding regional horse track make up part of the entertainment for the week.

I wanted to also point out how easy and inexpensive it is to get to Lexington.  Allegiant Air (www.allegiantair.com) runs direct flights from St. Pete/Clearwater airport to Lexington.  Flights average about $29 each way (plus taxes of course).  They fly up on Tuesday and return on Saturdays which is very convenient for the Summit which runs from Wednesday to Friday. 

For more information, please visit www.creativecitiessummit.com

View the archive from the 2004 and 2008 summits. 

I hope to see you in Lexington!

Peter Kageyama is the co-founder and producer of the Creative Cities Summit.  He is the former President of CTB and a current board member.

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Anger as Agent of Creativity: A report from the “Art Not Hate” project by Bob Barancik

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Some Buddhist sages have equated anger with insanity. I agree with that sentiment in many aspects of life…but not all.

Anger can be an agent of positive creative change and an impetus to the creation of profoundly unsettling but life-affirming art forms.

As part of my forthcoming “Art Not Hate: Creative Responses to Conflict” exhibit at the Florida Holocaust Museum, opening in March, I worked with young people from Community Tampa Bay and various other organizations in the metro area. In the workshops, students came to understand the anger they experienced in various situations, and then used that anger as a creative energy.

Here is a short video that conveys the flavor of the workshops: http://artnothate.com/workshops/

I enjoyed working with the teenagers, but as a person on the brink of his 60th birthday, I have a compelling need to collaborate with both emerging and mature artists and performers. Together we can create art that might speak across generations.

I was especially interested in collaborating with Gen Y (under 30 adults) and fellow Boomers in projects that incorporate both traditional art forms and new electronic media.

As I see it, Tampa Bay’s future economic growth will be driven more by the silicon in computer chips than by our broad sandy beaches. Here is a link to a prescient column that I wrote for the Creative Tampa Bay Buzz a few years ago:

New Media vs. The Movies

The “Art Not Hate” project weaves together various strands of the creative economy ethos—the cultivation of diverse people and ideas, the humanization and monetization of digital technology, and the desire to foster genuine community (with all its conflicts, contradictions, and promises of creative human connectedness).

This short “Anatomy of Anger” video clip was written and performed by Aleshea Harris, accompanied on congas by Nery Arevalo, produced by Mark Maynor, and managed by Sarah Gerard.

Anatomy of Anger from Bob Barancik on Vimeo.

The piece was inspired by a series of mixed media collages that are part of the “Art Not Hate” exhibit.

Please visit the exhibit website at www.artnothate.com and read the informative online press release.

The free public reception at the Florida Holocaust Museum is Sunday March 14th from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Piano jazz great Stan Hunter and classical piano virtuoso Judith Alstadter will be performing. RSVP required.

Email Amy Blake at floret55638@mypacks.net to be put on the guest list. Spaces are limited.

The “Art Not Hate” exhibit runs from March 6th to March 30th.

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Tampa Bay’s first TEDx event

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

 (x = independently organized event)

I had the privilege of attending Tampa Bay’s first TEDx event: inspire, imagine, connect on February 12. The idea behind TED events (which stands for: technology, entertainment, design) is to highlight local “superstars” who are doing cool, innovative things and inspire others to do the same.  Following are my “takeaways:”

  • Real entrepreneurs fail. Don’t tie your ego to a particular business.
    Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, on failure
  • When making changesin  business, include people in the process. If they feel a part of the process from the beginning, they will be positive influences. When people are told what to do, that will be all you get.
    Paul Schnitzler, Professor of Engineering at USF, on change leadership
  • We should set aside natural space when preparing for population growth. If we want the ecological corridors to be real, we need to treat them with the same importance as other growth/corridor initiatives.
    Carlton Ward, conservation photographer, on connecting back to nature by design
  • Actually leave your comfort zone (don’t just think about leaving it). Intentionally connect with people that aren’t like you.
    Terry Olson, Arts and Cultural Affairs Director, Orange County, on letting your pants down in public
  • We live in a universe that is in dynamic balance. Pursue your own dynamic balance, and practice it in everyday life through mindful consumption. Let go in a way that allows your contraction to lead to another expansion.
    Diego Uribe, Creative Consultant, IDEMAX, on systems thinking
  • Take care of your customers, and everything else will fall into place
    Brent Britton, Attorney, GrayRobinson P.A., on keeping your customers happy
  • In the future, every day items will have computer power. Online networks will match real human network behaviors. Buying power will not be limited by financial assets; it will include the power of your network. We will all become students of change.
    Guy Hagen, founder, Innovation Insight, on the future of social intelligence
  • People in Rwanda are living next to the people who killed their loved ones. This takes a great deal of balance and forgiveness. If they can do this, so can we.
    Elizabeth Davis, founder, Akilah Institute for Women in Rwanda
  • We’re given our talents to use them to give, not to receive. Express yourself in whatever you do. Take yourself out of the equation, and you will be amazing.
    Emily Roff, musician
  • The limit of what is possible is dictated by the inventors’ imaginations.
    Charles Armstrong, CEO, Spark Labs
  • Wherever you go, you have to find a niche and fill it.
    James Tokley, poet laureate

View the video playlist

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What is CreativeTampaBay? (and meet your editor!)

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Megan Hendricks
editor, the BUZZ

cre⋅a⋅tiv⋅i⋅ty, noun
The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.

At the strategic planning session CreativeTampaBay (CTB) had at Collaborative Labs last week, board members were asked to convey their proudest moments with the organization. The responses were both inspiring and motivating. Several people said they were going to leave Tampa Bay until they discovered CTB and found others that shared their passion for making the region a better place to live. Others said CTB connected them with their “people” and gave them the drive to start their own business. My proudest moment was when I attended a national conference and the keynote speaker, Richard Florida, mentioned CreativeTampaBay in his speech. It made me realize we were making a difference on more than just a local level.

What do we do?
As we relaunch our brand and image, it makes sense to take a step back and define who we are and what we do. CTB started out with the mission of convincing the community that if we attract and retain a young, creative workforce we will draw top companies and become a mecca for creativity. We still support that notion, but have evolved into much more than that. CreativeTampaBay is about civic acupuncture – using small projects to bring about large change. We’re about “connecting the connectors” to make creative things happen. We’re about highlighting our region’s assets.

Creativity is more than just the arts. Creative people are people who think; who come up with new ideas; people who, as stated in the dictionary definition of creativity “transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, [and] relationships.” CTB supports creative people. We want more of them here, and we want the ones who are here to thrive.

How do we do it?

  • We connect people, ideas, experiences and places
  • We host and promote events that focus on innovation, creativity and connections
  • We conduct research that highlights our region’s strengths and asks the question “what can we do better?”
  • We discover and highlight the region’s “hidden gems” and talentWe host thought leaders to stimulate new ideas and actions for our region
  • We discover important calls to action and put them in the hands of the people who can make a difference

What’s next?
CreativeTampaBay is just the beginning. It’s up to you – local creatives – to take the region to the next level. Spread the word about the BUZZ so we can expand our reach and inspire as many as possible. Attend local events and connect with people who share your passion for the community. Help create more proud moments for Tampa Bay!

Meet your editor
Megan has been living in the Tampa area for 10 years, coming to attend the University of South Florida to pursue an MBA degree. After graduating, she worked as director of employer relations at the USF College of Business, where she tapped in to the local business community’s employment needs and the interests of young professionals. Her interest in workforce development is what brought her to CTB. She was on the board for five years and is now editor for the BUZZ.

Megan lives in Tampa with her husband, daughter, dog and three cats. She is currently executive director of the MBA Career Services Council and does additional freelance work.

Comments and contributions to the BUZZ can be sent to: buzz@creativetampabay.com.

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