Archive for the ‘Event perspectives’ Category

Why play a game? Because games are about rules

But can you put rules on creativity?

“Say something funny.” It’s a comedian’s worst nightmare. “Go on — I don’t want to fence you in, say anything.” Why doesn’t this work?

“Say anything” creates a mental block as you try to think of a subject, a theme, an issue. But games are about rules, and when we’re feeling rebellious, we come up with crafty workarounds. Creativity is about breaking, challenging, and reshaping rules and conventions, not ignoring them.

When we have too much room to roam, we end up focusing on things that have worked in the past. And that’s fine — we all stand on the shoulders of giants. But we tend to stay safe, take our time, and end up with strategies that aren’t very exciting. Ideas end up as design by committee, and those rarely result in anything visionary.

No, when we want excitement, we want to see MacGyver build an escape mechanism we never thought possible, using chewing gum and a shoelace — that’s a thrill.

When you’re asked to “be creative”, you end up using your mental energy coming up with a problem to solve, when what you really want is to be laser-focused on coming up with a range of solutions.

What you need are concrete problems. So we give you poker, and poker gives you problems.

Inventorium Poker is unlike any game of actual poker you’ve played or seen, but “Inventorium Blackjack” sounded a little too dangerous, and Inventoriumopoly was a bit on the acquisitive side for us.

How does Inventorium Poker work?

Don’t worry, you can’t lose your shirt, your house, or your wedding ring.

We give each group of participants a deck of cards that fit the context of the event. For example, when we had a Mobile Apps workshops we gave each team a deck of cards.

There was a set for contexts, a set for people, and a set for technologies. You might have chosen the context “mountaintop”, “hospital” or “school”, each of which would bring its own challenge to the people for whom you’d be developing, who could be “older people”, “ramblers”, or “teachers”. And then technology types, which in this case were all mobile technologies, like “GPS”, “MMS”, or “video”.

From these cards, groups are quickly able to spark the problems that lead to truly creative ideas that are targeted at the appropriate users in the right context, and that use the right technology — that gives us something to start evaluating commercially.

We encourage participants to use Inventorium Poker to entertain all the ideas that spring to mind, even the daft ones — sometimes the most ridiculous, impossible idea can be hammered into a practical, useful one.

Groups come up with a series of ideas that seem like they’re worth exploring, and then they present them to the larger group. From there, each individual chooses the project they wish to work on, which means that you’re not stuck with only the idea of your initial team. We want people to go where their skills and interests are. Our open innovation model means that ideas shared with the group are shared. It doesn’t mean you have to give up your best stuff. In fact, the more you work with your idea, the more it is reshaped and reenvisioned into one that might be one step closer to reality, for you, and for your potential customers and users.

Think fast!

When you want to be creative, don’t give your brain time to think about thinking — just do! People don’t solve problems because they have the time and space to do so, they do it because they have no other option.

And we work fast because the more we let our doubts creep in, the more we second-guess the quality of an idea before we explore it, the safer our ideas get. But our job as an innovation intermediary is to take calculated risks — we make a venture less risky by crash-testing ideas and business plans. Once the brainstorm is down on paper, that’s when we can start to determine if an idea is a realistic business proposition.

We use Inventorium Poker — among lots of other strategies — to give you the boundaries and the sense of urgency that force you to rely on your ingenuity, rather than your tested experience. Experience certainly helps when it comes to evaluating concepts, but first you need the ideas.

Make them as exciting as you want! They might just be possible.

Got an idea for a game we can adapt for our events? Let us know!

Wikipedia states that the Blaa is a white doughy bread roll speciality that is particular to Waterford and Kilkenny.  This came as a surprise to us at Inventorium as we were led to believe that the Blaa was originally created in Waterford city back in the 17th century.  Was there some form of inter-county high-espionage at play here ? 

Four centuries later, our curiosity has gotten the better of us.   We’ve decided to give both counties the chance to pit their creative juices against each other.   The Inventorium Open Mic Idea Jam roadshow visits the capitals of both counties to determine which has the best new business ideas of the 21st century.  

We kick off in Langtons in Kilkenny on Tuesday Feb 28th at 7pm and quickly follow it with Tuesday 6th March at 7pm in the KazBar in Waterford City.

We’ve had a huge response from both cities with people not just registering, but also getting their pitch slot confirmed for the night.    You can expect to hear loads of different ideas including an iPad game designed to teach 7 year olds orthographic 3D, the perpetual motion machine that plugs into your attic cold water tank and an topical online service to help people struggling with eating disorders.

 Our events in Dublin we’re oversubscribed and people found it difficult gain access to the event because they failed to pre-register online for their chosen event. So, take a look at our video clips of earlier Idea Jams, grab a few friends and register to attend your counties event.  Remember, you don’t have to pitch an idea to come along, but just like any Open Mic night, you’re welcome to provide feedback .. good and bad ….

 There is a dilemma. Many chose to settle in rural Wales and rural Ireland to escape the rat race. We know that for many that means getting on trains to travel to clients in London. The family can fully enjoy Wales and the breadwinner has the pleasure at weekends. However there is a need to make a living. How does that square with innovative nation?  Inventorium has a challenge to help develop businesses in Wales and rural Ireland. Read More …