Had a fantastic experience at the PhillyChi Design Slam. Here are a few photos and short video clips.
Here is how the slam was described before the event:
"Contestants will participate in a fast-paced race to create the best design solution to a "made-up" real-world problem. Awards will be given to the victors!"
"During the meeting, participants will be teamed and introduced to a full-fledged hypothetical project, including appropriate client-side deliverables. They'll then have an opportunity to interview key players on the client's team. The session will conclude with proposal presentations from each of the groups to the "clients" and the assembled audience.
Then the "clients" team will choose a winner. Members of the winning team will receive a plethora of praise from your peers and an award."
My Experience:
Was put on a team with several other folks, only one of whom I already knew–Ruth Kalinka. The hypothetical project was to create a new strategy for a general retailer "Archer Inc." who competed with Target at the high end and Wal-Mart at the low end. They wanted to build a bunch of new locations that would have higher profit margins than their existing stores. They also wanted to make inroads into two distinct market segments, "Eco-Fashionista" Moms and "Sportscenter" men. They also wanted to lower their costs while going in a greener direction.
After hearing the brief, we had 45 minutes to come up with a presentation. We had no trouble coming up with ideas, but filtering them and synthesizing them was more of challenge. That did not stop us from trying though! We had very diverse group–from mechanical engineer, to information architects, to visual designers, to a graphic facilitator. I pulled out all the stops giving a musical intro when it was our turn to present. We took turns presenting different pieces of our proposal, but unfortunately ran out of time before everything was presented.
Todd Warfel and Kelani Nichole's group gave what I felt like was the most coherent and businesslike sounding proposal, and indeed their team won. I was told over beers later that our group came a close 2nd.
The main thing is it was fun, challenging, and a great way to stretch and meet new people.
Special Bonus: One of the stakeholders in the fictitious company played the part of founding family member, Jake, who had completely different ideas from the company's management team. He went from group to group throwing wrenches in everyone's ideas. I loved this detail.
Thanks to PhillyChi for producing the event and Messagefirst for hosting it and all the participants and specators. Great stuff.
I have been a fan of Brandy Agerbeck's work for the last couple of years. In this video, she explains how she uses graphic recording as part of a facilitated event. In the video, gerbeck explains two benefits of graphic facilitation: better thinking and better communication.
She works in an iconic, colorful, playful style that is as distinctive (and awesome) as she is. Behind the playful style is a discerning and expert graphic facilitator.
(Video of the Graphic Recording From VizThink Philadelphia Show and Tell).
We had an amazing turnout at VizThink Philadelphia Show and Tell. Particiapants included the web team from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, Medard Gabel of Big Picture Small World, Erin Murphy from UPenn's Wharton School of Business Alfred P. West Jr. Learning Lab, and many other designers, writers, illustrators, entrepreneurs, technologists, and researchers. Each presented for about 3 minutes, while I graphically recorded their talks. In the video above I show parts of the graphic recording, which will give you a taste of the range of fields represented.
And we also snacked on some VizThink Philly flowchart cookies.
Thanks as always to Erin Murphy of the UPenn Wharton School of Business Alfred P. West Jr. Learning center for hosting the event. Tip of the hat to Julia Pellicciaro, Bianca Cevoli (who couldn't make this event, but was there at the inception), help plan the event, and Julia did a great job keeping the presentations flowing. And biggest thanks of all to all the attendees who came out in the midst of their jam-packed holiday season to share with other people interested in using visual thinking to make their work and lives better. Here's to a splendid 2010!
What: A chance for you to share your work, how you use visual thinking, or just what you are interested in, with the VizThink Philadelphia community. And a great opportunity to learn about what other Philly area VizThinkers are working on or fascinated with. All that and homemade flowchart cookies! How it works: If you would like to share something with the group you have 4 options: show slides, show physical artifacts (a drawing, poster, gadget, etc.), draw on the whiteboard, or just show you. The first 15 people to respond will get a 3 minute slot. If we get further requests to show and tell, then we’ll create a waiting list and draw from that if time permits. Email jonny(dot)goldstein(at)gmail.com if you want to show something.
If you are showing slides, either email them to jonny(dot)goldstein (at) gmail.com, or bring them in on a computer or thumb drive and we’ll transfer them to our laptop. The slides must either be PowerPoint or PDF format.
You don’t have to show anything to attend. You will add to the festive spirit with your very presence.
When: 6:30-8PM Weds, Dec 16
Where: Room 116 SHDH, Steinberg-Dietrich Hall 3620 Locust Walk University of Pennsylvania Between Spruce and Locust Walk along what would be 37th street. Locust walk is a pedestrian only area on UPenn campus.
Parking: There is a parking garage located at 38th and Walnut but there’s also street parking all around the area as well.
Public Transit: El train to 34th and Market OR #34 Trolley to 36th and Sansom OR #21 Bus to 36th and Walnut
Thanks: VizThink Philadelphia thanks Alfred West Jr. Learning Lab of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for hosting this event and Erin Murphy for arranging the venue. Organizers and flowchart cookie creators: Julia R. Pellicciaro, Jonny Goldstein, and Bianca Cevoli.
Just met Brady Forrest, the guy who started the Ignite events. There are few things I love more than telling a story accompanied by my own hand drawn slides in front of hundreds of people. The Ignite events have allowed me to do just that, plus let me bathe in the creative juices of many other splendid storytellers, so it made my evening to meet the guy behind the ignition of Ignite.
Mark Magliocco produced this video with snippets from different workshops I led at BarCamp Philly. One was called the second was named "An Excercise in Applied Imagination."
The first workshop on "Drawing for Non-Artists,"was based on bits and pieces about teaching drawing I've learned from Peter Cox, Joe Orlando, Austin Kleon, Dave Gray, and Ed Emberley. People seemed pretty into it, as evidenced by the photo above.
The second workshop on applied imagination was inspired by Dan Roams excellent book, "Back of the Napkin." Participants seemed even more jazzed by this workshop. Had people visualize a shoe in ten different ways, but imagination was trumped by reality when Mark Magliocco pulled off one of his shoes and displayed it to us.
Mark Magliocco shot this video of BarCamp Philly, where I did a couple of mini workshops. If you are wondering what one of my visual thinking workshops looks like, these give a little glimpse. I'm mixed in with other footage, so if you want to skip to my workshop segments, skip to the times below.
2:07-2:30 2:59-3:14 3:57-4:11
Fascinating mix of people from many professional and creative worlds.
Here is a brief wrap up of my personal high points:
I had the pleasure of leading a mini-workshop on "Applied Imagination." In the photo above one of the participants shared his insights. I got a lot of great feedback on this session.
This image is from another mini-workshop I led called "Drawing For Non-Artists." My goal was to get people comfortable with representing whatever was in their heads on paper by breaking it down into simplified forms. People enjoyed this one a lot too. Brought me back to the days when I used to teach art in public schools in New York City.
Had a blast doing graphic recording of three sessions. Somebody was kind enough to take this snap of me doing a graphic capture of a session on the present and future of FaceBook.
This is an uncropped photo of the facebook graphic recording.
This one is from Carlos Silva's session "Train Your Client."
Above: graphic recording of Mark Magliocco's fascinating session, "10 Emerging Web Trends." When Mark brought up all the various "Camps" he's had a hand in producing since the last BarCamp Philly, someone joked that he should start yet another "TrendCamp," where people would talk about emerging tech and societal trends.
I met a lot of great people. Chris Myers of UArts set me up with rolls of white paper, corkboard walls, and his own stash of day glow markers. You rock, Chris! Also met Whitney Hess in person, who gave a great talk on going independent. I quit my day job awhile ago, but I keep learning from other folks' experiences. Great to meet Rob Linsalata from M (a creative agency based in Philly) at the applied imagination session. Of course BarCamp doesn’t stop with the daytime activities. I had a blast shooting the breeze with the infamous Will Evans at the National Mechanics Shmitten Kitten 90’s Dance Party.
Finally, huge, huge thanks to everyone who helped make the event rock. Particular thanks to Roz Duffy, Kelani Nichole, JP Toto, and Kara Lafleur. A fantastic event like this doesn't happen by itself. Take a bow!
Had a fantastic experience at the PhillyChi Design Slam. Here are a few photos and short video clips.
Here is how the slam was described before the event:
"Contestants will participate in a fast-paced race to create the best design solution to a "made-up" real-world problem. Awards will be given to the victors!"
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