Opportunity: Could a design thinking and ideation workshop help participants challenge their own relationship with their ideas and encourage a more diverse array of participants in the culture of ideation?
Summary: I was lucky enough to find like-minded and extremely talented collaborators from CIVILIZATION and the Wonderment, all sharing a desire to utilize our skillsets to make things a bit better. We sought to create a toolset that would help participants explore the nature of shared ideas, and to challenge their own relationship with their ideas.
To start, we created an interactive workshop that leveraged deep thinking on how ideas form, and breaking down the myth of the 'lone genius.' We sought to help participants unpack ingrained thinking that blocks participation in the communities of ideas all around us, such as fear of unfinished ideas, or the lack of easy routes to monetization. We leveraged playful group ideation activities that never quite went in the direction participants expected, but left participants renewed about the value they play in the culture of ideas.
We successfully conducted Idea Idea workshops with hundreds of participants at SXSW EDU, SIC (Seattle Interactive Conference) as well sessions at General Assembly. We received enthusiastic feedback and responses from workshop participants - we still ocassionally get "when is the next Idea Idea?" emails or DMs. While the Idea Idea is currently on the team's collective backburner, we may revisit the concept again down the road.
