The brain may not be a muscle, but it works like one, and it’s our job at Interplay to keep our most precious organs fit.  One of our Experience Designers, who happens to also be our Creative Process Coach – the brilliant Amy Frazier – has been leading us all through an incredibly valuable thinking workout. Amy specializes in Creative Problem Solving, and she’s been putting the team through the paces, teaching us the principles behind some well-researched models of creative thinking, and getting us on our feet and moving with them, so to speak.  We’ve been meeting as a group and working individually to absorb and utilize this information, and the consensus is that this is undeniably useful stuff.

Since we’re not a pack of misers, we’re going to briefly share some of that wealth with you right here. And keep coming back to the blog, as we’ll be revisiting this rich material over and over. The brain is a wonderland, and it’s our goal to always be investigating this terrain.

Without further ado, it’s time to introduce the six steps of Creative Problem Solving, as developed by Dr. Roger L. Firestien, who serves on the faculty of the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State.  (That’s the premier institution for creativity studies, by the way, from whence Ms. Frazier is getting her advanced degree.)  You can download the workbook for free and play along right here: http://www.rogerfirestien.com/art/3-RingBooklet.pdf

There are three major steps to this model of Creative Problem Solving – exploring the challenge, generating ideas and preparing for action – that generate six separate phases of activity, toggling back and forth between divergent thinking (where you’re coming up with a multiplicity of ideas) and convergent thinking (where you’re discriminating, narrowing down and focusing your ideas). It’s worth trying this out for yourself; the time and effort that goes into the process is rewarded by seeing your issue of choice open out before you in a way you couldn’t have imagined before you began.  Truly, download the workbook and try this at home.

Here’s an overview, paraphrased from Dr. Firestien:

1. Identify the goal, wish or challenge

Here, you’re stating a variety of potential goals, wishes or challenges, and then choosing one where you have ownership, motivation and a need for imagination.

2. Gather Data

Here, you’re exploring all the data around the goal, wish or challenge, and identifying the data that’s relevant.

3. Clarify the Problem

In this phase, you state the problem in as many ways as possible, and develop/select a problem statement to work on.

4. Generate Ideas

This is classic brainstorming. You think up a wide variety of ideas to solve the problem, and then you choose the most promising ones.

5. Select and Strengthen Solutions

In this phase, you’re evaluating and refining the ideas you selected, and selecting the most promising solutions.

6. Plan for Action

Finally, you list a series of possible actions for implementation, and form a specific plan of action.

You’ll find all of these steps explained and elaborated upon in much greater depth in the workbook.  Put it to the test. Feel the burn, as it were, for yourself.  We’re still in the process playing with these ideas ourselves – and learning even more – in our quest to stay in creative fighting shape.

This post finds us gearing up for the 2010 Northwest Event Show, a trade show for event planners of all stripes.

But…you said “Class of 2011”.  Also…huh?

Here’s what’s going on. We’re taking our booth and we’re Interplaying it up.  Instead of just having a booth with the information about Interplay delivered in a plain brown wrapper, we thought we’d give a little experiential taste of what Interplay does.  So we’ve got a theme – The Class of 2011 – and we’re running with the concept that Interplay is like a mini-University.  The people who visit our booth are the members of the Class of 2011, and they’re majoring in our four main areas of focus: Stretch, Grow, Teach and Learn.  Instead of fliers and brochures, they can pick up a composition book that’s been given the Interplay treatment, like this…

…which possesses all the information they’d have gotten otherwise in a less memorable way, but also draws them in and engages them with fill-in-the-blanks like “My colleagues would vote me most likely to…” and “2011 is the year I will…” and, of course, “Remember to contact Interplay about…”  And the composition book is stickered-up/personalized with four activities we’ve chosen to highlight for this event:  One Minute Magnet, Peak Performance, Picture This and Pulse (the latter two of which will be set up live and ready to play).

We’ll also be sharing our space with Vision Leadership, and its ultra-delightful president, Mr. Valdo Lallemand. Vision Leadership and Interplay are longtime partner organizations, and Valdo will be presenting their flagship program for creativity and innovation, PCI Adventure.

A little practice session took place on Saturday for the folks who’d be working the show.  Talking points were discussed, logistics were revealed, and most importantly, we envisioned the experience from the perspective of the visitor. We imagined what it’s like for someone to approach a booth like this. They want information, they want to engage and learn, but they don’t want to feel overwhelmed.  At no point do we want to appear to be a smiling wall of people ready to pounce. (Not that we’re that kind of organization – we’re not smiling pouncers.)  People like to have their cues read and understood, so it’s our job to figure out how to engage people in a real conversation about what we do while intuiting and respecting their needs in the moment.   We talked about the best ways to distill what Interplay does  – which is a complex topic, since we do so many things and work in a very nuanced way – for someone who has X amount of minutes to spare at a trade show booth.

So, we’re ready. A crack team of Interplayers is prepared to meet the curious hordes, and all hands are on deck preparing our set and all of our collateral.

We say to you BRING IT, Northwest Event Show.

P.S. Come back and we’ll tell you how it went. And if you were there, why don’t you tell us how it all was for you?

Welcome to Interplay’s blog, tucked cozily right into our new digs in the re-imagined website. We’re inviting you in to take a look around Interplay, take a look at what we’re up to, take a look at what we’re thinking about, what we think is cool. We’ll direct your attention into the minds of the people who make up Interplay, and we’ll send your attention out into the world to the kinds of content that we think is inspiring. You can peek at our work tables, peer inside our thought processes and always stay abreast of the different projects we’re busy with. The only better way to get to know Interplay will be to work with us.

And we want to hear from you, too. This comment section’s not just for our health, right? Ask us questions, tell us what you think, show us something you think is cool. Take us somewhere.

We’re glad you’re here. Bookmark us, come back. We’re saving you a seat on the good couch.