I am happy to announce a sweet project close to my heart and of course my belly! I am working with the Fraser Valley Strawberry Growers Association on their online strategy. I will also produce four short films that will focus on the the local strawberry industry in the Fraser Valley.
Pinch me please. This is a really amazing project to be part of as I am so passionate about local foods and where we get them from AKA, “The 100-Mile Diet”.
The other day we filmed quite a few farms in Abbotsford and in Langley as well as met the growers and even had a chance to sample the goods. It was so beautiful in the valley. It was my first time touring this area and to my surprise was such a stunning landscape and a lovely community of passionate foodies.
Sadly with this whole weather change, the strawberries are taking their sweet time blooming but we had a chance to speak with berry scientists and they said that we may have a longer season. This is only if that darn sun starts to shine.
I am looking forward to training the growers as well as the association on how to share their knowledge, passion as well as their findings online as well as share their stories of berry growing. Stay tuned for more to come!
I am very excited to be attending Merging Media’s Transmedia Seminar and Lab happening April 28-29, 2011.
The seminar and lab provide a framework for Transmedia business and creative development as well as explores ways to identify and develop the operative idea of multi-platform production. I am really excited to benefit from Anita’s invaluable business advice and creative development tips at this inspiring event.
The two day hands on lab covers full cycle of development, writing, production & distribution from “Conception to Consumption”.
The Seminar is open to professionals from all media sectors and is suitable for practitioners who are curious about transmedia and want to learn more or know about it and are seeking a framework to continue the development of their transmedia programs.
Check out this promotional video we did to create buzz for the event.
We are creating two videos that will depict the challenges faced by newcomers in developing a sense of belonging to their new communities and workplaces. One video will focus on developing a sense of belonging within the community. The second video will focus on workplace attachment and inclusion. Each video will be about two minutes long and will include compelling and memorable messages that will inspire increased interest and involvement in initiatives and actions that support more welcoming and inclusive workplaces and communities.
The videos will illustrate how every community member can assist new immigrants to make connections, build attachments, develop a sense of belonging and feel welcome and included. The intent of the videos is to engage and inspire community members to participate in some way in developing communities that are welcoming and inclusive.
The project will be completed by March 30, 2011. The distribution plan is to embed the videos on the North Shore Welcoming Committee and the North Shore Multicultural Society’s websites, as well as the websites of partner agencies such as North Shore libraries, municipal governments, school districts, and public service agencies that form the North Shore Welcoming Action Committee. There will also be a special sponsorship announcement which is really exciting, stay tuned!
Interest in the videos will be generated by sending them out to partners and stakeholders within the community, and distributing them more widely using social media tools such as blogs and twitter – the tools which were so effective in engaging the community in the photo contest. We will also notify North Shore newspapers. The videos will also be distributed to more than 100 new contacts generated during the Picture Diversity Photo contest.
The videos will become the intellectual property of Welcome BC, who may choose to distribute them more widely.
We started our first filming last night and I must stay I was deeply moved by our participants stories of moving to Canada. Looking forward to taking this journey with them so they can share it to the rest of the world.
Monir sharing her story coming from Iran then settling in North Vancouver.
Yury sharing his journey from Russia then settling in North Vancouver.
It’s pretty simple actually. If you live, work or play on the North Shore and love a good challenge, then you can participate. Really, it’s that easy. The judges are looking for photos that capture inclusion in your community and what it represents to you. Go all out, any style will do. Think you can handle it?
How to enter?
Take lots of photos and then upload your best one to www.picturediversity.ca. Come out to the North Shore Neighbourhood House on November 25th, 2010 to see if you’ve won. The top ten winners will be announced and their work showcased just before Headlines Theatre’s Production of “Us and Them”. Prizes include an iPad, digital camera and even a waterproof flip cam. Not a winner? Don’t worry about it. Even the top 7 runners up with be getting a little something.
Could my friends enter?
Most definitely! In fact I highly encourage friendly competition. Invite your friends, that guy on the street, your local coffee barista, and anyone else you think might be interested on the North Shore. The more the merrier if you ask me.
North Shore Welcoming Action Committee and members of their immediate families may not enter. North Shore Multicultural Society staff, Board Members and members of their immediate families may not enter either.
So charge up your camera, grab your jacket and start snapping!
NORTH VANCOUVER, BC – A one of a kind anti-racism program that encourages and empowers youth to engage in their communities and to “think outside the box”, Neonology is the brainchild of the North Shore Multicultural Society, a recipient of the 2010 AMSSA Riasat Ali Khan Diversity Award. By educating youth about issues of diversity and inclusiveness in their community, Neonology aims to break down the invisible barriers that separate all of us from one another and sometimes even ourselves.
“The idea came from the understanding that traditional youth-directed anti-racism programs did not capture the youth’s interest in an effective way.”- Jian Pablico, Youth Programs Coordinator
The program’s interactive educational workshops allow for a safe place for youth to share their experiences and its neon initiative clubs give youth the opportunity to create their own projects. Encouraging a critical discussion about the influence of media on thinking, Neonology has a strong presence in the social media world (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) as well as online at neonology.ca. The program will also be presented to an additional 1000 students in the 2010/2011 school year.
“North Shore students are excited to have a program that allows them to have authentic experiences and to share their experiences with others.” – Pablico
EATComm is involved in helping the organizers of the third annual Interesting Vancouver Event. This is going to be a very ‘interesting’ evening. Looking forward to tales of passionate folks.
INTERESTING VANCOUVER SPONTANEOUSLY INSPIRES VANCOUVERITES
Third annual, multi-disciplinary conference geared towards curious people
VANCOUVER – No theme, no topics…no problem. Speakers from all walks of life will be speaking about their stories at a local un-conference called Interesting Vancouver on Friday October 8th at the Vancouver Rowing club.
Essentially Interesting Vancouver is a multi-disciplinary conference. It seeks to impart new knowledge about things you’ve never known or thought about. Open up parallel thinking ports. Activate parts of your brain that for even the brainiest person may have been neglected or unexplored. There will be a degree of spontaneity, unexpected moments and learning.
“The vision for Interesting Vancouver is in the middle between a un-conference as the local definition stands and a well curated big fancy corporate conference like a TED or Idea City that appeals to professionals of all disciplines.” say organizers.
Currently, there are a number of speakers lined up and that the full roster won’t be unveiled until the event itself, “the mystery is a big part of what makes Interesting special,” say organizers.
This week on Collaborative Corner, Nicole Sheldrake who is a creative writer and the founder of Vancouver Innovation Camp discusses exploring ‘Capitalizing on Change’: A Forum for Women Entrepreneurs event.
Last week I attended the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs Spring Roundtable event, my first with the FWE. The topic was ‘Capitalizing on Change’ and the schedule called for a panel discussion then breakout groups with the panelists and finally, networking time. I was most attracted to the breakout groups part since I wanted to do something more interactive than listening to speakers.
The aim was for the panelists to discuss questions from the audience but ended up with the panelists answering 1 or 2 question each without any discussion between them. I think perhaps the set up contributed to this; it’s difficult to have a conversation when you are sitting down the table and across the podium from someone and can’t see their face very well.
Hearing their answers to questions about how they deal with change was motivating because they confirmed that the activities I run at Innovation Camp are teaching the right skills to succeed in the constantly changing world of business.
There were no new insights however. The advice was basically: plan for as many different outcomes as you can think of, a recession is a good time to re-brand and innovate, prototype rapidly, learn from your failures and always, always treat your customers respectfully and with honesty.
Breakout Groups and Innovation
Stan Fuller, president of Earls Restaurants, was our discussion leader for the breakout group. A bright bunch of women and a couple of men shared their experiences and asked each other for advice with their businesses. Issues ranged from how do I get new clients buying my product to tips on starting a franchise. Overall, it was inspiring to hear how motivated and supportive our local female entrepreneurs are!
One particular conversation with Stan Fuller that I found fascinating was about promoting innovation within his company. Until that point, the group had been discussing innovation at the executive level. Stan mentioned that he does not promote innovation at lower levels (i.e. servers) because the employees do not understand the complexity of the business.
On one hand I understood where Stan was coming from but on the other I wondered if he was missing some opportunities – the first one, to educate his staff about the business, the second one, to utilize the different perspectives and individual talents that employees bring to a company.
Earls does promote innovation in some areas however. Every kitchen manager is required to have a certain number of new ideas being developed and prototyped each month.
A Culture of Innovation
It’s clear there is a culture of innovation at Earls but only at certain levels, i.e. executive and management. The question is, is it worth the time and effort to promote innovation at all levels?
What do you think? Let us know your experiences and thoughts!
This week on Collaborative Corner, Nicole Sheldrake who is a creative writer and the founder of Vancouver Innovation Camp talks about creative thinking and how you can apply these techniques to your daily process.
I’m a writer, so you’d think that when invited to write a guest blog post I would leap from my chair with excitement and shout Yes! Instead, I felt as though I was ordered to prance naked on Granville Street at Tuesday lunchtime.
So of course I accepted.
But it got me thinking about how one simple request immediately brought up my bucket of fears and stories. Stories, for example, I tell myself about not being good enough. Despite those fears filling my head, I said yes because developing creative thinking skills is partly about being open to new experiences.
It would be a practical but exhilarating piece of work. I could see it front me, glowing slightly with inspiration – what to do, how to do it, legions of readers being excited by new ideas… and indeed, it was right in front of me, on this great blog called Copyblogger, on another called Litemind… and so on.
There are already a ton of blogs about creative thinking and how to do it. I figured that, honestly, I would only be repeating what they were saying. So I decided to apply creative thinking techniques and come up with another focus for my blog.
The blog must be instructional, i.e. tell readers how to be creative thinkers.
Assumption #3:
I must write the blog from the point of view of an ‘expert’.
So I could write a fiction blog that showed readers how to think creatively from an amateur’s experience. There was some potential there…I’ve read many blogs about creative thinking techniques but none about a person’s experience consciously and (semi-) systematically applying the concepts.
Creative Action Online
Of course there are lots of people out there who are successful in business and creative projects and who apply creative thinking techniques daily. But what about someone who is just starting to ‘unleash her creative potential’? Someone who wants to think more creatively, not just for her creative projects but in all aspects of her life?
Being an expert is not my thing. I’m an expert in my own life. That’s it. And I like applying concepts. I like creative ‘action.’ I made a decision; I could write a blog about the action I am taking to apply creative thinking techniques in my daily life. Disclaimer: you’ll be reading about my failures as much as my successes. Failure is, after all, just a way to get feedback on progress and learn.
Action Items
Do something you fear, every day: It can be small. Very small. Talking to a stranger at the bus stop. Practice acting despite your fears.
Challenge your assumptions: List your assumptions about a problem first. Are they actually true? Can the assumptions be altered in any way? What other possibilities does this reveal?
Keep the Conversation Going
This blog will be about my experiences applying creative thinking to solve problems or just improve my life. If I can entertain you or maybe, just maybe, even inspire you to think more creatively, then I will consider the blog a success.
A blog is a collaborative effort and I would like to hear your comments and stories. What is your experience with applying creative thinking techniques? What results have you got from challenging your assumptions?
