Inspiration sessions are all about giving ourselves space to think creatively by coming together to discuss a range of interesting blogs, articles, videos and podcasts. They work based on a simple concept:
Every session is given a theme in advance (i.e. Creative Communication - Ways to engage an audience)
Colleagues submit one or two theme related links to blogs, articles, videos or podcasts
We curate a reading list based on what colleagues submit
About a week before the session colleagues receive the full reading list
Colleagues review the list and read, watch or listen to the links which they find interesting
On the day of the session colleagues get together a discuss the reading list
We don’t see creativity as a tap that can be turned on and off. You can’t force it, but you can create the optimum conditions for it to happen. The reading list provides the catalyst for a rich, organic discussion which could lead almost anywhere. The more diverse the list, the more diverse the conversation. Reading your own articles and not attending the session is ok, reading the reading list and not attending the session is better, but reading the reading list and then discussing it with colleagues is where the magic really happens. It’s that simple. Perhaps the biggest impact from an inspiration session comes in the discussion rather than the reading (watching or listening) itself!
Following a discussion in the Lab last week around communication, we decided that we should have an inspiration session in order look a little deeper into the topic. This is a link to the reading list we pulled together: Inspiration Session - Creative Communication (Ways to engage an audience)
Yesterdays inspiration session conversation lead us to conclude:
It’s the story that often gets us to buy-in to something;
It’s important to consider who the message is for and how they consume content;
Often it’s the quirky campaigns that we remember (for good or bad).
We decided that we will start each weekly lab planning session with a quick reflection on what lab content worked well during the previous week and why. We also thought it would an idea to discuss any emerging trends we might have spotted that could contribute towards our lab thinking moving forward. But perhaps the most exciting piece of inspiration (not really) we had was the title of a blog which we need to write, so keep your eyes peeled over the coming weeks for the intriguingly titled - ‘Whatever Happened to Dr Kawashima?’
