Melbourne

Tea and reports: Victoria’s Social Economy and Jobs of the Future. THIS Thursday AM

Posted on by Elle Brooker

VCOSS, RMIT and the Future Social Service Institute host morning tea and launch of two reports outlining the breadth of this social opportunity and economic growth.

“Victoria’s social economy: Social opportunity, economic growth outlines future workforce trends and the huge demand projected for social service workers.

Jobs of the future: Victoria’s vibrant community services industry takes the latest Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission data and profiles key aspects of the Victorian community service sector.”

Details and registration here

Tuesday PM: Health tech: Where humanity and technology converge

Posted on by Elle Brooker

He’s no Dr Ken, but he is a US doctor.

Larry Chu, MD is the Director of Medicine X, billed as Stanford University’s leading program on emerging technology and medicine. He’s also a Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine and Director of the Stanford Anesthesia Informatics and Media (AIM) Lab and he’s in Melbourne for the Digital Innovation Festival.

“Technology can be a great amplifier and enhancer of health care, but it’s not everything.  Here Larry talking about how to see beyond technology for technology’s sake.” But can it though?

Register here

Add to Calendar

Wednesday: Pints and Proformas: FREE UX Workshop

Posted on by Elle Brooker

Did somebody say Free UX workshop?

They sure did.

UX stands for “user experience” and it’s all about how to plan better services by making the experience of navigating them easier or more enjoyable for the person at the receiving end. That person could be a customer or they could be a citizen.  Or they could be your Mom.

Couple this with beers at one of Melbourne’s most venerable pubs and you have the makings of a memorable Melbourne after work lesson and everything you need to anaesthetise your aversion to IT acronyms.

Book here

Let there be laser scanning… Would-be land surveyors wanted.

Posted on by Elle Brooker

All sorts of weird and wonderful things happen in Melbourne. This event just goes to show it.

Surveying. Not a career prospect I’ve ever given much thought to. But. If I wanted to, today would be my lucky day.

Have you ever wanted to give land surveying a burl? RMIT is offering you that very chance.

To book click here

Added bonus: You get to see all the current surveying equipment used in the industry including a digital level, total station, GPS and a laser scanner.

Return to Home

Beth Bovino and me

Posted on by Elle Brooker

As part of my gruelling schedule I was supposed to go to a breakfast with the U.S. Chief Economist, Beth Ann Bovino, but it was 7 degrees celsius in Melbourne at 6am, and I am not a cold weather, or an early morning person.

(Did I mention this already? That I’m not really a morning person?)

The prospect of many urns of percolated coffee, containing tepid, brunette water that only vaguely smells of coffee, laced with an inefficient amount of caffeine* (and easily confused, in every sense of the word, with the nearby urns of hot water and decaf) do not serve to sway me. I remain in my nice warm bed reading about the real life murderesses who inspired the musical ‘Chicago.’ As you do, on a cold winter’s morning.

(One of the perks of being in business for myself is that I no longer have to be at work at any particular time unless the client demands it. Yay me. )

I feel bad that I decided to skip the breakfast, because it was RSVP and Bovino is the U.S. Chief Economist, but I console myself that Donald Trump is in power, and that this unexpected turn of events, (his elevation to public office, not my decision to skip breakfast) is due to his being democratically elected President by the people of north America, and not a coup, which would be the expected turn of events.

As a double-degree qualified policy bureaucrat, and a feminist, I found myself wondering whether there would be any value in listening to an expert in a position of power, in my chosen profession, discussing the next twelve months in the global economy, and how she beat the glass ceiling, when Twitter seems to be the latest rage in policy setting tools.

(Did I mention that I also hate Twitter? Almost as much as I hate cold weather, early mornings and bad coffee.)

I remind myself we’re entering a post-industrial, post-sovereign economic era, and assuage myself that letting people down, because you don’t personally know them, is the new post-democracy black.

I resolve not to go to this breakfast, or any breakfast, ever again, until the U.S returns to some semblance of awareness of the rules of Statecraft and the ability to apply them, somewhere other than the toilet, in the middle of the night, whilst attending to a dicky prostate and constipation of the kind that Elvis Presley died from. But, did I mention that it’s seven degrees celcius here in Melbourne? And that I’m not really a morning person? Because there is also that.

*Buffet coffee is to coffee what toilet air freshener is to designer perfume. There ought to be a law against it.

RMIT Activator incubator FREE Build Agile Teams workshop

Posted on by Elle Brooker

Agile is the latest buzz word doing the rounds in management circles.

Activator is the business incubator side of RMIT hosting MBA short cuts that you can apply IRL.

Event link is here:

Sign ups: Activator Skill Up Workshop – Develop an MVP

Posted on by Elle Brooker

What’s on in Melbourne.

I’ve added a huge number of events to the calendar.

This one’s an intro to Minimum Viable Products which means it will probably touch on Agile.

Book here

Tuesday 1pm Launch Ready – Legals and Agreement Free half day workshop.

Posted on by Elle Brooker

This is one of the best value free events in the calendar IMHO.

Register here for a free lawyer and a half day, activity-based workshop covering legals and agreements, from idea to investment.

Made up of:

– A four-hour workshop

– Three follow-up online Q&A sessions

– Free online Co-founder and Shareholder Agreements

Drinks and nibbles will be provided.

For more information visit launchready.com.au

Funded by LaunchVic

What’s the DIF? Vic Gov’s Digital Innovation Festival

Posted on by Elle Brooker

On Friday I managed to get to a panel event featuring one of my favourite speakers debating the issue of whether or not there is a skills shortage in cyber security in Oz or not, at one of my least favourite hours of the morning.

(Before business hours is never my cup of tea but Di Fleming most certainly is.)

Imagine my surprise then, when I discovered that Friday morning’s breakfast do was actually the opener for a State Government sponsored festival that hitherto I hadn’t even heard about, despite actively looking for tech stuff in Melbourne to write about. I was even more surprised to hear that will have over four hundred events.

Geez. They could have invested in some advertising…

I hit the festival website and lo and behold. No calendar interface. Just a PDF download labelled “June 2018“.

Fan-tas-tic.

One web-dinosaur expedition into manual transposition from page to calendar it is then.

I read further. It seems to me that the DIF is taking a leaf out of the City of Melbourne’s ‘White Night’ playbook, in which you borrow the brand from somewhere else, (Russia, for example, where they actually have a white night for people to stay awake throughout and do stuff) and you apply a bit of marketing budget to create a hollow shell of an idea and ask the private, education and NGO sectors to fill in the blanks with events and activities that already existed in many cases; that you didn’t fund, and don’t necessarily endorse.

Great.

This would explain the claim to be hosting more than four hundred events, without sending the state broke… What it doesn’t explain is why I had no idea about any of them.

Did they know they needed to spend money on advertising?

As you know, ‘Tech and the City’ showcases free and interesting tech, data and cultural events in Melbourne, and whilst the are free events included in the program, (noted below) it looks as though there are plenty of standard issue paid talks and sales fronts of the kind that charge money to hear a digital nomad using hullaballoo and bluster to forcibly get you to buy into a lot of unbeareable, neuro linguistic programming premised ‘woo!’ (or ‘woot!’).

Yuk.

I Simon Cowell these type of situations, as in: “it’s a No from me.”

For the record, the vast majority of what I was exposed to as an advisor to a Shadow Minister restated the same thing others had already said, in some one way shape or form. It’s the reason that I’m focussing on free events.

On a more personal note, if I wanted to wilfully expose myself to NLP, I’d date someone who’s been to one of those INCEL sponsored ‘What women really want” courses that teach men how to perpetuate the patriarchy.

Double Yuk.

The Digital Innovation Festival event program doesn’t seem to include very many of the aforementioned 400 events… I note that some of the webinars pre-date the festival, so that’s curious.

From what I can see, I’ve already inadvertently signed up to at least three of the five very interesting free events on Eventbrite without knowing that they were part of a festival. As in, they’re not branded terribly well. I reinterate my earlier point, State of Victoria, did we read the full detail of how White Night works?

All of them are in the Tech and the City blog Google calendar.

You can sign up to Pearcey day (and hopefully the Pearcey oration) here.

Fun Fact

Did you know at least fifty percent of people who have RSVPd to free events in Melbourne are no shows?

This means that if you miss the cut off date, as I’ve done with this event and for some reason you can’t pull strings, can’t contact the organisers or go on a waitlist, and you’re just determined to bluff your way in, just showing up is not the worst idea in the world.

If you have the risk appetite and the time to kill, why not try it?

I will see you at “the future of brain-computer interfaces and challenges they present” if you dare.

mde

 

 

 

Craft your own business @ Kathleen Syme

Posted on by Elle Brooker

TLDR

  • Set retail prices including G.S.T. when you start out, and work out a wholesale price based on this.
  • There is no free lunch anymore. Marketing is a no brainer and Facebook et al are pay to play.
  • Reject offers of exposure unless it leads to tangible results. Specify your terms and conditions or don’t donate.
  • Local libraries offer more than books #3Dprinting #businessadvice #freestuff

The What

There are days when I’m spoiled for choice in terms of what’s going on in Melbourne. Tonight is no exception. I have two events to choose from, and it’s six of one half a dozen of the other which one it will be.

  1. Breaking down the Business model canvas at Academy Xi Exhibition Street at 6PM
  2. Craft Your Own Business: Panel Conversation about what defines success in craft ‘How we built our craft based businesses’ with:
  • Elle-May Michael (incube8r),
  • illustrator and crafter Hanna Mancini (aka Hannakin) and
  • artist and jewellery designer Tasha J Miller (Jubly-Umph).

The map suggests the panel discussion is nearer, so it wins out. I even remember to take back my library book. Win!

I arrive on time and ask for directions which the very nice librarian is happy to give.

A guy who looks exactly like Tom Ballard is one of two men in the audience of twenty people, but his pronounced American accent suggests he is not from round these parts.

In front of me sits what I think may be a Unicorn. I make a mental note to Google Unicorn specifics, on someone else’s pc, at some future date. In any event, it is balyage hair day at the library.

The key messages:

  • When you decide who you are, and who your market is, things start falling into place.
  • Marketing is a must.
  • If you want to boost online traffic, it’s pay to play.
  • Time is valuable and business is business;
  • Play to strengths;
  • Don’t work for exposure, unless it is going to lead to sales and customers and you discuss specifically, how that’s going to happen and agree to terms;
  • Set retail prices that include G.S.T. and base your wholesale price on that.
  • Handmade is not enough of an angle to attract a market. There must be more to what you do.
  • Quirkyness can work against you. If you only do one thing, you can be hot one day and out of business the next. Can your product be easily copied, or will it be exhausted after one season?
  • Online shops are great for mass produced items, but not one offs. Listing and selling of one offs comes at a high cost, if you’re not great at copy writing, photography and/or the web and /or you’re a maker and busy making product it may not pay off.

The Where

The City of Melbourne’s library branches are one of the reasons Tech and the City exists.

Having travelled the world for a year and a half, thinking it was just my imagination,  I’ve come home to find that, no, it’s real, Melbourne really does have a lot more to offer in terms of interesting free stuff to do of an evening than a lot of other places.

Amongst other things, my local library has reinvented itself. It’s now a community hub, which sounds like something Leslie Knope would say but check this out:

The ‘Makerspace’ on level two of Kathleen Syme (Carlton), contains a range of 3D and laser printers that you can just go and play with, once you’ve been inducted and passed on online safety quiz. This takes me by surprise. So much so, that I have no idea what it is that I would like to print, and have to go away and have a think about it.

(In case it’s of interest, I’m thinking something alone these lines.)

There’s even a recording studio at Docklands branch, if you fancy playing rock star for a day; art shows and writing groups. Today though, it’s a three person panel discussion and Q&A about starting your own craft business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEDs and me. Moduware. Week one

Posted on by Elle Brooker

cof

Moduware

TLDR

  • Moduware are offering free introductions to programming their tiles
  • MeetUp group meets once a month at WeWork, Collins Street.
  • Coding = language. It’s like writing a long form poem. There’s rules and spelling and syntax and grammar. If you can handle writing, you can code.

The What

My quest to attend as many cool tech events in Melbourne as I can brings me to WeWork, Collins Street, following a mad dash from RMIT Swanston Street, and the ceramics department’s annual auction of student works.

(Incidentally, I won one of the pieces that I bid on. So, it’s been a productive night.)

I’m with a friend, who may be many things, but a coder or programmer are not two of them. I tell him that I don’t really know what to expect from tonight, but a last minute check of the details of my MeetUp suggests that we’ll be sitting this one out, as I was meant to bring a lap top, as well as my smartphone, and we only have our phones.

Oops!

No biggie.

Alex Chernov is our host and there are three reps from Moduware, all keen to feed us pizza and to chat. One of them, Cato, mentions that he thinks you could eat for free in Melbourne every night, if you wanted to, at events just like this one. I agree, and I will nevermore to wonder whether I’m the only person who suspected this. They absolutely do!

I tell the Moduware crew that I think Melbourne has more, and more interesting, tech events than anywhere else in the world, (although admittedly I didn’t do the tech geek thing in Berlin or London, as I was too busy doing the ‘grown up gap year’ thing, and hanging out with friends I hadn’t seen since I was in my twenties, as though we were still in our twenties.) This left very little room to get to Berlin’s FabLab. I was too busy tracing David Bowie’s footsteps.

I tell them that Menlo Park and San Francisco’s dearth of interesting MeetUps really shocked me, and that it’s not my imagination that my hometown has some cutting edge events, and thoughts, and agendas that I never expected it to have. At least, not in a competitive / comparative sense, As any number of Americans and Europeans pointed out, Melbourne is the arse end of the arse end of the world and ‘so very far away.’

Ugh.

Alex wants to know how much I understand about the subject matter, and I tell him I know more than people give me credit for.

As a middle aged woman, without a tech degree, (thank goodness) I understand the assumption, but we have laws against that kind of bias for a reason. These days I may look like the Mom from ‘The User is My Mom‘ but that belies the reality that I was there when the Privacy Act was a bill being read in the Parliament (the legislative equivalent of being a twinkle in your Dad’s eye) and I’m an expert in electronic transactions in ANZ.  Not to mention, that I influenced HL7 messaging and ePrescribing globally and am likely the reason that  you can even debate whether to opt in or out because that isn’t how it was originally going to be.  To show I don’t need to resort to irrelevant boasting, I mention that I taught myself HTML when MySpace was a thing. So, there’s that.

My credentials are dead set bona fide, but my colleague’s are doubtful.  I let them know that we are fine with just looking over someone’s shoulder thanks. (If hacking into HTML taught me one thing, it’s that I don’t want to be a coder. I just want to understand how coding happens, in java, and see how this new vertically integrated programmable Scala jewellery works.

Ok, so it’s not wearable. That doesn’t make it a bad analogy…

Tonight’s event is the first in a series designed to foster a Moduware user community in Melbourne.

screenshot_20180821-185721

It’s LED night, and I’m immediately drawn to the ‘disco’ sequence, with my friend about twenty seconds ahead of me in doing the exact same thing.

The lag is caused by his Moduware base unit being on already, and my needing to locate the on switch for mine, which I establish by a process of elimination.

The ‘on’ switch has to be here somewhere…

I press all the bits that look like buttons, before finding a panel the size of a phone nano sim card, that doesn’t really scream ‘pick me’ but proves to be the key to the castle.

Success.

I’m in.

Future events will centre on the other tiles that Moduware have developed.

Next month’s will look at the thermostat function, for example, that isn’t a thermometer but can tell ambient and surface temperature, up to a point. (Word of caution. It will melt and isn’t waterproof. So, it has some limitations.)

The breathlyser, digital projector and conferencing tiles; barometer and measurement tool, which I’m told can size up the dimensions of a space, and measure distance, without you needing to get up from your chair sound very promising.

I suggest that if it can do this, then it might be useful to helping one triangulate how best to pocket a billiard ball.  This is met with an eyebrow raise but the theory is not disputed.

I’m urged to go on Github, which I do have a registered account for, but have never accessed.

I’m not sure this it the exact right tipping point for me. I don’t play billiards all that often.

About Moduware

Moduware started life as a simple power pack, and it still serves this purpose. The product evolved from a phone case that proved to be nonviable, due to the rapid fire evolution of smart phone design, and the variety of brands in the market. It’s explained to me that the tiles augment one’s phone with hardware, the way that an application augments the phone’s existing functions with new software.Wireless speakers are the most relatable example of this in real life already.
When we open the packs, I notice that they are all named after Star Trek ships and this impresses Alex. So it should. He mentions that the product intent is to be a tricorder and I can see the potential, although it rather reminds me of a Sony Walkman and that is never a bad thing. (Retro tech is an emerging trend in my GenX opinion. Speaking as someone who collected vinyl in the 90s when everyone was chucking it away. )

The Where

WeWork takes up several levels of 401 Collins Street. It’s a co-working space with locations scattered globally.

I can see why digital nomads might not choose to come to Melbourne, given this prime CBD location. I imagine that cashed up millenial entrepreneurs and people wouldn’t travel to Melbourne if they had to co-work out at Maidstone or Boronia.Ballarat, Bendigo or Macedon might manage to pull it off.

Confusingly, there is no signage in the lobby or the lift telling us how to get to reception, so that’s a bit of a design fail.

When we do get in, (with Moduware’s help,) the look and lay out is uncannily familiar, largely because I spent a month at WeWork’s Medellin location, as part of grown up gap year. It’s dream like in some ways. Everything is here, but in a slightly different place.

WeWork offered free beer on tap in Medellin but only during business hours which I think says a lot about the Colombian work ethic. I don’t ask if they do that in Melbourne, because I don’t drink beer.

On reflection, I’m hard pressed to think of any multi-storey places that would fit the bill in St Kilda or Carlton or Fitzroy, so the CBD may have been the most obvious choice of location. WeWork inhabit nine storeys. About the same number as they did in Colombia. It must be the way we work works.

The Ask

Moduware is hoping to develop a developer community however it’s also conducting market research.

Influencing how tech companies develop new things is right up my alley so I am in my element.

My friend and I are interviewed separately and we are also filmed, responding to questions about whether we would use the tech, how much we would pay and what our ideas are for future developments.

Now you’re talking!

One of the motives behind the blog and this my TechPol renaissance is a quest to understand the future of work and how to influence technology and its ethical development. What better way than to do this than to meet with developers? Or be a developer?

There is a github for this, but on reflection I would like:

  • a casting tool. I mention this because I left my ChromeCast i Lisbon after loaning it to a flat mate and it is still on grown up gap year with the person who was going to get it back to me but prevented from doing this by an erupting volcano.
  • a way to integrate the breathalyser into a key fob to prevent the car from starting as this would mimic and enhance existing tech and a key ring option so that the tile can attach
  • A walkman style belt hook or a wrist watch bracelet so that you can wear your tiles like Scala and be hands free. This would also mean you could wear them through airport security which is a fun way of expanding any luggage allowance.
  • a speech to text function for recording random thoughts, that works like a communicator from Star Trek (TM). by activating a tile attached to the breast by a brooch.

The Sweetener

People who attend a Moduware workshop at WeWork receive a discount code and have the option of picking up their product from the office, thereby saving on the purchase of their Moduware and the shipping.

Links

https://moduware.com/

https://github.com/

https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Scala/subtheme-Jewellery

 

Lunchtime lessons at Academi Xi. Service agreements 101 with Simbisa Law

Posted on by Elle Brooker

Be Legally Covered is a slightly awkward name for the event I’m about to go to.

It’s lunchtime and I’m off to Exhibition Street to get the low down on service level agreements.

It’s week four or five of my tech / data / culture odyssey and I don’t mind admitting that taking on lunchtimes, as well as weeknights (and sometimes more than one event a night, including two tonight) is causing a backlog in the writing department.

I feel like I have a new job.

I remind myself that I do have a new job, but that writing the blog is not it. I am in the process of setting up a website. Remember?

The presentation is not exactly tech or data, but it is broadly ‘cultural’ and this is a ‘need to know’ situation. I’m starting a new business that involves working on site in people’s homes and handling their precious heirlooms, art and collectibles.  And it needs a website.

I only have half a law degree and some experience making and changing laws, so let’s just say there are some knowledge gaps. What is it they say about a small amount of knowledge?

TLDR

  • If you’re in business, it’s wise to have a standard form contract (a Master form) with conditions tailored to your needs and the option to extend it / amend it.
  • Limit your liability to the value of the work to be done, including any work performed (or not performed) by a sub-contractor.
  • There are many kinds of insurances, but they’re not as expensive as you thought they might be.
  • Irrational positivity and avoiding difficult conversations are not a good reasons to not have a contract limiting your liability. Dumbass.

The What

The reminder note I received from the good burghers of Academy Xi (pronounced ex–eye, not zee) outlined what to expect.

The speaker today is co-founder of Simbisa law, Rugare Gomo.

‘Simbisa’ means ’empowerment’ in Zimbabwean. (I would add, that I did not know this. I was told it. I do not speak Zimbabwean. Not fluently anyway…)

I’m greeted at the door by joint co-founder of Simbisa, Luke Gallea, and both co-founders make a point of introducing themselves and learning my name. Gosh. Polite and polished. Someone’s been reading their Dale Carnegie.*

Rugare covers:

  • What is a Service Agreement and when it should be used
  • Whether you should be engaged as a contractor or employee?
  • Protecting yourself with appropriate limitations of liability
  • Who should be responsible for insurance?
  • Ensuring you are protected if your client fails to pay, or pays late
  • Clearly specifying who is responsible for tax obligations to avoid costly mistakes
  • How to use a Master Services Agreement to cover all work orders

The above paragraph was a straight cut and paste. I think it shows…

The Where

I’m at Academy Xi, (pronounced ex-eye) and I’m one of five women in a room of twenty people. Interesting.

This reverses the ratio in the lift five minutes ago, where it was 6:1 women to men until  the first floor gym. I did notice that I was the only person wearing office gear. I don’t mind admitting that I felt slightly resentful of people motivated to go to the gym during their office lunch break. If I’m honest…

Tim Rice –  the organisation’s Events Manager – not the guy who collaborates with Andrew Lloyd Webber, kicks things off and mentions that the group is an education group; That it hosts up to twenty events each week on various subjects.

Wow. My calendar is already quite full.

I’m curious about the difference between a Service Agreement and a Service Level agreement and fortunately for me so is the nice man in the second row.  It turns out, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet and, loosely speaking, both of the above mentioned agreements can be interchanged with one another to some extent.

Rugare is a talented presenter and keeps to time, whilst fielding all of our questions.

I’m concerned the nice man in the second row thinks that if his contract doesn’t contained levels that this means his client is not entitled to expect impossible, 100 percent service levels. I think that could do with being clarified. I would be pissed if my email service was planning to be out more than any of the time so putting in a number would at least set me up to know that technology isn’t failsafe.

I like that Rugare believes that the Tax Office will succeed in its bid to have contractors defined as employees in its suit against an unnamed global platform. It shows the horrible cynicism that pervades Australian corporates, (our banks, restaurants, convenience stores) and puts me off wanting to return to that world isn’t universal.

Next Steps

The conversation covers online platforms that support short term contract work. I wonder whether they do or don’t include conditions that address liability for damages and under performance the way Rugare suggests they might. I cynically think probably not and the answer seems to be some do some don’t.

I resolve to check.

The Ask

The firm is hosting a ticketed workshop on 12 September covering how to negotiate profitable deals with your clients. This means you’ll learn to tailor your own contracts.

The Sweetener

The firm offers a FREE 30 minute telephone strategy session that you can book online.

Links

https://www.simbisalaw.com.au/

Simbasa 2

‘Spark Your Creativity’ – an evening with Dara Simkin

Posted on by Elle Brooker

 

Quote of the night

“Perfection is procrastination in a sparkly dress” – Dara Simkin, 2018

Tonight I’m at ‘Spark Your Creativity.‘

Our presenter is U.S. citizen Dara Simkin.  Dara’s been in Oz long enough to grasp what ‘yeah nah’ means and have her first exposure to Monty Python –  which makes me feel quite sorry for Americans.

I wonder whether she’s watched Pete and Dud in the art gallery, and I think that if she hasn’t then she should, and so should you, and so here it is.

TLDR

  • Get used to feeling uncomfortable. Being creative requires you to get out of your comfort zone on purpose.
  • Experiment. Practice makes perfect.
  • The future is uncertain and already upon us. Have a think about what you’ll do when the robots take over.

The What

I’m one of 25 people in the audience. It’s Monday and the most difficult night of the week to get people to events.

Melbourne’s weather continues to snap freeze the balls off a brass monkey. I am rugged up under a hat and several layers, including alpaca wool mittens. Brr!

From the get-go everyone declares themselves sufficiently creative, and claimsthey’ve never been told to be more so, ever, which begs the question why are they here then?

We do a few ‘get to know you’ / ‘let’s practice how this works’ exercises. My suspicion that people aren’t always the best judge of their own measure is confirmed during this phase.

Both partners, paired with me, exhibit the rigidity that I described as being a ‘creativity killer’ earlier in the evening.

One of them does what Dara specifically asked us not to do and allows me to take the lead without contributing a thing. It’s a silly handshake for Pete’s sake. I may not be a mason but how hard can it be?

Quite hard as it turns out. We start off easy using the ‘wrong; hand, which is fine, but also a bit sinister and a bit judgy if you’re a south paw. In the absence of any assistance I Monty Python the situation, and add a wink, wink and a tug of the ear, for good measure. This is more physically taxing than you might imagine. It’s on a par with patting your head while rubbing your tummy in terms of degree of difficulty. It succeeds in breaking the ice and making us looks silly, so that’s a win.

My next partner hits almost all of Dara’s buttons without the slightest glimmer of ironic realisation. He fancies himself quite creative but is undone by his:

  1. unimaginative and all too plausible ‘and then’ scenarios; and
  2. semi-public query, issued in self deprecation, (and to no one in particular,) that he “doesn’t understand how a simple trip to Bali resulted in our becoming drug runners.”

Point two is a long story, punctuated at the end with the live equivalent of canned laughter at the above ‘joke’. It involves improv and and two people telling what is meant to be a made up story. His reaction to me having fun, and being ridiculous, is on point.  He personifies the Holy Trilogy, the Triple J – the ‘judge, joke, justify’ that Dara says we tend to use when we fear ridicule from others.

It looks to me as though he’s deeply uncomfortable with being creative, as well as with anybody around him being creative, whatever he might like to wish was true.

Shrug.

As someone half my age might say and get away with: “I got no shame, bro.”

The Where

I’m at General Assembly, William Street in its events room, – a chair-filled space, chopped in half for the night by partitions.

The wifi password is ‘yellowpencil.’ It’s painted on the wall.

The Melbourne office is one of a few dozen G.A. branches scattered globally. This one is close to the Yarra, and to Flinders Street, and the Immigration Museum.

G.A. started life as a co-working venture, before branching out into what you might call ‘knowledge sharing*’ which is why I’m here tonight.

The Salient Points

Dara is a delight. Her style is authentic, her enthusiasm is right-sized and her evidence-based approach is persuasive, and logical.

Anyone who advocates a modicum of caution when you’re stepping out of your comfort zone and who comes with a lot less ‘woo’ than I’m used to seeing and hearing from entrepreneurs gets my vote.

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A slice of one of Dara’s slides…

‘Creativity’ has morphed into a ‘hero word‘.

By this I take it Dara means that people like to think they have desirable attributes in spades, as long as others hold that attribute in some esteem. In other words, being creative has developed cachet. 

It’s OK to play

Dara advocates play and humour in the workplace, in the right proportions, and gosh knows the number of people I’ve met who thought I wasn’t taking my job seriously because I had a sense of humour.

Preach!

Practice makes perfect

Dara cites Nita Leland, (whom she admits she hasn’t read) but likes Nita’s idea of paying ‘relaxed attention’ to your surroundings and your feelings, meaning, literally stopping to smell the roses, be present in the moment and take a breather once in a while.

To assist you, try leaving your phone at home, once in a while, and put your phone down and time how long that lasts.

The Ask

General Assembly’s free events are designed to get you interested in their paid courses, workshops and conferences and tonight is no exception.

Fortunately, the pitch is never a hard sell, which I like, because it means I’m more open to the hearing the bait and making the switch than I otherwise would be.

I would actually consider going to Project Play because:

  1. it’s less than $100, which is very reasonable for this type of event;
  2. I get a discount for having attended tonight, and you can too, if you attend Spark Your Creativity II on 20 August; and
  3. the line up features an expert in divergent thinking and members of the IDEO group, who codified design thinking, or claim they did, which I find interesting.

Dara is also a life coach and has a more in-depth creativity seminar she’ll be hosting at G.A. that you might like to attend.

Dara Creativity

Links

http://www.darasimkin.com/

http://projectplay.work/

https://generalassemb.ly/education/spark-your-creativity

Footnotes

* I hesitate to call knowledge sharing ‘education‘ as I’ve formed the opinion that both sets of providers would strongly object to the label and for wildly, different reasons.