Imagine It.
I like to be surprised. Well, I don’t like bad surprises like people yelling “boo” or pitchers of water falling on my head. I do like the sort of surprise that inspires you and enlightens you and makes you want to be a better person. I like surprises where you are amazed that someone came up with that and shocked that it drew attention. My love of surprises is probably what drew me to the job I have here- the innovative things I learn about every day provides little packets of surprise and brillant “hmmm…what??!? You’re kidding me!” moments.
Stanford University capitalized on these moments in their Imagine IT campaign and subsequent video. They challenged participants around the globe to use a 3M Post It note to provide value. Value was a term laden with definitions: social value, monetary value, emotional value, etc. The resulting presentations were astounding. One group made over $500 dollars using post-its, another created a place to discuss social transformations. I’m not going to ruin the story nor am I going to tell all the details. If you want to know more (and you should see this, its cool), look here.
What I am going to suggest is that you use their example as a guide for planning activities during the Week. Not only did they inspire others to be creative but they were creative in their creation of the event. Lessons that we can learn from Imagine It:
1.) Keep the idea simple. They based their entire event around the concept of value.
2.) Allow participants endless amounts of reach/latitude/room to breath and think. Their only constraint was to use a Post It.
3.) Bring in really thought provoking people to help guide and mentor.
4.) Store it for perpetuity- the video about the event is almost as fun as the event itself. The zany nature of the host while slightly frightening is also engaging and humorous.
5.) Never underestimate your participants- they will surprise and awe you.
So come on, do something that surprises me but make sure to write in and tell me about it! Honestly, though, if you dump water on my head, the Global EW mafia will rain on your parade. Just kidding, well sort of, I bet a Global Entrepreneurship Week mafia would be a cool innovative thing…….. your thoughts?
Tags: Global Entrepreneurship Week, Imagine It., Stanford University
