Meme Breather: Conference Edition

Time and sleep are precious...

I've been orchestrating a conference yesterday and now today. What's more, the hotel I am staying at has spotty internet. In the interest of sanity, my Friday post will be brief. Cheers.

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Creative Tool: Idea Mutation

It's mutating out of control! Here is another wild method of improving the creativity of ideas through the process of introducing random 'mutations'. I call it Idea Mutation. Method: Start with an idea. Add it to a circle on the far left side of a piece of paper. That is round 1. Make two branches off the first idea. Each branch has a new circle. That is round 2. For each branch, roll a 10-sided dice and select the 'mutation' from the table below. For each branch, create a 'mutated' idea incorporating that branch's mutation. Continue branching and mutation ideas for subsequent rounds (3, 4, etc.). Modifications: Include different mutations (ex. Add Thrill, More Collaborative, Clearer, etc.) Add null mutation (no changes for certain branches) Change probability of mutations (same mutation for more than one number) Examples:

Creative Tool: Idea Bracket

Let the Best Idea Win. How to generate great ideas? Why not create an Idea Bracket ? It is analogous to a sports league play-off. Ideas are pitted against each other, with the winning idea moving on to the next round. The last idea standing is the winner. I do have a few additional rules. The Three M's : Modify, Merge, and Markup. These rules allow for both idea modification and saving sub-winner ideas. Simple enough, right? Let's try it out on some examples. Story Beginning Location Floating City and Haunted Graveyard merged into Floating Graveyard Screaming Wastelands modified into Blasted Wastelands Winner was Floating Graveyard and Sundered Titan merged into Floating Graveyard of Titans Artistic Inspiration Shack Brainstorming and Review Idea/Notes merged to Shack Review Ideas TCG View modified to TCG Mashup Shack Review Ideas marked for later Monster App and Walk and Song merged to Walk and Song with Monster App Priming Winner was TCG Mashup and Walk and Son

Work Tool: Mini Supreme Court

Defense of your life... Books are treasure chests. Sure, many little more than metaphorical containers of cobwebs and dead jabberwocky skulls. But some hold gems of knowledge. Get Your Ideas approved, by Jon Spoelstra, is such a book . He explains the secret of getting ideas approved. Secret: Treat the decision maker like your own personal Supreme Court deciding your fate. Under that schema, you'd certainly prepare like your life depended on it marshal your strongest arguments ready a response to every potential objection Jon's book stands on it's own as a resource, so I won't try to replicate his methods verbatim. Instead, I propose a setup for smaller decisions. Mini Supreme Court . Mini Supreme Court Purpose: help prepare for smaller idea approvals in 30 minutes. Steps: Research - 2-3 sources minimum (7.5 minutes) Argument - revise at least once (7.5 minutes) Brainstorm objections (5 minutes) Respond to objections (5 minutes) Review and practice - 2 to 3 ti

The Mark Williamson Creative Universe

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