How to Unleash Your Creativity: For Profit & Gain

Roy Blumenthal's Creativity Mentoring, Coaching, and Workshops -- Pricelist

2006-12-04T17:27:00.000+02:00

A client of mine recently asked me to put together a list of some of
the things I could offer his company in terms of creativity workshops
and mentoring for his staff and clients. So I thought I'd share the
menu with you, in case you know of anyone who would like me to tailor
one of my interventions to their needs.

The prices below are valid until the end of February 2008. If you book
now for dates later than that, these prices will still hold! So book
now!

The menu is split into

Creativity workshops and Facilitations.
Individual or small-group, results-oriented mentoring/coaching for selected staff members.

Lemme know if any of this appeals. My number is +27 74 104 6386. My email address is royblumenthal@gmail.com.

Blue skies
love
Roy

1. CREATIVITY WORKSHOPS & FACILITATIONS

OBLITERATING THE BLOCKS
An Interactive Roleplay Workshop

Time:
3.5 hours.

Target:
Staff who feel they're stuck, and staff who simply want to 'refresh' the way they see their projects. We'll need 8 to 18 people in this one.

Personnel:
Four facilitators from 'Beyond the Box', the open source industrial theatre company I've founded.

What we'll do:
We'll have the participants in the group interacting with each other to express their blockage. We'll then role-play various blockage scenarios, and have participants actively engage with one another's issues to help solve them. This session will create 'option thinking', helping the participants to find new ways of doing things.

Outcomes:

Personal responsibility for clearing blocks
Relationship building within the produciton teams so that they have internal support for their new ideas
Better interpretation of client briefs.

Price:
R 15 550 (fixed price, up to approx 18 people)

WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS -- BEING YOURSELF IN A TEAM
An Interactive Roleplay Workshop

Time:
3.5 hours.

Target:
The 'team'. 8 to 18 people in this session.

Personnel:
Four facilitators from 'Beyond the Box', the open source industrial theatre company I've founded.

What we'll do:
This is about the delicate art of being an individual with strong, definite views amongst a bunch of other individuals with similarly strong, definite views. It's about the chaos of being a maverick in a team of mavericks. How the heck does a person BE themselves, and yet still contribute to the myth of 'the team'?

This is also an interactive role-play, where the participants bring out their difficulties, and the group roleplays these through to satisfying conclusions. Repeat after me, 'We are all unique.' Heheheheehe

Outcomes:

Really getting to know WHY certain people do certain things
Demystifying the individualists in the group
Giving people better 'handles' on each others' working habits
Relationship-building
Converting chaos (or even light turmoil) into productivity

Price:
R 15 550 (fixed price, up to approx 18 people)

SCUPLTING THE ANSWER
Human Sculptures Reveal All

Time:
1 hour.

Target:
Management, production teams, decision-making groups. 4 to 18 people in this session.

Personnel:
Two facilitators from 'Beyond the Box', the open source industrial theatre company I've founded.

What we'll do:
This is focussed on finding solutions to particular issues. Whatever the issue is on the day, this workshop helps create a new way of understanding and interacting with the challenge. We make 'human sculptures' out of the issue, and the sculptures find ways through to solutions.

Outcomes:

Clarify the issue
Find ways to the ideal outcome
Identify blocks to the ideal outcome
Find transitions to achieving the desired outcome
Problem solving
Option thinking

Price:
R 5 850 (fixed price, up to approx 18 people)

UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVITY FOR PROFIT AND GAIN
A Fullday Creativity Workshop

Time:
8 hours. (Can be split over two morning sessions.)

Target:
Everyone in business who wants to feel more creative. Up to 26 people in this workshop.
Clients who want to 'embrace the craziness'.

Personnel:
Roy Blumenthal

What we'll do:
This is the workshop I've been running for the past 7 or so years. In it, we look at different takes on creativity, how to mobilise our creativity, tricks and tools to use when we're stuck. We also learn that goalsetting and action are intrinsic to unleashing creativity, and we work on tools to be more effective at setting and realising goals. This is a fun workshop, with lots of interaction and 'playing'.

Outcomes:

A creativity 'toolkit'
Effective goalsetting
Effective action planning
Unleashed creativity
Profit and gain

Price:
R 18 850 (fixed price, up to approx 26 people)

2. INDIVIDUAL OR SMALL GROUP MENTORING/COACHING

I'm happy to work with individuals and small groups of up to 4 people per group. It's much more cost-effective to work with small groups, as I discount the per-head price.

The way I normally do this kind of work is to contract for a minimum of six sessions, in multiples of six sessions. Optimum coaching takes place over 12 to 18 sessions, with six being a 'low hanging fruit' and 'getting to know you' kind of intervention. The longer the number of sessions contracted for, the more cost-effective.

It's best to meet once every two weeks, or once every week, for 60 to 90 minutes. Once a month CAN work, but continuity suffers. Twice a month is optimum, with once a week being good if there are crises to be dealt with.

So, here's the menu...

Individuals:

6 sessions -- R1 900 per session
12 sessions -- R1 600 per session
18 sessions -- R 1 200 per session

Groups of 4:

6 sessions -- R1 200 per person, per session
12 sessions -- R1 100 per person, per session
18 sessions -- R1 000 per person, per session

I'm also happy to negotiate a discount if I'm coaching more than one group.

Please let me know what you feel about these options. And gimme a call on: +27 74 104 6386, or email me on royblumenthal@gmail.com, and we can leap into action whenever you're ready.

Remember, these prices go up at the end of February 2008, so book now, and the early-bird prices will hold regardless of the date you book for!

Tutorial: How to Test Your Art Materials for Colour-fastness and Longevity

2006-07-26T17:06:00.000+02:00

Your artwork SHOULD be around in one-hundred years time. How certain are you that yours will survive the ravages of exposure to ultra-violet light? Be sure you're using archive-quality materials, and you're well on the way to ensuring your work's longeivty.

This is a quick tutorial on how to test your art materials for colour-fastness.

I recommend that all artists try this. You'll be amazed at how poorly some of your favourite inks and pigments survive.

1. Do two almost identical paintings of something. These are really just scribbles. Not art. Make sure you have some ultra fine lines, some splatters, and some densely coloured areas.

2. Put the date on both pieces.

3. Put one piece in an envelope, and put the envelope in a drawer, away from light.

4. Tape the other on a window that gets the midday and afternoon sun. The pigment should be facing the sun.

5. Go back two months later, and compare the two pieces.

If you used ballpoint pen, you'll notice that it takes about a month for ballpoint pen to fade to a very pale yellow line, no matter WHAT the manufacturers claim about colourfastness. One month more, and there is NO evidence that a line existed at all.
If you used genuine pigment-based India Ink, you'll notice that those lines haven't changed in the slightest.
If you used cheap student paint, oil or acrylic, you'll notice that almost ALL of the colour has degraded badly, especially the reds and blues.
If you made digital art, and printed it out on an inkjet printer, you'll be horrified. Totally horrified.
If you printed your pics out at a professional photographic studio on actual photo paper, you'll be quite pleased, but not over the moon.
If you specified to your digital print expert that you were looking for archive-quality, pigment based, UV-resistant inks on an acid-free paper, you'll be grinning from ear to ear, and understanding why it costs so much more.

The lesson is this: use India Ink for line, and use the very best, most expensive paint that is made out of pigment, not chemical dye. And pay the most you can afford to print digital images.

One other thing... you can add a THIRD page to this test... make one on cheap typing paper, and the other two on acid-free art paper. Put one of the acid-free ones in the envelope, and the other two in the window.

You'll see that the acid-free paper 'helps' the ink stay fresher. Cheap paper degrades the ink.

Jackson Pollock's paintings are at this moment crumbling, and being restored flake by flake by experts. The paint he used was substandard. The materials he painted on were substandard. If he were a lesser artist, it would not be economically viable to actually restore the works.

Technorati Tags: art, archive, craft, printing, painting, drawing, royblumenthal, roy blumenthal, blumenthal, coffeeshopschmuck, coffee-shop schmuck, coffee shop schmuck, tutorial, howto, lifehack, hack

Technorati Tags: art, archive, craft, printing, painting, drawing, royblumenthal, roy blumenthal, blumenthal, coffeeshopschmuck, coffee-shop schmuck, coffee shop schmuck, tutorial, howto, lifehack, hack

Creating South Africa's first open source industrial theatre company

2006-06-11T12:00:00.000+02:00

I'm in the process of co-creating South Africa's first open source industrial theatre company.

Every Saturday, my compatriots meet at the Hillbrow Commuinity Theatre to workshop two things... the creation of our company, and the stuff we're offering to corporates. (I've previously written up an intervention we did for a group of ex-prostitutes in Berea, near Hillbrow. We're doing another intervention this Wednesday, focussing on improving communication between the ladies and the management of the New Life Centre, the not-for-profit that provides training for them.)

I've drafted a very rough outline of how we want to structure our company. I've posted it to a site devoted to the open-sourcing of business. The site is called Open Business. And my draft is at http://www.openbusiness.cc/2006/05/28/exploring-a-structure-for-an-open-source-business/.

I'd really love it if you could visit the article, grapple with it, and offer suggestions.

The idea here is that we want our business model to work for other industrial theatre companies that want to do something similar. And we want to get input from companies and people who've gone the open source route, so that we don't have to make the same mistakes they've made.

Please visit the draft I've written and add your comments. Thanks!

Teaching adult-educators how to bring laughter and creativity to their classrooms

2006-05-18T20:09:00.000+02:00

2006-05-18 John Jackson
Originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

John Jackson is a musician in London, and one of the photographers who makes his work available free of charge on stock.xchange, an amazing online photo archive.

All of the images I use in my creativity seminars come from there.

Tomorrow I'm delivering a pretty challenging workshop to a bunch of teachers in Soweto, a suburb south of Johannesburg. The teachers belong to an organisation that educates adults and youth who are not in school.

They've got a whole bunch of schools situated all around Soweto.

My job tomorrow is to help motivate them, and to teach them how to bring fun and creativity into their classrooms.

In South Africa, this type of adult education comes as a result of apartheid. The educational system in the old South Africa was disgustingly aimed at under-educating black citizens, thereby creating a subservient under-class. The people in these schools have had education plucked away from them. Now they want to learn properly.

Phshew.

The picture of John's I'm using illustrates a concept in the section about how adult learners are different from normal school kids. Learning ability changes with the various age-stages of adulthood. John's pic shows a group of Arabic men spanning all the generations.

I offered John a portrait of himself in return for the fact that he so freely gave his photo to the internet community.

This drawing was made using Alias Sketchbook Pro 2.0 on a Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc.

An amazing retreat in Montagu in the Cape, South Africa, for poets, writers, artists, and people who want to inspire themselves

2006-04-06T09:09:00.000+02:00

Phil McCumskey sent me an email letting me know about weekend workshops he and his wife are organising at their retreat centre in the Cape. It looks absolutely awesome. They've still got slots open for their workshops on writing poetry and writing novels.

Here is the info Phil sent me...

Karoo Weekend Poetry Workshop - Friday 5th May - Sunday 7th May 2006

Join us at Studio Karoo for a series of ongoing creative weekend workshops. Writing, art, music, poetry, theatre and crafts. Set in the stunning Langeberg mountains only 15 kilometres from the village of Montagu, Studio Karoo is a converted 1909 Cape cottage adjoining Phil and Moira McCumskey's house built in 1899.

Finuala Dowling, best known for her poetry collection, "I flying," which won her the Ingrid Jonker prize, will host the "Approach to Poetry" weekend workshop. Her second poetry collection, "Doo-wop girls of the universe," has just been published. She taught English at Unisa before becoming a freelance writer. Finuala read at the international poetry festival curated by Antjie Krog at Spier earlier this year and will be reading at the 2006 Aldeburgh International Poetry Festival. Her first novel, "What Poets Need," was published by Penguin in 2005. Finuala lives in a large green house in Kalk Bay daughter, three dogs, mother, no husband and no cat. People sometimes ask about the cat.

The poetry workshop has been inspired by the words of Miroslav Holub: "I prefer to write for people untouched by poetry. ... I would like them to read poems in such a matter-of-fact manner as when they are reading the newspaper or go to football matches. I would like people not to regard poetry as something more difficult, more effeminate or more praiseworthy."

This fun weekend is open to only ten participants and kicks off on Friday evening with a welcoming braai under Karoo stars and finishes lunchtime Sunday. Your hosts Moira and Phil will serve up terrific food and uncork a few bottles of lekker local wine. Accommodation on neighbouring farms is rustic but very comfortable.

Karoo Weekend "Writing a Novel" Workshop - Friday 12th May 2006

Join us at Studio Karoo for a series of ongoing creative weekend workshops. Writing, art, music, poetry, theatre and crafts. Set in the stunning Langeberg mountains only 15 kilometres from the village of Montagu, Studio Karoo is a converted 1909 Cape cottage adjoining Phil and Moira McCumskey's house built in 1899.

Mike Nicol will host the "Writing a Novel" workshop. Mike is the author of four novels, "The Powers That Be," "This Day and Age," "Horseman" and "The Ibis Tapestry," and a crime novel, "Out to Score," co-authored with Joanne Hichens and published in March 2006 by Random House's new imprint, Umuzi. He has also written works of non-fiction and published two volumes of poetry. Mike teaches a course on constructing a novel at UCT's Centre for Creative Writing and recently ran a crime writing course at the university's Summer School. He works as a journalist and lives in Cape Town.

This fun weekend workshop kicks off on Friday evening 12th May with a welcoming braai under Karoo stars and an opening address by Mike Nicol. Moira and Phil - the almost-naked chef - will serve up marinated Karoo lamb chops, tender chicken breasts, herb-caressed green salads, and home-baked bread. They'll also prepare delicious vegetarian dishes for those of you who prefer. A few bottles of superb local wine are bound to go down well… then it's straight to bed! Accommodation on neighbouring farms is rustic but very comfortable and you each have your own room.

On Saturday, after a full English breakfast, the workshop begins. Mike will earn his keep and make better writers of you all. Learn how to improve your dialogue, get to know your characters, write a synopsis, and construct a plot. There will be written exercises and you will all get to read your own work to the group. Of course, during all this, Phil and Moira will be hard at it in the kitchen preparing a terrific lunch and gourmet dinner. Later in the afternoon you can take a walk in the mountains or just chill. Dinner will be a relaxed event where you can enjoy the company of your fellow writers and unwind. Who knows, you may even spot one of the many orbiting satellites or catch sight of a shooting star. Don't forget to make a wish!

Enjoy a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast on the verandah gazing across at our own, "Klein Tafelberg." The workshop continues and Mike will wrap things up at lunchtime when, once again, Phil and Moira present a final, scrumptious meal. You're then free to walk in the vineyards or swing in the hammock under the hundred-year old Karoo acacia before making your way home.

How Much?

The total cost of each of these weekends, which includes two nights accommodation, the very best food through to Sunday lunch, teas and coffees (all other drinks for your own account) and the workshop itself, is ONLY R1 650 per person. 50% deposit payable on date of booking - balance payable 14 days prior to date of workshop.

Your Hosts

Phil and Moira escaped from Johannesburg in 1996 and spent the next seven years in the midlands of Natal. In 2003, they discovered Montagu and a lovely smallholding tucked in the mountains. Moira "knits' copper wire bags and dabbles in fabric painting and beading. Phil has been a professional actor and director and before leaving Jo'burg ran his own video production company. He now freelances as a writer of video scripts, corporate communications, radio ads and website copy. He also writes travel articles - many of which have been published... and he's working on a novel. Phil recently co-wrote the script and was the on-camera presenter for an exciting DVD promoting Route 62.

To book phone Phil on +27 23 614 2901 or e-mail at kinell@telkomsa.net

Technorati Tags: creativity, south africa, writer, poet, retreat, phil mccumskey, finuala dowling, mike nicol

Yesterday's creativity seminar to teachers seems to have been enjoyed by most!

2006-03-08T21:56:00.000+02:00

"This was a thoroughly enjoyable workshop."
"Everybody can be creative, and with the necessary tools, it can be achieved."
"Different -- thought-provoking -- stimulating. Thank you for an enjoyable day!"
"It made me certain that I am creative."

A few of the comments from my feedback forms from yesterday's creativity seminar to teachers.

Phshew. Woke up really early yesterday morning, and schlepped tons of stuff down to S's car. (My car is a two-seater sportscar, with no space, so I HAD to use her car.) Made three trips down. Then got stuck in traffic on the way to the War Museum, where the seminar was being held. A bus had crushed a Merc. There were five ambulances and a fire engine on the scene.

So I was a bit harried when I got there. But Robert helped me carry stuff. Single-handedly carted a massive box of magazines up to the venue.

I breathed a tad. Did some tai chi. And was ready to begin at 9am, the agreed time. But at least half of the 54 delegates were stuck on Jan Smuts Avenue behind the crushed Merc, and we started at 9:15am instead.

Thanks to Robert, Carmen, Nicole, Sarah, Mirzer, Nigel, and Wan for organising everything so brilliantly. And thanks to the delegates for being so lively and responsive.

It's really amazing teaching creativity, cos most people really don't believe that they're creative. And they're a bit sceptical of people like me who claim that creativity can be taught. But I've been teaching it for almost a decade now, and people CERTAINLY do become creative!

My approach is that creativity is a set of learned skills. If you embrace the tools, you become creative. Simple as that.

I'm running a half-day version of my seminar for the Wits University "World of Work" Post Graduate Internship Programme on Wednesday next week. And looking forward to that one. I normally invite friends of mine who are living, breathing, earning creatives to come along as examples that creativity isn't an esoteric thing. Got a couple of lovely people lined up.

Technorati Tags: creativity, roy blumenthal, wits, wits university

Viva Hecate Productions joins forces with Beacon in war on waste

2006-03-08T21:20:00.000+02:00

Here is an article that appeared on BizCommunity about a production I wrote and conceived on behalf of Hecate, for Beacon Sweets. David James directed the show, and made a brilliant success of it.

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article.aspx?c=98&l=196&ai=9462

Tiger Brands' Beacon Sweets factories in Durban enlisted Viva Hecate Productions to assist with an industrial theatre intervention in their War on waste campaign.

Greg Bates, Unit Manager - Beacon Candy, said, "The industrial theatre medium is an awesome experience and one that truly facilitates a way of translating and explaining concepts in a very practical and humorous way. Our challenge going forward is to nurture and grow this seed that has been planted to secure our futures."

The brief from Beacon was to demonstrate to their employees the need to eradicate any kind of waste - wasting time, wasting materials, wasting product - and how this would affect the share price and benefit the shareholders - the employees themselves.

Viva Hecate Productions elected the medium of Forum Theatre to fully involve the audiences in the content of the theatre and its outcome. The performance started with a scenario depicting the main character making doubtful choices in his work and personal life. The actors then re-ran the performance but with members of the audience taking the part of the lead character and making their own decisions. The same scenario was then again performed with the audience's changes resulting in a happy ending for all!

Di Kershaw, MD of Viva Hecate Productions, says, "Forum theatre was the perfect medium for this intervention as it places accountability firmly in the hands of the audience. The audiences' warmed immediately to the production which included a great deal of humour and was message specific - and it was wonderful to especially see even Shop Stewards display their acting skills!"

The roadshow consisted of 22 shows performed over two weeks to the employees of four Beacon Sweet factories in Durban with the times of the shows staggered to fit with the factory shifts.

[06 Mar 09:20]

Technorati Tags: forum theatre, augusto boal, boal, creativity, industrial theatre, beacon, hecate, roy blumenthal

Intense preparation for my creativity seminar for school teachers tomorrow

2006-03-06T21:11:00.000+02:00

I'm in intense preparation for a full-day creativity seminar I'm delivering tomorrow. I'll be doing loads of interactive stuff with around sixty school teachers from around Gauteng, all aimed at helping them (1) be more creative in the classroom, and (2) liberate the creativity of their learners.

Something I'm doing differently this time is that I'll be using a set of Powerpoint presentations to illustrate some of my concepts. Thanks to inspiration from Missing Link and Presentation Zen, I'm confident that my slides will add value to my seminars, rather than cluttering things up and detracting. And I've spent at least 20 hours over the last month browsing through stock.xchng, an online repository of free photos. And I've found some amazing stuff.

Now it's back to work wrapping a mystery prize for one of the activities.

Technorati Tags: creativity, seminar, teaching, teachers
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How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 9 of 9

2006-02-14T22:09:00.001+02:00

9. What to do if you want to continue working with your agency.

When things are going right, you might want to contiue your relationship. Know that storminess happens in the best of relationships. Keep cards on the table. Communicate with your agency. Let them know what they're doing right. Let them know what results you're getting off their efforts.

Always bear in mind that it's always a two-way street. What's working for you needs to work for them. And vice versa.

Communication is the key here.

How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 8 of 9

2006-02-14T22:09:00.000+02:00

8. What to do when your ad agency doesn't want to work with you.

There will be times when you find that your ad agency no longer wants to work with you. This could come about for many reasons.

One reason could be that you're simply a horrible client. You give unrealistic deadlines. You make unrealistic demands. You ask your agency to do unethical work. You ask them to do work that is not in your best interests.

Another reason could be that you've outgrown your agency. Perhaps your business has grown to a size that the agency can't cope with.

Yet another reason might be that your business has remained small. You're not able to pay a realistic amount for the services your ad agency is providing.

Another reason might be that the agency has picked up business that is a conflict in interest with yours.

Whatever the reason, sometimes a divorce is necessary.

All parties need to get together and chat, and then go separate ways, with all outstanding work either dealt with or delegated. Often, the agency leaving the client will have recommendations of other agencies who might be more suitable.

How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 7 of 9

2006-02-14T22:08:00.001+02:00

7. When you don't know something, ask. Humility leads to knowledge.

Nobody knows everything. That's why we ask questions, and why we learn. We all want to know more. And we all want to be better at what we do.

A good ad agency wants to feed their clients with knowledge and expertise. It should be the goal of every ad agency to make themselves redundant to their clients. The more the client knows about advertising, the better the work the agency can deliver.

If you don't know something, ask. Humility has a way of generating goodwill. Arrogance has the opposite effect. When an ad agency deals with a client who is arrogant, they tend to think, 'Hmmmm... this guy knows very little. He doesn't WANT to know anything. All he wants is for us to kiss his butt. On balance, I don't think I want to work with him. It's a bit too unpleasant. There are better clients out there in the world.'

On the other hand, a client who says, 'I really don't understand why you're saying this particular thing. Would you mind sharing your knowledge with me?' has a very different response. We'll movemountains when we know someone genuinely wants to know something.

The business shelf at most major bookshops is a goldmine. Not just for advertising. But for marketing and business process too. Read voraciously. Even if you just skim chapter headings while standing at the bookshelf in the store. (One chapter heading that I remember vividly from a sales book is this: 'If you don't HAVE an assistant, you ARE the assistant.')

You do not have the time to NOT read. Do it. Learn. The more you learn, the better client you'll be, and the more successful you'll become. And the easier you'll be to work with.

Our job is to try to understand YOUR business as much as we can. We should become a valuable partner in your business, and that means WE need to be humble too. We need information from you in order to make the best communications.

How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 6 of 9

2006-02-14T22:08:00.000+02:00

6. When an ad runs, there are consequences. Have a clear plan on how you will deal with those consequences.

Quite simply put, an advert is just the tip of a marketing iceberg. Unless you have a plan on how to deal with response, you will be floundering, and will be caught on the back foot.

Have a marketing plan and an action plan for every advert you run.

If you're running a classified ad asking for agents, know exactly what you're going to ask those people who call you so that you can quickly evaluate whether or not they're likely to be suitable. Know exactly what you're going to do when you meet them face-to-face. What documents must you photocopy? What must they sign? What happens when you accept them? What happens if your reject them? Do you need to offer them tea or coffee or drinks?

Know your breakevens. The numbers count. What response will justify the cost of the ad? How will you know if it succeeded or not?

If your ad agency asks you hard questions about how you plan to deal with the consequences, be prepared to show them your marketing plan. If you don't have one, you're going to be in trouble. (You're not going to be in trouble with your ad agency. You're going to be in trouble with your business. Cos you'll have a host of unpredictable results that might hurt very much.) Plan so that you can have upsides.

It is your ad agency's job to know what you're expecting. And they're supposed to help you meet realistic expectations.

How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 5 of 9

2006-02-14T22:07:00.001+02:00

5. Bring your agency into things VERY early on in the process, so that we can share our thinking with you, and so that we can plan our time.

The more lead time we have, the better result you'll get. Many clients THINK that they're giving their agency a reasonable lead time. But they can always involve the agency earlier in the process.

As soon as you even START thinking about a project, bring the agency into that thinking.

Do this via email. Meetings are not productive for this, unless they're formal brainstorms. And brainstorms are billable. Our expertise is at your disposal. But it's serious expertise built up over years. So we're going to charge you for it.

How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 4 of 9

2006-02-14T22:07:00.000+02:00

4. Agencies are very happy to fire clients. Having cash flow is not the same as making a profit.

We all want to work wisely and productively together. Bearing in mind that we're professionals is a good way of keeping that objective on the table.

Money is also trivial. In most cases, ad agencies look for clients who pay realistic amounts of money for services rendered. They also look for multiple clients. If a client wants an agency to be dedicated to them exclusively, they really need to consider having an internal department doing that work.

Just cos you're paying, doesn't mean we're hopping around on the end of a piece of string.

How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 3 of 9

2006-02-14T22:06:00.001+02:00

3. Just cos you're paying someone doesn't mean they must do what you want.

Contrary to popular belief, the ad agency does not give the client what the client WANTS. It is the job of the ad agency to give the client what the client NEEDS. Needs and wants are very different things.

Just cos you THINK you want 'everybody to call' does not mean this is what you need. This can sink your business faster than you can blink. One-hundred calls in an hour are impossible for two individuals in a small office to take. And the one or two people who can't get through MIGHT be the ones you NEED to speak to. You'll never know if you're trying to answer the phones all the time.

When you say 'Jump', your ad agency's job is to say, 'Why? What do you want to achieve by asking us to jump?' It is not our job to say, 'How high?'

If you want people to help grow your business, treat us as professionals. We have other clients. And we have lives. We are not at your beck and call. However, we ARE available to do work for you on a reasonable schedule.

Just as you have objectives in your business, we have objectives in ours. A client who insists on hundreds of face-to-face meetings is wasting everyone's time. Email is one of the wonders of the modern world. Please use it. A client who gives tight deadlines doesn't allow an agency to do great work. Whenever reactivity is at play, quality suffers.

How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 2 of 9

2006-02-14T22:06:00.000+02:00

2. Your business benefits when you know exactly what objectives you want to achieve with a particular piece of communication. Your advertising benefits when you communicate with your agency.

Advertising is never general. It always has a specific objective or set of objectives. Each ad should have a single minded purpose. If an ad has more than one purpose, it is a bad ad. One purpose means one ad. Two purposes means two ads.

If you don't know what your purpose is, then you have a generic ad. A broad ad. If you say to your ad agency, 'We want an ad that'll get EVERYONE to call us,' then you haven't found your purpose.

Know your purpose. Write it down. Examine it. Plumb the depths. You might THINK you know what you want, but maybe there's more to be discovered if you take the time to think hard about what you're after.

Use these four questions when you're setting your purpose:

Who is the target of this ad?
What are we offering to them?
What proof to we have to back up this offer?
What do we want them to feel and do once they've experienced this ad?

If you don't have CLEAR answers to each of those four questions, you're not ready to make an ad.

Once you have those answers, put them down in writing. A written brief is the only way an ad agency can proceed. There is too much room for error in conversation.

And remember, if your brief is unclear, your agency will do one of two things... either they'll create an ad based on the unclear message, or they'll come back to you with questions. It's your job as a good client to answer those questions clearly.

How To Get Maximum Value From Your Ad Agency -- part 1 of 9

2006-02-14T22:04:00.000+02:00

This little primer is something I wrote for Potion's first client. (Potion is a small design agency that I co-founded.) We realised that their expectations and ours weren't meshing very well. So here's what we sent them. They partly liked what we had to say. But they were also quite unhappy with some of it. Nevertheless, if you want your relationship with your ad agency to flourish, you'd best take a look at this piece. -- Roy Blumenthal

1. Your ad agency has your best interests at heart.

This has to be the number one premise that a client and agency work from. As a client, your goal is to get great work out of your agency, so that you can flourish. Your agency wants to give you great work, cos they want you to flourish, cos they want to build a long, beautiful, mutually fruitful relationship that goes long into the future. All agencies want great clients, and they want to keep them.

So, the premise HAS to be that we're working together for the same goals.

This means several things. When your ad agency asks you difficult questions, you need to assume that they're coming at those questions to help you. They're not trying to show you up. They're not trying to throw hurdles in your path. They're trying to help you get clarity. Sometimes they have experience that you might benefit from. If you assume the best, then you'll answer those questions clearly.

If you assume the worst, then you'll answer those questions reactively, and progress will not be made.

If you find yourself reacting to something that your agency has told you or asked you, let your first line of attack be to reflect on things. We're on your side.

My first formal mentoring client

2006-02-07T21:30:00.000+02:00

I had a meeting yesterday at a coffee-shop in Northgate Shopping Centre with a poet buddy of mine.

He has asked me to be his creativity mentor. He's putting together a one-person show of his poems, and he'd like me to keep him on track.

Yay!!!

Teaching creativity to a group of ex-prostitutes in Berea, Johannesburg

2006-02-01T22:45:00.000+02:00

This morning I rushed off to Steve's Spar in Cresta, grabbed a basket
full of brown wrapping paper, some glue, and some wax crayons, and sped
through Hillbrow to Berea to the New Life Centre. There I met
Linda-Michael, one of the dudes who works at the Hillbrow Community Theatre in Edith Cavell Street.

We met on the Augusto Boal FORUM THEATRE training workshop
I participated in last year, and again when a group of us decided to
take the training forward. He asked me if I'd like to volunteer to do
some work on a project he's involved in, and I said yeah.

So we enter a block of flats, and the security dude eyes us
suspicioulsy. What's the white dude doing parking a sports car out on
the street in the Bronx? What's he doing entering this building??

Linda says to him, 'New Life Centre, my bra,' and we get nodded
through. Some of the buildings in Berea and Hillbrow are having their
foyers refurbished to make it impossible for overcrowding to take
place. This is one of those places. So we have to be individually
scanned through the single-person-only turnstile. Then we're trotting
up the stairs carrying the stuff I bought, and a kitbag filled with
magazines.

We're in. A huge space with massive windows. Bright. A view of the vast
block of flats across the road. And if I crane my neck, I can just see
the tail light of my car. The room is filled with laughter. And women.
About 35 of them. And three or four children. On one end is the
kitchen. The other has five computers and some couches. In the middle,
comfie chairs filled with ex- and current-prostitutes.

Babalwa greets us. She's one of the ladies who runs the place. We sit
down cross legged on the floor to have a quick briefing session. She
says, 'This project helps to rehabilitate women and children who have
become involved in selling sex in the human trafficking trade.' The
ladies come voluntarily becaue they want out, and the project provides
counselling and safe houses for them to live while they rehabilitate.
Babalwa says many of the ladies present no longer work as prostitutes,
but that some of them are forced to carry on in the business.

One of the things the project does for the women is teach them skills
that they can use to get out of prostitution, and into more regular
jobs. These are NOT high-class prostitutes earning millions and
spending it all on cocaine. These are ordinary women from rural areas
who can't read or write, lured to the city and enslaved by hectic guys
who probably get them hooked on crack.

I outline what I've prepared for the women, and both Linda and Babalwa
like what they're hearing. Of course, I'm improvising as I go, cos I
couldn't reallllly prep properly without this briefing session.

We stand, and Linda calls for attention. The women gather in a circle,
and we all hold hands. Linda says, 'I have brought a guest with today,
and he will be doing some exciting work with us. His name is Roy. And
I'll leave him to introduce himself.'

Linda teaches the women at this centre drama, and he often invites guests to facilitate workshops.

The ladies are mostly smiling, but one or two of them look like they're
having a rough time in the world. About four of them are around 13
years-old.

I introduce myself. 'I'm a writer, director, producer, and actor. I
also lead creativity seminars. Today we're going to have some fun, and
learn a little bit about ourselves so that we can become better actors
and also improve ourselves.'

So we start off with a nice warmup exercise that I learned in Danile
Buckland's class at the Actors' Centre, and soon everyone's engaged.
Then we go into an Augusto Boal game in which pairs of people act as
person/mirror partners. Then we go into a game where I ask everyone to
make a picture of their inner beauty. They attack the magazines
enthusiastically, and soon, everyone's making pictures.

We end my two-hour workshop with another Boal game... one at a time, we
each leap into the centre of the circle and announce one word
describing our emotional space, accompanied by a physical gesture.
Everyone in the circle repeats our word and gesture twice, and the next
person goes. Most of the women are excited and joyous. Two or them are
quite down. This stuff stirs up hectic emotions.

Babalwa comes up to me after and asks me if I'd like to stay for lunch.
I've just finished reading ACID ALEX, so I know that it's extremely
rude to refuse food, so I accept, timidly looking over at the kitchen
to try and work out what the food might be. If it's offal, I'm going to
be in trouble deluxe. But I've accepted, so there's no backing out ot
this.

Luckily, the food is a delicious lamb curry with pasta.

Linda says, 'I'd like you to come and do another workshop, Roy. This was excellent.'

One of the ladies overhears him. 'I agree,' she says.

And I say, 'I agree too. I've loved being here.'

Guy Kawasaki on The Art of Innovation

2006-01-11T20:56:00.000+02:00

Read the full article on Guy's blog. Well worth the journey. He elaborates on all of the points, and you will certainly come away enriched.

Guy writes:

I hold these truths to not be self-evident; hence we see so little innovation.

1. Jump to the next curve.
2. Don't worry, be crappy.
3. Churn, baby, churn.
4. Don't be afraid to polarize people.
5. Break down the barriers.
6. "Let a hundred flowers blossom."
7. Think digital, act analog.
8. Never ask people to do what you wouldn't do.
9. Don't let the bozos grind you down.

Guy Kawasaki answers this question: “What are the characteristics of a great product?”

2006-01-09T10:17:00.000+02:00

This is taken verbatim from Guy Kawasaki's blog. It's a good component of the 'AIM' portion of my creativity model. When you're finished first-phase creating, you need to evaluate your ideas. Use Guy's thinking to see if you've got some more creating you still need to do...

“What are the characteristics of a great product?” Here is the answer.

Think: DICEE

* Deep. A great product is deep. It doesn’t run out of features and functionality after a few weeks of use. Its creators have anticipated what you’ll need once you come up to speed. As your demands get more sophisticated, you discover that you don’t need a different product.

* Indulgent. A great product is a luxury. It makes you feel special when you buy it. It’s not the least common denominator, cheapest solution in sight. It’s not necessarily flashy in a Ferrari kind of way, but deep down inside you know you’ve rewarded yourself when you buy a great product.

* Complete. A great product is more than a physical thing. Documentation counts. Customer service counts. Tech support counts. Consultants, OEMS, third-party developers, and VARS count. Blogs about it counts. A great product has a great total user experience—sometimes despite the company that produces it.

* Elegant. A great product has an elegant user interface. Things work the way you’d think they would. A great product doesn’t fight you—it enhances you. (For all of Microsoft’s great success this is why it’s hard to name a Microsoft product that you’d call “great.”) I could make the point that if you want to see if a company’s products are elegant, you need only look at its chairman’s presentations.

* Emotive. A great product incites you to action. It is so deep, indulgent, complete, and elegant that it compels you to tell other people about it. You’re not necessarily an employee or shareholder of the company that produces it. You’re bringing the good news to help others, not yourself.

My podcast review of Squidoo, as heard on SAfm, national radio in South Africa

2006-01-02T02:38:00.000+02:00

Squidoo on the Radio: I reviewed Squidoo during a lunchtime radio show on SAfm, South Africa's national broadcaster. You can listen to a four-minute podcast of the story here. Or listen to all of the podcasts in the series at http://schmucknews.libsyn.com.

Roy Blumenthal's Creativity Tips and Tricks: The Four Essential Steps to Creativity -- Ready, Fire, Aim, Action

2006-01-02T02:34:00.000+02:00

Ready, Fire, Aim, Action

The four essential steps to creativity

My creativity thinking is a melange of many different influences. The kernel of my approach comes from Charles Thompson's great book, What a Great Idea!: The Key Steps Creative People Take.

1. READY
Get ready. Get all of the information you need in your brain and on paper. Define the thing you're trying to be creative about. Give it a 'problem statement'. Be as specific as possible, so that you can get as much information as you need.

In this mode, you're thinking critically and analytically.

2. FIRE
In fire mode, you switch off your critical and analytical thinking and go into freeflow mode. It's like you're a gun shooting haphazardly into the night, not caring where the bullets land. All you care about is the numer of bullets.

When I'm brainstorming, I like to get at least one hundred raw ideas down while I'm in 'fire' mode. And I don't care about the quality of those ideas. I just want loads of them as raw material for the next phase.

It's important in 'fire' mode to have fun. Loads of it. Smile a lot. Drink loads of water. Move around the room. I put brown paper on my walls, and scribble on the paper with fat marker pens.

3. AIM
In 'aim' mode, you go back to your critical, analytical thinking, while retaining a little of the freeflow of 'fire' mode.

Your goal here is to look at all the raw material you've produced in 'fire', and narrow things down.

You change the ideas, moulding them to your purposes.

And your purpose is for your ideas to fit the 'problem statement' you created in the beginning, when you were getting 'ready'.

I use a tool called SCAMPER, an acronym that nudges things into new patterns.

4. ACTION
A friend's father once told me, 'There are many ideas in the world, but only a few opportunities.' His thesis was that if you don't act on ideas, they remain mere ideas.

For an idea to become an opportunity, you have to do two things. You have to recognise an idea as an opportunity. And then you have to act on it.

Taking action takes work. I like to create an action statement containing 3 or 4 goals (more becomes difficult to work with). And these goals all follow the 'SMART' acronym. They're Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based.

Roy Blumenthal's Creativity Tips and Tricks: SCAMPER -- a Tool to Transform Ideas

2006-01-02T02:32:00.000+02:00

SCAMPER

A Tool To Transform Ideas

This tool comes from THINKERTOYS by Michael Michalko. (If you don't own this book, buy it immediately. It's the ONE essential creativity book for your shelf.)

When you've collected a bunch of ideas, or you're busy originating, this tool will help you create connections where you didn't have any before.

Apply liberally.

It's an acronym. The letters stand for:

S: Substitute, Simplify
C: Combine
A: Adapt
M: Modify, Magnify, Minify
P: Put to other uses
E: Eliminate
R: Reverse, Rearrange

Whatever the idea is you're working with, choose one of the letters and mangle the idea.

For instance, if your goal is to find a way to convert a building into a marketing opportunity, one of the ideas you might have come up with is, 'make it into a billboard'.

If we 'eliminate', we can remove the words from the 'billboard' idea, leaving behind a piece of art. A huge artwork.

If we 'put to other uses', we might get a building with context-sensitive information on it. A signboard of sorts.

And so on. You're limited by your own willingness to scrunch things around.

Roy Blumenthal's Creativity Tips and Tricks: 'SMART' goals -- specific, measureable, achievable, realistic, time-based

2006-01-02T02:30:00.000+02:00

SMART

An Acronym To Guide Your Goalsetting

For a goal to be meaningful, it helps if it's 'SMART'.

S: Specific.
M: Measureable.
A: Achievable.
R: Realistic.
T: Time-based.

If I state: 'I want to go to the moon in a few days time', this would NOT be a 'SMART' goal. Sure, it's more-or-less 'specific' (but only just), and it's pretty 'measureable', but it doesn't meet the other three criteria. 'A few days' is not a time-based statement. It's hazy.

If I state, 'I want to walk on the moon's surface by the time I turn fifty on February 17 2018,' I'd be stating a 'SMART' goal.

It's VERY 'specific'. I'm stating the actual thing I'll do when I get to the moon.

It's something I can 'measure'... if I WALK on the surface of the moon, I'll know I've achieved my goal. If I do it by the time I turn fifty, stated as a real date, I'll know whether I've achieved it.

Is it 'achievable'? Given the fact that South African businessperson, Mark Shuttleworth, has already walked in space, I'd say that twenty years is a fair time period to expect commercial moon travel to be possible. In that time, can I take steps to GET myself to the moon? Possibly.

'Realistic'? A little bit science-fiction-esque. But essentially realistic.

And I've already illustrated the time-basedmess of it. I'm not vague about the time. I'm spelling out what 'by the time I turn fifty' means.

Good luck with your own SMART goals.

Sites on Creativity That I've Found Useful: Hugh Maclead of Gaping Void offers his manifesto on 'How to Be Creative'

2006-01-02T02:28:00.000+02:00

http://www.changethis.com/6.HowToBeCreative/

This is Hugh Macleod's manifesto on how to be creative. A must-read. Download it and send it to friends.

Sites on Creativity That I've Found Useful: Halfbakery

2006-01-02T02:25:00.000+02:00

http://www.halfbakery.com/

A site where you can exercise your unbelievable whackiness, and see how other people are exercising theirs'. The ideas presented on this mad site are all semi plausible 'almost-inventions'.

Sites on Creativity That I've Found Useful: Charles Thompson, author of WHAT A GREAT IDEA, interviews Nakamatsu

2006-01-02T02:19:00.000+02:00

http://www.whatagreatidea.com/nakamatsu.htm

One of the best interviews I've read on the art of creativity. Nakamatsu is responsible for many inventions that we take for granted in today's electronic world. He created the Sony Walkman, for instance. This is a must-read.

Sites on Creativity That I've Found Useful: How To Spot a Risky Client

2006-01-02T02:18:00.000+02:00

http://www.writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/002384_02022005.html

An article for freelance creative beings on how to spot a risky client.

Sites on Creativity That I've Found Useful: MindTools

2006-01-02T02:17:00.000+02:00

http://www.mindtools.com/

A site with comprehensive information on all sorts of areas of creativity. Section headings include: Problem Solving, Practical Creativity, Memory Improvement, Stress Management. Very useful.

Sites on Creativity That I've Found Useful: Eric Maisel

2006-01-02T02:15:00.000+02:00

http://www.ericmaisel.com/resources/living-creative-life.html

If you've ever needed coaching, Eric Maisel is a creator himself. He is a coach, and he teaches people how to become coaches, and how to self-coach. Recommended site.

Other Squidoo lenses on Creativity & Innovation

2006-01-02T02:12:00.000+02:00

Roy's Squidoo on Goal Setting

Here's a set of resources on how to do effective goal setting. Remember, the final step to creativity is taking action.

Roy Blumenthal's Creativity Squidoo

2006-01-02T00:35:00.000+02:00

Roy Blumenthal's Creativity Squidoo: I've got some goal setting tools on my creativity Squidoo. Take a look at my take on 'SMART' goals.

How to Unleash Your Creativity (for Profit and Gain)

2005-12-27T10:22:00.000+02:00

Jumpstart your business with your most powerful weapon -- the creativity of your people.

-- A seminar for you to free your creative spirit and find your great ideas

In the world of education, creativity is becoming an essential ingredient to success. Innovative thinking yields better teaching methods, smoother interactions between staff, parents and learners, and better ways of going about the day-to-day business of running a school.

People who don't believe they have this skill are at a tremendous disadvantage.

The top institutions in the world treasure the creativity of their people.

Yale University asks alumni for money every year. Not because theyNEED the money. But because they want to remain top-of-mind topowerful people who will employ next year's graduates.
3M's invention of the Post-It Note came from one man's creative idea.
Xerox foresaw the need for the laser printer a full 20 years before the technology made such a device possible... and their head of research was given the reigns to do the development.
"Gillette is Innovation". That's their corporate slogan. Which is why they have a string of world firsts in their product line.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has open-sourced its learning materials, which are now available to anyone online, free of charge. This is a very smart and creative way to get people to WANT to study at MIT.

And the good news is that every human being is creative. With a little practice and some easily learned techniques, creativity can become second nature to everyone.

This seminar helps people to shake themselves out of standard ways of thinking.
It shows them how to ask the right questions so that answers can be found in unexpected places.
The seminar will introduce delegates to their creative selves using interactive workshop games and activities.
People will learn how to recognise and avoid creativity traps.
You'll learn the four steps necessary to get from an initial idea brainstorm through to a finished solution.
All through practical exposure to tools that will definitely open up your creativity.
Learn how to access inspiration and creativity at will and put yourself in the lead.

The seminar is led by Roy Blumenthal, an experienced seminar leader, creative thinker and doer, performance poet, artist, writer, and filmmaker. He has taught creativity at various institutions including SABC3, Wits University Post Graduate Centre, RAU (now University of Johannesburg) Communications Department, the AAA School of Advertising, and Vega School of Brand Marketing. He has worked as an advertising copywriter at Hunt Lascaris FMC. A book he co-edited, A WRITER IN STONE, made it to number one on South African bestseller lists.

In this seminar, you will get...

A toolkit of practical, easy-to-apply methods that work for every problem-solving situation.
Ways to overcome the ten most common mistakes in creative thinking.
Brainstorming techniques to make your next meeting much more productive and fun.
The four essential steps to creativity.
Putting your idea into action: how to get the results you want and need.
The ability to turn work into fun.
Comprehensive handouts.
Activities to help you recognise and anchor your newly liberated creativity.

There are two different versions of the seminar. Half-day and
full-day. Minimum group size is eight participants, with a maximum of
twenty.

What some delegates have said:

"It makes you see things and yourself from a different perspective." -- Franzel
"(I was) given handy tools to enhance creativity." --Antoinette
"I realised I am too logical and systematic." -- Anonymous
"(I) believ(e) that I am creative even though I thought otherwise." --Anonymous
"More confident in being creative. Thanks!" -- Anonymous
"The most interesting and important thing I learned is to think more freely." -- Sonet
"Brilliant. Breathtaking." -- Kate
"It makes you aware of your mode of creativity, promotes self-understanding, (and gives) practical guidelines to becoming more creative." -- Elena
"I now know I AM creative." -- Keitumetse
"Creativity is a learnable skill." -- Eddie

Set your creative self free and book Roy Blumenthal's creativity seminar today by calling him on +27 82 659 3165 or emailing schmucknews@gmail.com.