Creativity
| Share your perspective. It is unique and exclusively yours. – Dennis Hodges In addition to teaching photography courses, Dennis leads on-site creative problem-solving workshops for business and photography professionals. Designed for small groups, these workshops are fast-paced, experiential “learning journeys” in which participants discover how to break out of established patterns of thinking and stretch their imaginations. Using innovative brainstorming and visual techniques as catalysts, Dennis inspires individuals and teams to tap their inner creative resources and generate new solutions for the challenges they face. Attracting sales, marketing, corporate branding and creative professionals from around the globe, his signature workshop “It’s All About Perspective” continues to be a success year after year with leading educational and media organizations. Here are a few comments from workshop attendees: Dennis has been a key part of several strategic workshops for Da Vinci Learning over the past few years. He was a key member of the team that shaped our trade and consumer marketing strategy. We brought Dennis in early in our channel’s life to help the entire team reach a consensus for what the channel’s identity was and how we could strengthen its position. Through a mix of innovative and collaborative exercises, Dennis helped bring clarity to our brand’s identity. In another workshop, Dennis led the sales team through a process designed to help them break through their mental barriers and strengthen their sales messages when working with potential clients. Dennis also helped our marketing team clarify the design for our online presence, which led to a major redesign of our websites. Dennis always uses a variety of interactive creative tools designed to help participants share their ideas. His techniques challenge our thinking and help us open our minds to new possibilities as well as find workable solutions. His tremendous analytical skills combined with his strategic insights and long-term thinking has been, and continues to be, instrumental for the success of our company. – Ferdinand Habsburg, Managing Director, Da Vinci Learning Channel Dennis was a major part of our regional marketing conference this year. When we decided to review our brand strategy, we turned to him to facilitate new ideas about UPC Direct and how we present ourselves. His workshop was a critical step in the process. He helped us frame the discussion and led a very productive session, challenging our thinking and giving a voice to our brand. This allowed us to rethink our approach. His workshop and subsequent work with our new advertising agency led to repositioning ourselves and the creation of a new brand for our most competitive markets. – Jim Helfgott, Vice President Marketing and Sales, UPC Direct To learn more about some of the groundbreaking creative tools Dennis uses, read the descriptions below.: “It’s All About Perspective” Custom workshop taught on site using a variety of creative problem-solving tools. Don’t be repressed in your work, dare to experiment, consider any urge if in a new direction, all the better. - Edward Weston Train of Thought A twist on the familiar flipchart, this unique visual thinking exercise uses index cards lined up on a wall in a pattern similar to an organizational chart. The main topic or issue is placed at the top and participants generate ideas that are written on cards and posted underneath. Group members are free to follow their own thoughts without distraction while a train of fresh ideas are put in motion in as little as 15 minutes. Breaking out of the Box Designed to push participants out of their comfort zones, this energizing technique splits groups into teams of four. Each team has a worksheet and members have 60 seconds to write their ideas in the first section, pass the sheet to their neighbor who fills in the second section, and so on. This “round robin” continues until all sections are completed. Five top ideas are identified, which are brainstormed by the group and made meaningful from a male, female and child’s perspective. Identity Crisis? In this fun, 3-part brand identity exercise, participants learn how to position their business. (1) Each person completes a 2-column worksheet defining who they are – and aren’t. Both sets of responses are discussed and the group reaches a consensus about its “unique selling proposition.” (2) To better understand positioning, participants are asked to view their business as a product or service in a different industry with other features and benefits. (3) The group breaks into small teams who are given books. Working together, they turn to random pages and key words, creating action plans that differentiate their brand. Creative Mind Mapping Unlike conventional group problem-solving processes, this ingenious brainstorming technique is a powerful way to boost creativity and get ideas onto paper quickly. Using colored pencils and crayons, team members draw an image that reflects the core topic of the map. Branches of information radiate from this image enabling them to explore related themes and integrate different keywords and pictures. Fast, visual and associative, Mind Mapping has been used with remarkable success by multinational corporations, leading universities, champion athletes and prominent artists. Interested in customizing a creative problem-solving workshop for your group? Contact Dennis to discuss your specific needs or topic. To stay updated about new Hodges workshops in 2012, visit the blog and sign our Guestbook. We look forward to hearing from you! |
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