The Imagineering Workout ~ Update 13 Wattage

The Imagineering Workout ~ Update 13

Wattage

Question: How many Imagineers does it take to change a lightbulb?

Answer: Does it have to be a lightbulb?

Jan O’Connor

Show Writer, creative Development

As a retired mime the following excerpt from the book sounds fun! It is just the types of thing we would do in mime class! Use your creative play and have fun with this exercise! These three exercises are fun and encourage creative play and thinking.

Transforming the Object

Put together a group of three or more people. Gather and place random objects on a table, such as a can opener, a box of tissues, and an argyle sock. One by one, go and select an object. Each player has fifteen seconds to think about changing it into three unrelated things. Now show the group how you would use the object for these different reasons. If you are not playing with others, you can vary the exercise by writing out three short stories about what the object has become. Transforming the object is terrific for brainstorming a new product.

Imaginary Baseball

Divide the group into two teams, assign positions, determine the batting lineup, and start the game. The ball and bat are imaginary. The pitcher throws, the batter swings, and everybody knows if he fanned the air or hit a line drive. When the shortstop throws to first base, is the runner out? For variety, the group can play imaginary volleyball or doubles tennis. This exercise can help develop any group’s team-building skills.

Gibberish

The player tells his or her partner about all the terrible things that happened that day in gibberish. The words should not sound like their real equivalents in English. When finished, the partner repeats the story in English.

The objective is to be imaginative and creative, and to have FUN!

On a personal note: When practicing mime and then later helping to teach mime we often played games like these. It helped break down inhabitations and fear. It also helped with team building when trying to get people to work together. Often we played games like these when we were stumped for ideas for new mime pieces/stories (please do not call them ‘skits’.) Some of the most creative and rewarding pieces came for ‘games’ like these.

The Imagineering Workout

By The Disney Imagineers

ISBN 078685554-1

It is available at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Imagineering-Workout-Disney-

The Imagineering Workout ~ Update 10 Those Good and Bad Words

The Imagineering Workout ~ Update 10

Those Good and Bad Words

“Words that build energy and confidence allowing ideas to flow are words that make things possible: will, can, like, love, do, make, be, happen, build, bridge.”

Steve Beyer

Senior Concept Designer,

Creative Development

Words have power. They can energize or rob you of creative power. Learn to control the words you use when thinking about a project. Use the positive words and limit or totally cut out the negative.

Write a list of words that made creating possible, then put them where you can see them at a glance. Practice using these words in your thinking, especially in those inner dialogues when you mull over ideas. Use the words when writing or discussing your ideas. Practice with friends! Practice making possibility language visual. Keep the words in view during brainstorming sessions – we are apt to forget to use them in the heat of a great idea session.

Have fun with the negative words! Make your version of a bad word voodoo doll or vampire doll. Remember, energy vampires suck energy out of meetings or idea generation. Pin or tape negative words written on tags directly on the doll. This will build awareness of when you’re using them, giving you an opportunity to change to words of possibilities. Change your language, change your outcomes. Words commit our energy, help focus attention, and fuel ideas. If we want a certain result, we need to speak the language that will help create it.

Some of the negative power sucking words are: try, maybe, might, should, could, sort of, kind of, not sure and but.

Make three lists of words: Words that enhance idea flow. Words that discourage idea flow. Words you want to add to your idea-flow vocabulary.

If you wish to follow along and read the book for yourself here is the information:

The Imagineering Workout

By The Disney Imagineers

ISBN 078685554-1

It is available at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Imagineering-Workout-Disney-

The Imagineering Workout ~ Update 1 The Yes If . . . method

The Imagineering Workout ~ Update 1
The Yes If . . . Method

“Somehow I can’t believe that there are many heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. This special secret can be summarized in for Cs. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy, and the greatest of these is Confidence. When you believe a thing, believe in it all the way. Have confidence in your ability to do it right. And work hard to do the best possible job.”~ Walt Disney

In the book, The Imagineering Workout Martin Sklar shared the principle he learned from Harrison (Buzz) Price. It is the Yes if. . . method.

Harrison (Buzz) Price did the economic feasibility and site-location studies for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. He postulated the “Yes, If . . .” method of looking at projects and reporting to Walt. “Yes, if . . .’ is the language of an enabler,” Buzz wrote in his book, ‘Walt’s Revolution! By the Numbers’. “It pointed to what needed to be done to make the possible plausible. Walt liked this language. ‘No, because’ is the language of a deal killer. ‘Yes, If . . .’ is the approach of a deal maker. Creative people thrive on ‘Yes, if . . .”

So what can I do with ‘Yes, if . . .’ I can use this method when speaking to my teenage daughter. I can use a more positive approach when telling her why she can’t do what she wants . . . yet. Instead of just saying, No to her requests I can let her know there is a yes, if . . . I can also use it on myself. Instead of going to ‘it can’t be done.’ I can look for the Yes, if . . . possibilities.

Yes, if . . . encourages a more positive focus on problem solving. It encourages you to look past the no and see that problems usually do have a solution once you find the ‘Yes, if . . . that makes it work. I can’t make beef shepherd’s pie tonight for dinner because I don’t have beef in the house. Yes, if might get me to see the possibilities of chicken, pork or another meat used instead. (This is just a kitchen example.)

I can see that this Yes, if . . . method can be a major help toward a more positive life style. It will help me when sharing ideas and trying to overcome objections.

How can the Yes, if . . . method help you?

If you wish to follow along and read the book for yourself here is the information:

The Imagineering Workout

By The Disney Imagineers

ISBN 078685554-1

It is available at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Imagineering-Workout-Disney-Imagineers/dp/0786855541/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330345757&sr=1-1