Over the past two decades of working with Impact Hub Houston, Station Houston, TED, Mercury Fund, Culture Pilot, the City of Houston, Fortune 500 companies, the Kracker Nuttz, and advising TMC Innovation Institute, Writers In The Schools (WITS), nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, political campaigns, media and entertainment companies, tech startups, conferences and events, hospitality and lifestyle brands, aspiring entrepreneurs and seemingly everyone in between, I’ve learned that the core challenge that everyone faces at one time or another is:
How do I focus our vision, clarify our mission, execute it well, and get people to notice and care?
I can help you with that. If you’re stuck in any part of the business, growth, innovation or communications process, I can help you get unstuck. And once you’re unstuck, I can help you make your offerings more sticky with your audience. In fact, I regularly work with a whole team of experts who can help you with business development, web development, positioning and communications, content creation, community engagement, social media, and marketing and outreach. How do we start? The best way is to contact me and schedule an initial consult. I’ll work with you side by side to uncover your pain points. I’ll talk with your team to learn all the things they need, want and wish for to help all of you thrive. Then we can discuss the most cost-effective way to get everyone on the same page and moving in the right direction. If you’d like to fast-track internal innovation and dive right in to the process, I recommend hosting a workshop. I’ll come to your business (or help you secure a good venue) and create a fun, engaging, interactive environment where you and your team can explore new ideas, openly and honestly discuss challenges, safely propose potential solutions and opportunities, and genuinely enjoy learning together. Afterwards, we’ll discuss findings and results to determine what’s possible, what’s probable, and what’s practical for you to you improve on what you do and how you do it; and together we’ll draft a “next steps” guide to share with across the company and help you move forward.
Workshop and Training Areas
These are my core workshop and training topics — think of them as starting points to consider areas to address that are relevant to you:
- Branding
- Storytelling
- Business Strategy & Alignment
- Design Thinking
- Innovation & Creativity
- Web Presence and Social Media
- Community Development and Management
- Presentation and Public Speaking
Typical Workshop Program
- Warm Up. This is vital: Studies show that being relaxed improves mental flow. Anxiety and tension block people from improvisational thinking and creative leaps required to ideate and innovate. We get you in the right frame of mind to enhance your success throughout training.
- Shared Objectives. Ensure everyone understands the goal(s) of the creative activities that follow.
- Frame the Problem. Outlining the boundaries in which everyone can play, to keep everyone on track. Constraints are incredibly useful: Each detail can trigger a brilliant idea!
- Team Up. Small teams improve participation and idea diversity.
- Ideate. The bulk of time, spread across two to three activities that get participants to approach and examine the problem/opportunity in different ways.
- Refine. Sorting, organizing and prioritizing ideas; then developing a cohesive narrative with the most compelling ones.
- Present. Sharing results and facilitated open discussion of relative pros and cons of each idea.
I can accommodate diverse learning curves, keep participants engaged and motivated through interactive discussions and activities, and facilitate ongoing comprehension of new information. Our goal is to make sure your team walks away inspired and confident with the ability to think strategically and proactively and understands how and when to apply tactical solutions. Contact me and I’ll tailor a workshop that suits you!