Deborah Khan -- Creative Inspiration: February 2007

What my clients say about me

John Birch - BA
“I was really impressed with the way Deborah Khan delivered training on the subject of communication skills to us at BA Pensions. She took time to fully research and understand how we worked and what our specific concerns were. She designed a programme that matched not only our collective requirements but was also flexible enough to cover individual development needs. Her methods, being performance based, ensured that even the most introverted of us participated in the programme and our subsequent delivery in formal presentations has improved significantly"
Tom Powell - DLKW
"I participated in a one-day session with Deb Khan last year and would strongly recommend it for both novice speakers and those looking to hone their skills. She (gently) picked apart our strengths and weaknesses and by the end of the day, the results were tremendous. Everyone left with a range of practical skills and it's been a huge benefit for presentations"
Kai Vacher - Specialist Schools Trust
"Deb has incredible foresight, emotional intelligence and a razor sharp focus on specific outcomes to plan programmes/workshops of outstanding quality. Her ability to work with a group of people so that very quickly they feel at ease with each other is unsurpassed in my experience. Deb uses a varied range of interactive strategies to provide the prefect balance of challenge and support for workshop participants. Post event, course participants often contact me to express their overwhelming sense of achievement having worked with Deb, and want more; for themselves and colleagues.”
David Mikhail - RHM
Deborah is fantastic. I’m afraid she had to suffer both of our last pitches – but after her input we just flew, winning really important work from both of them. She is practically our fourth partner now. In spite of all our training (7 years at architecture school) I realise now we were taught nothing about presenting. Deborah helped us to communicate successfully, but she is about much more than communication skills. She goes straight to the heart of what we are trying to say, what are our best ideas, and feels her way into the audience. She works us hard but she’s great fun and our business is booming thanks to her.
Simon Beckett - Five TV
"..this morning was most useful – so often in my experience creative workshops are all enthusiasm and no substance but yours was a refreshing change and I actually had to work at thinking about what you were saying and what I was thinking (I love metacognition)"

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February 2007

Blokes...

...everywhere. Yikes.

NESTA's bright and all shiny-new curvaceous facilities in the City hosted yesterday's Uploading Innovation event.

Ridiculously over-subscribed. Thrilled to be there. I would expect nothing else from Steve Moore and the fantastic Policy Unplugged team. Their mission "Making sense of a complex world through little stories rather than grand narratives", describing themselves as the first social conference provider.

And Steve certainly delivers on the social. He appears to have the whole of

London

covered-politically, educationally, creatively, media-y. He would indeed be a nightmare if he wasn't quite so generous, bright and a laugh. Their events never fail to capture fantastically interesting people doing extraordinary things. And all with brilliant stories.

It's a great model and always inspires.

Yes, it was full of blokes. Charming, fascinating, (sure Steve will correct this) overwhelmingly over 90% of participants were men. I'm not complaining. Just observing and asking a few questions.

I'm fascinated. Is it the concept of innovation? Or social media? Or web 2.0? Are women reluctant to engage with the technology or at least debate the merits and potential impact of the possibilities of connection?

Or did Steve just not invite many? And should it matter? And, if so, what am I going to do about it?

Blogging is addictive and has rejuvenated my reading. And it strikes me that women are supremely skilled at the art of conversation. We never stop... Will women only really dominate social (or as Seth's great descriptor-cat) blogs? If all ideas emerge from conversations surely women will be driving this new age of creativity? Women are, in my experience, supportive, natural co-creators and pool their collective intelligence. We've been doing it for centuries.

Or is the technology obstructive? Certainly many of the blogs I read look stunning and can intimidate. I know, I know, it's all about content but we live in such a visual age. Us girls often want it to just look fabulous.

I was tempted to host a conversation about this subject yesterday but the temptation of playing with Johnnie and James was far too seductive. Plus I would possibly perpetuate the reputation of being a bit of a whinger. Yes-I sat on my enthusiasm.

We can of course find examples of outstandingly erudite, informative, funny and visually stunning blogs. Kathy Sierra knocks us all out. Kathy is exceptional.

Who are we connecting to and with?

Johnnie Moore alerted me to Leonard Shlain’s book The Alphabet verses the Goddess. Yes Mark, Johnnie’s blog is definitely a case were quality equals quantity. Could this proposition be that the use of imagery and conversation fuel resurgence in feminism? Who knows...

All I know is that many of my professional women friends remain cynical. They would love to engage but lack the skills, time and find it still a bit geeky and blokey. Lucy’s question “does web 2.0 make the kids lunches” kind of sums up that eternal tension. We’d love to but it’s not right at the top of our priorities now.

What happens next is essentially our call.

Still- I had a great time. Met and chatted with some blogging superstars. Russell was as lovely as his writing implies. Mark Earls is an intellectual heavyweight and a nice guy too. His conversation about mass behaviour provoked a few. Mark's fascinating example of floral tributes “cellotaphs” to mark the death of Princess Diana rattled a few cages. A great example of copied behaviours and I'll certainly buy his new book, Herd. More specifically provided me with the biggest laugh of the day. How could he ever predict a pubic policy maker with responsibility for Royal Funerals to boot was in the room?

Brilliant. You couldn't script it.

You just never know who is listening. Or reading.

February 28, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Welcome

A fresh, raw idea is our most precious commodity. I run workshops aimed at developing the inherent ability we all have to be creative. With 20 years personal experience of the arts, education, lateral thinking, coaching and consultancy I create bespoke, practical sessions tailored to my client’s particular needs. I then deliver support and advice to help practice and inspire creativity in the workspace. I achieve this through active learning sessions. Where people really understand what it means to be creative – a unique fusion of the intellectual, physical and emotional. With the emphasis on active. It’s about learning by doing. For me there is no other way. Getting off your chair, rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in. It’s dynamic, fast-paced and fun. Many workshops on creativity are often more form than content. I hope mine has the balance towards the former but has a great latter. For more information email me and I will send you a full description of what I do.