Deborah Khan -- Creative Inspiration: Just one thought

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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Okay. Let’s just say admit he always nails it. This inspirational, succinct post about posting by Seth Godin, delivered with aplomb, reminds me to state the obvious. As ever.

I always reference/recommend blogs in my workshops. Did today. They have rejuvenated my reading. They are accessible, pacy and akin to emails in convenience. They have sign-posted outstanding resources and developed ideas exponentially. Far, far quicker then previous methods of communication of ideas.

They are fun, addictive, enthusiastic and interesting. I have learned loads. And met some great creative people offline.

Still many of my clients continue to dismiss them as insular nonsense, appealing to a narrow demographic. Are we bothered?

All I can add to Seth is that if I, as a working mother of two small children with a pretty full-on social life, can manage to post (occasionally), anyone can.

One question. Abstract. If no-one reads your blog, how are you defining audience and shaping your thoughts? A bit John Berger, I know, but if art needs an audience, do blogs require a reader?

It is still about people. The feedback and interaction will always encouarge us to make just that one post.

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.

Comments

I liked what Seth said too, especially that it just seemed to come out of the blue.

On the audience bit you might be interested in what I wrote about why I blog, a couple of years ago now, but still (maybe more) relevant.

http://perfectpath.wordpress.com/2005/06/30/get-to-the-point-lloyd/

(also includes a drawing that somehow reminds me of interesting2007) :)

Posted by: Lloyd Davis | June 21, 2007 at 09:34 PM

I'm interested in what Seth says though I would disagree when he says everybody SHOULD have a blog.

I think it's key to follow your own personal inspiration and inclination in whatever you do. Blogging is great for those who get pleasure and benefit from writing and reading them. If it doesn't feel relevant to an individual, I would recommend that they leave blogging right out of their life and get on with what matters and feels relevant to them.

Personally, I love to blog and to read others' blogs. And in answer to your Bergeresque question, Deb, I do feel that having a sense of audience is necessary for me to continue enjoying, as well as commercially benefiting, from my blogging.

Posted by: Emily | June 23, 2007 at 04:34 PM

I agree that the word should tends to put people off. But I guess that's why I like Seth despite not being a marketing person- I love his often unashamedly dictatorial style. We need a bit of direction now and again.
I didn't have any web presence so the purpose of my blog was twofold- to at least exist in cyberspace and give people something to look at that wasn't static. Also to open source ideas connected to my work as I increasingly worked on my own.
I have never wanted to benefit financially from my blog. At least not overtly. I have engaged with some fantastic people as a result of this blog. My clients appear to like it, typos and all. The feedback I have had is that it is beginning to capture the diversity of the work I do and feels far less of a sell than any website ever could. As we all know, we are more sophisticated than that.
Inexplicably it was read by my next door neighbour and we realised we shared a client. Althugh our work is very dfferent. We have gone on to do some lovely work together as a result.
Typical London- neighbours communicating virtually. We do chat on the door step as well...

Posted by: Deborah | June 25, 2007 at 03:14 PM