Storytelling Guru Robert McKee to Present STORY-IN-BUSINESS Seminar in New York City

One-day event shares actionable story knowledge and ready-to-use tools to enhance your business communication and persuasion skills

Storytelling guru Robert McKee will present his STORY-IN-BUSINESS Seminar in New York City on September 26, 2014. This exclusive, one-day event will show business leaders how to create and use stories that persuade, inspire and engage their customers and employees. Find more information and registration at www.mckeestory.com/business-story -- and receive a free audio book of STORY by Robert McKee when you register now using promo code DG14!

At the STORY-IN-BUSINESS Seminar, participants will learn how to combine emotion and logic to create compelling stories that capture the hearts and minds of their audience – whether they are creating a one-minute commercial, a 60-minute presentation, an investor pitch, a strategic plan, or an in-depth training program.

McKee, who authored the international best-selling book, STORY: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, teaches the importance of using story to connect with your audience’s emotions and minds alike. Data and facts do not engage a customer’s mind, but well-told and compelling stories do. At the STORY-IN-BUSINESS Seminar, participants will discover how to create stories that work for their organizations.

Harvard Business Review describes McKee as “the world’s best-known and most respected screenwriting lecturer” and for the last 25 years he has been helping writers tell powerful stories through his legendary STORY Seminar and book. More than 100,000 students have completed his course, including numerous Academy Award, Emmy Award, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winners. Now he’s helping business leaders from companies like Microsoft, HP, Siemens, Mercedes-Benz, and the Boldt Company use story to persuade, engage, and communicate more effectively with their employees and customers.

In the STORY-IN-BUSINESS Seminar, McKee shows what story is and why it’s important in today’s workplace, how to design and execute a purpose-told story that moves people to action, the difference between face-to-face storytelling and storytelling at a distance, and why leaders need to use story to author the future. These concepts can be applied to marketing and branding, sales, start up and investment, management and human resource training, and other aspects of business where communication and persuasion drive success.

Find the complete agenda and register at mckeestory.com/business-story -- plus, receive a free audio book of STORY by Robert McKee when you register now using promo code DG14!


Event partners include:
AIGA Connecticut - connecticut.aiga.org
Metro DC Chapter of ASTD - www.dcastd.org
Organization Development Network of New York - www.odnny.org

Berenice "Bee" Bleedorn -- Celebrating and Remembering a Great Educator, Philosopher, Humanist, Artist

To my fellow creative dreamers,

This morning I received word that we have lost one of The Great Ones in the creativity field. My dear friend -- our dear friend -- Berenice "Bee" D. Bahr Bleedorn has died. She was my friend and mentor and inspiration and colleague and teacher who got me into the creativity field 20 years ago this fall at the University of St. Thomas. Her passing leaves a (w)hole in the world. When Bee's 2005 book came out, the "book warming" invitation had a poem on it that was written for her by a Metropolitan State University student in the early 1970s. It really states the impact of Bee on us, and the way we should continue to always see the creative potential in others:

SEED WOMAN
By Kathleen Kuehnast

Seed Woman
Sower of human potentials,
Like a chemist
You experiment with possibilities
And mix together the unordinary
Until it becomes extraordinary.

We will always need in this world
Flowers and roots, seeds and ground,
and a sower -- whether it be the wind
Or you.

For those of you on Facebook, several comments have been left. Please add your thoughts, if you would like.

It looks like the funeral will be Tuesday afternoon at St. Joan of Arc in Richfield, Minnesota. Bee's daughters will confirm this on Friday. A full obituary will be in the papers on Sunday. You can also add comments to the online legacy in the Star Tribune obituary listing.

FRIENDS, please plan to come and join us to celebrate Bee's life with us ... most likely after the funeral on Tuesday. Please share this information and invitation with others, and we will update you with the specifics in the next day or so.

With a heavy heart, filled with gratitude for the 20 years of knowing Bee ...

Steve Dahlberg
International Centre for Creativity and Imagination
http://www.appliedimagination.org/

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Ken Robinson and National Thought Leaders to Join “Shaping the Future of Creativity Today” Workshop at the Creativity World Forum

Following the launch of the National Creativity Network on Monday, November 15, more than 50 people from around the country will gather to work on the “Shaping the Future of Creativity Today.” This workshop runs from 2 to 5 p.m. and is part of the seventh annual Creativity World Forum 2010 to be held in Oklahoma City, November 15 to17.

Noted creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson will help officially launch the National Creativity Network from 9 to 11:30 a.m., and then will join the opening of the workshop at 2 p.m. Both events take place at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City.

Robinson is author of The Element and speaks globally about the importance of creativity and arts in education, work and society. He will join several other national thought leaders who will help in the first hour of the workshop to set context about creative alternatives that are already happening related creativity across society. This group includes:

• Carrie Fitzsimmons – executive director of ArtScience Labs.
• Jean Hendrickson – executive director of Oklahoma A+ Schools.
• Dan Hunter – arts advocate and policy expert.
• Mary Alice Long – play consultant and advocate.
• Scott Noppe-Brandon – executive director of the Lincoln Center Institute and co-author of Imagination First.
• Scott Rich – assessment specialist at Scholastic Testing Service.

Steven Dahlberg, director of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, and Cheryl Whitesitt, executive director of the Minnesota Future Problem Solving Program, will facilitate the workshop, which focuses on:

• Exploring the state of creativity today.
• Engaging creative alternatives about the future of creativity.
• Directly involving participants in creative processes and tools that help move beyond merely advocating the value of creativity to igniting action for change about creativity's role in society.

The workshop is open to all, and seeks diverse participants -- representing education, business, arts, government, nonprofits and beyond -- who all share an interest in applying more personal, organizational and community creativity. The workshop fee is $45 and people may participate whether or not they are attending the Creativity World Forum. More workshop information is available at www.appliedimagination.org/cwf.

More information about the Creativity World Forum is available at http://www.stateofcreativity.com/ and about the National Creativity Network at http://www.nationalcreativitynetwork.org/. [8 November 2010 - National Creativity Network - For more information, contact Kathy Oden-Hall, Creativity World Forum, (405) 203-5742 or kodenhall@stateofcreativity.com]

Dan Pink on Creativity, Motivation, Work, Education and Play

Listen to "Creativity in Play" interview with creativity guru and author Dan Pink. Highlights from Dan Pink's interview about creativity, motivation, education, play and policy:

• What drives Dan? To find out about stuff and to follow his own curiosity.
• How do you motivate people to do creative work?
• If you want to do simple things, if/then motivators work.
• Interesting creative things outside of the U.S.: Role of workplace design in Australia ... how physical architecture can enhance creativity.
• Knowing "why" you are doing things is more motivating.
• Humor is an incredibly important management tool.
• Humor can diffuse difficult situations.
• Humor can be part of bonding.
• On play ... doing things because they are challenging and provide flow experiences. These are crucial for intrinsic motivation.
• Google's "20% rule" to work on what you want is like recess at work.
• The difference between making decisions for instrumental reasons rather then fundamental reasons.
• Policy changes to support creativity? Changes in education, increasing public support for the arts, and public support for research and development.

Creative Leadership Capacities ... From the Connecting Creative Communities Summit

Steven Dahlberg, Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, asks in the "Building Your Capacity: Creative Leadership in the Creative Sector" session at the Connecting Creative Communities Summit on March 11, 2010:

Creativity matters in all aspects of society, work and life. And it matters for how we lead. Creativity motivates people to do what they love and are good at. Likewise, as Teresa Amabile, director of research at Harvard Business School, and one of the leading creativity researchers, says: “When people are doing work that they love and they’re allowed to deeply engage in it – and when the work itself is valued and recognized – then creativity will flourish. Even in tough times.” Yet, sometimes our organizational cultures and practices get in the way of allowing creativity to be cultivated and expressed. Creativity also engages employees in meaningful work. Engaged employees lead to engaged audiences, customers and clients in our organizations. The Gallup Organization says: “Engaged employees [– that is, those who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their organization –] are far more likely to suggest or develop creative ways to improve management processes. They’re also far more likely to find creative ways to solve customer problems or to involve their customers in creative service innovations. Leaders who want to drive growth through innovation should first create an environment that welcomes new ideas – and should make engaging employees a key component of that strategy.” Gallup has also found that 71% of the workforce is not-engaged or actively disengaged in their work, meaning 71% of the workforce is either under performing or actively undermining their work. Therefore, we must ask ourselves:

1. What do we do to help employees intentionally develop and apply their creativity?
2. What does “creativity” mean to me as a leadership practice?
3. How do we develop creativity in our employees … or, how do we help our employees imagine “what if, what else, why not”? What processes do we use to harness and apply more creative thinking, imagination and ideas in our organization? How do we engage our employees? How do we help them connect to their purpose? How do we motivate our employees to do what they love and are good at?
4. What gets in the way and blocks creativity WITHIN our organization and its employees? What deliberate actions do we take to create a culture for creativity WITHIN our organization?