Power Hour Launch

So on Monday we had our launch event for our Power Hours - one hour, high energy trainings that give creatives professional skills. We've been a bit under the radar with regard to creative and media companies in Brighton and we felt it was time to introduce ourselves and what we do.

The event was held at I-Crossing's gorgeous meeting room on Black Lion St, which has a roof terrace and lots of glass boards to replace flip charts ( the modern take on the paperless office it seems). We had 30 people signed up and eventually 15 in the door, which, for a free event on a very sunny day, in a seaside town, is good going.

We started off with tools to make meetings work. Only 2 people confessed to actually falling asleep in a meeting. One woman described how the man next to her actually thumped his head on the desk as his eyelids fell! There was general agreement that competing priorities, agendas and politics, as well as having a few too many people round the table, could all cause complications.

We split into groups and used the 6 hats technique to plan the agenda for our respective meetings. In a real Power Hour, you would then run that meeting, with everyone practicing keeping the right hat on - for those unfamiliar with the hats:

Blue - control hat - why are we here?
White - information - what do we need to know about this?
Red - feelings - what do we feel about this?
Yellow- positive -what is positive about this?
Black - critical - what risks do we need to consider?
Green - ideas - what solutions could we come up with.

Meetings start and end with Blue. You don;t need to use all the hats. The secret is that everyone puts on the same "Thinking Hat" at the same time, so critical thinkers learn to be creative and not impede the creative process and everyone takes the same approach to the conversation, making decision making a lot more structured and timely. Everyone benefits from the opportunity to have their say at every stage.

Then we whizzed into the Art of Persuasion - tools for improving pitching and presentation skills. There was a great moment, where I worked with Angela, from Wired Sussex, who can seem a little nervy in her presenting - same for lots of us. We had a go at using long pauses to add gravitas and help you stay calm. The transformation in under 5 minutes as she presented her ideas with clarity and calm to a rapt audience and a round of applause!

The result - two strong leads to pursue offering this work in exciting, creative organsations and a decision to pilot open courses for freelancers to drop in and build their skills. Exciting!

I'd really recommend a launch/intro event for any new business or business relaunch - it's a great way for people to touch and feel what you do, especially important if you work with intangibles.

Off to the Cotswolds to celebrate this weekend, but quite a few proposals to write before then - glad to be busy again! Phew!

Erica x