VBSR Virtual Workshop Series on Creativity

Event Details:
When: July 28, 2021 1:00 pm – August 4, 2021 2:30 pm
Location: Virtual Workshop Series

Cost To Attend:
Nonmembers – $20
VBSR Members – Free

Registration is open

Event hosted by: VBSR

Join VBSR for a two-part virtual workshop series providing individual professional development opportunities for employees at any level who are looking to expand and build upon their creativity in the workplace. Summer is a great time to focus on individual skill development and both of the workshops in this series will provide fun and engaging opportunities to hone and enhance your creativity, in ways that you can apply in all aspects of your professional and personal lives.

These workshops are free for VBSR members (including all employees of VBSR member businesses and organizations) and $20 for non-members to attend. Both of these workshops will take place virtually and closed captioning will be available. Anyone who is interested is invited to participate in one or both of the following workshops in this series:

 

Part 1:

Building Your Creative Muscle

Presented by David Weaver of AccessCMO

Wednesday, July 28th, from 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Register Here

Learn to improve your innovative imagination and incorporate more creativity into your day to day work life! 

As a result of the pandemic, many companies have accepted the challenge and necessity of remote work. Employees are thinking more holistically about what they want their daily lives to look like. Families are managing multiple family members having multiple Zoom meetings (testing both broadband speeds and nerves alike), and all of us are trying to figure out how to stay engaged, productive, and happy. We’re all being “productive.” But few of us are being as engaged, creative, and innovative as we’d like to be. Even fewer still are “thriving.” Leaders need more creativity and innovation: from themselves, from every employee, from everyone, as often as possible. But too often, “creativity” is seen as something you do in a once-a-year, offsite brainstorming meeting – rather than developing creative ideation as a dedicated practice, employed as often as possible where you need it. It begs the question “How can creative thinking become a habitual (even routine) way of working?”

Join VBSR and David Weaver, a Vermont leader who’s spoken on the TED Mainstage, for a virtual workshop that will leave you thinking more creatively — and give you simple, easily-implementable ways to build your own creative thinking habit that you can start right away. Every day, whenever you need. You’ll emerge from this workshop with a valuable new habit that will alight your imagination, and give you the tools you need to tackle anything that comes next.

 

Part 2:

Visual Thinking

Presented by Katie McCurdy of PictalHealth

Wednesday, August 4th, from 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Register Here

Learn to use drawing for better problem-solving, communication, and creativity in the workplace and beyond.

It’s hard to be a working person in this day and age. We toil away on our computers, our attention divided, managing our tasks. But when problems arise that require higher-order thinking, our tools often lack the ability to help us make creative leaps or untangle complex issues. And understanding each other can be a big challenge. It’s all too easy to leave a meeting or conversation with differing ideas about our next steps. Drawing can help.

Join VBSR and PictalHealth for a virtual workshop that will walk you through a series of exercises to help you get comfortable with drawing and experience how visual thinking improves your problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.

This workshop is for individuals at any level of employment who ever have to plan things, solve problems, work with others, communicate with others, attend or organize meetings, and work on computers. No prior experience is needed. You’ll walk away energized and with an understanding of why and how drawing helps you think better, basic drawing and visual communication skills, and ideas and inspiration for how you can use drawing in your daily life.

 

Questions? Please feel free to reach out to VBSR Education & Events Manager, Carra Cheslin, at carrac@vbsr.org

 

Meet Our Workshop Presenters:

 

Katie McCurdy

 

Katie McCurdy

Founder, PictalHealth

Katie McCurdy is a Burlington-based design consultant, autoimmune patient and founder of PictalHealth – a company that helps complex patients tell their stories visually. You can learn more about her at katiemccurdy.com.

PictalHealth

 

David Weaver

 

David Weaver

Founder, AccessCMO

David Weaver created Outsiderism based on his desire to scale creative output more, by training and mentoring more people to be more creative on a daily basis. That is, to help them become their own best “outsiders.” David has always been an expert in outsider thinking, and he is driven to help other people develop the skillset as well.

David has a deep background in creativity and habits, with some highlights below:

  • An award-winning marketing strategist with over thirty years working with some of the best brands in the world, including: Nissan, American Airlines, Adidas, Clif Bar, Autodesk, Nestle, MGM, Dairy Queen and Hershey.
  • A relentless experimenter and personal habit-hacker, including his blog, WhatIGotRidofToday.com, a personal experiment in minimalism that became a popular TED talk, delivered on multiple TED stages.
  • An authority on the new world of work, as a person who worked remotely for years before COVID, and who created a gig economy, subscription-based solution for mid-size companies who needed seasoned marketing help, but didn’t have the need and budget for full-time staffing.
  • A person who lives holistically — who has created new creative habits in his daily life that have helped him stay optimistic, push new and innovative ideas forward, and improve his health and immune system in a year when that has become so necessary.

AccessCMO