FlavourCrusader was one of 16 projects chosen to be workshopped in the 2011 XMediaLab by a raft of local and international mentors. Another workshop? Yes, I know…
I learned from OpenIDEO just how valuable different perspectives were; so alongside James and myself, I invited Mei and Adriaan from Infoding. Grant was unable to attend, unfortunately.
Tip: bring good extras; they’re invaluable.
Who were the mentors? They were Tim Chang, Rob Antulov, Kei Shimada, John Tarnoff, Andy Ellwood, Eric Zho, Christopher Tanner, Samuel Seow, Martyn Ware, Dr. Vesna Petresin-Robert, Sey Min, Dr William Cooper, Dorothy K. Gordon, Orvar Säfström, Louise O’Donnell and Chris Winter. So that covers VC, trippy lights and everything in between.
At the beginning, each team does a three minute stand-up. Good ones had an introduction, about the project and what we want to get out of the workshop. Bad ones were finalised just ten minutes before (ahem). After that, whiteboards are rolled out with all the slots and mentor names. Then there is a mad dash to fill the one hour spots.
Tip: Your student moshing days are good practice.
I won’t go into the details of our discussions (I’ve yet to decipher my notes), but the mentors worked well to prod for weak spots and explore. In general for us, bringing the grand vision to market, setting and measuring goals and getting on the same page.
Tip: dream large, but take time to distill your vision.
The outcome? We will work on a two year (measurable) vision then bring it back to today. I’m writing a manifesto as we speak. Someone has given us the foundation of an elevator pitch. And someone at the bar gave us a tagline.
Tip: pay attention even when you’re officially “off”.
All will be revealed in due course. Thank you to Infoding for supporting us, the mentors for their time and wisdom and Brendan and Megan for their hard work. I look forward to see the projects from this years’ XMediaLab bloom and grow.
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