How happy am I to discover, in academic writing, that day dreaming is good for creativity? For if daydreaming were an Olympic event I’d be a national hero.
Generative techniques such as doodling, free associating, day dreaming and free writing as mentioned by Stella Cottrell (2003) are useful, but I tend to find them distracting. We have to find what works for us.
Like with this blog. In the past I’ve found mind mapping useful to a point, then I find it gets messy. Better I find, and possibly a variation on the idea, is to have to blog posts laid out and to fill them in as I go along with each one having it’s own file for notes. Often they overflow into the next, or suggest new posts. This seems to give me somewhere to put ideas down while allowing others to grow without it becoming an overwhelming mass. I can see the whole and the parts better. Maybe I should plan my events in the same way. Like a bog.
Even if it wouldn’t have changed the result of the event, ‘having a structured and logical method of planning for every aspect of the event arrangements,’ (Conway 2009: 16) may have given me a better understanding of the whole process and may have saved me time. Breaking the event down into it’s constituent parts.
Audience experience, participant needs, the event objective, health and safety, delivery, security requirements, catering, venue requirements (it was a working office), briefing volunteers, promotion of the event and of the venue itself. All of which was done but not in the most time efficient way.
Doing my research and having a more structured approach may have meant doing less on the day, and finding fewer things out as I was going along. It may have given me even more satisfaction than I got and a little less a sense of relief. Being more methodical may also have enabled me to take advantage of things like Hub members reactions.
References:
COTTRELL, Stella. 2003. Skills for Success, Personal Development and Employability. Palgrave Macmillan.
CONWAY, Des G. 2009. The Event Manager’s Bible. London: Constable and Robinson.