Planning an event for Christmas or the Melbourne Cup? Graeme's comic Hoaxes are proven winners.
"Fabulous performance for our staff Christmas party. Your act of being our new Deputy CEO was extremely successful." Transact Communications
"Graeme's performance at our recent black tie event during Cox Plate week was simply sensational. His portrayal of a leading American racing identity was riveting and hysterical. The general feeling was that Graeme's speech was one of the funniest things they had ever heard." Moonee Valley Racing Club
A business thrives when its people think better, communicate better, and work better as a team.
Graeme Bowman's Better Business Workshops get people thinking, interacting and collaborating. And they do so with a sense of fun, energy and creativity, which makes them an ideal complement to the heavier sessions of a conference or planning day, etc. The idea is to explore issues important to you, but from unusual or quirky angles, in a way that allows participants to move beyond their default attitudes and behaviours. It's certainly worked well for companies such as Dulux, Vero, Dunlop Foam, Nortel Networks, Sanitarium and KCI Medical. (See comments below.)
Here's a description of each workshop:
5 Years Down the Track: The Great Hoax.
This is a lighthearted look at the future of your business, which also generates unusual ideas worthy of further exploration.
Each small group comes up with a brief description of what your business may look like in five years time. Importantly, they not only think of products, services or marketing methods that are completely plausible, they also think of some that are less plausible. They then weave these into a two minute story they tell to the whole group. The aim of each group is to convince the other groups that all their ideas are plausible. What is fact and what is fiction?
After each story, groups whisper among themselves about which bits were real and which were rubbish. They share their views at the end and discuss what value there is in the far-fetched ideas, and what would have to happen to make them feasible.
This is a great workshop for cross-functional groups, fostering plenty of valuable interaction and discussion. Perfect as an ice-breaker early in the day, or energiser after lunch.
The Product Launch from Hell.
This activity looks at creating a new product and launching it. In particular, it explores the ‘people stuff' that can derail this type of process. Each small cross-functional group creates a two minute skit that sends up a crisis meeting about a doomed product launch.
Here's the scenario: you work, not for your own company, but for the fictitious Acme Enterprises, which makes the same products/services you do. Your team is totally committed to the launch of what is supposed to be an amazing new product. The first TVC is going to air this evening ... the trade and the retailers have all been whipped into a frenzy ... they've been promised the world.
But there's a slight problem ... it's a complete dud. This may be due to:
Poor planning
Sub-standard materials
Flaws in packaging, market research, marketing strategy
Problems with advertising concepts
(You would choose problems that could occur in your own company.)
The Managing Director has heard about the impending disaster, and is demanding an explanation of what has gone wrong. This is what your crisis meeting is about, to work out what to say to the boss!
But wait! There's more! Everyone in this crisis meeting has major flaws in their own character, personality and management style. For example, they may:
Have their own personal agendas
Be quick to blame others
Lack customer focus
In developing their skit, participants lampoon those attitudes and behaviours that sabotage organisational success. Lots of laughs, but also important learning during the debrief as they discuss questions such as:
What are the same old people problems that occur, year after year, in all organisations?
In our own organisation, what systems and processes do we have in place to minimise the stuff-ups caused by these people problems, and how can we improve them?
Another great workshop for cross-functional groups, where each person should take on a different role to the one they have in real life.
Someone Else's Shoes
The aim of this activity is to reduce the ‘us and them' attitude that often exists between different functional areas of an organisation, eg sales and marketing. The idea is for participants to step into someone else's shoes, see things from their point of view, and come up with improvements. It consists of two parts:
Part A
Participants form small groups from the same functional area eg sales, marketing or operations.
To outline how the activity works, imagine yours is a marketing group. You would be given these instructions: imagine you are not members of the marketing team, but instead, sales reps. As fanatical, dedicated sales reps, discuss the following:
What ‘bugs' you about the marketing department?
What does marketing do, that inhibits your ability to reach your goals?
What do you really need from the marketing department, to help you achieve budget?
A variation on this discussion occurs within other functional groups.
Part B
The small groups re-form to include people from all functional areas. They discuss questions such as:
What inhibits our ability to work together effectively?
What are the main things we need to change, to work together more effectively?
How could we realistically implement those changes?
Coat of Arms
This is a team identity exercise, focussing discussion on your organisation's core values, key brand elements, mode of operation, etc. It's particularly useful where there's been a merging of different teams or cultures, or some other large change. And because it has a strong visual component, it works well with participants who have English as a second language.
The activity involves creating a visual identity for your organisation, in the shape of a mediaeval coat of arms. Each small group is given coloured textas plus several pieces of paper that, when stuck together, form a coat of arms. Group members discuss and agree on six strong images that represent your organisation, its values, culture and business approach. (What makes your company different to any other? What image could represent that?)
Members then draw images onto sections and stick them together to form a large coat of arms, which they show to the whole group, explaining why they highlighted certain aspects of the organisation over others. This leads to a healthy discussion about the very core of your organisation, as each group will have come up with a different design.
Team Chant
This can be a stand-alone activity, or an extension of the Coat of Arms exercise which looked at images that represent your organisation. But what about words and actions, movement and personal expression? Let's bring this organisation to life!
Each group is asked to create a 30 second tribal chant to suit your organisation. Groups are issued with simple props and toy plastic musical instruments which make a dreadful noise. Each group is asked to perform their chant for the whole group.
This activity is, quite simply, about fun, energy and getting people involved. Light and easy enough to do in the evening, when people may be getting a bit tired.
The Six Thinking Hats
This workshop is based on Edward de Bono's ingenious yet easy-to-use process that helps people think about any issue or idea in a focused way. Its use enhances communication, creativity and productivity for both teams and individuals. A major use is to manage the thinking process during meetings, in order to improve problem solving and decision making. It's a disciplined process that has been used to great effect by leading organisations around the world.
This workshop can be stand-alone or an extension of Graeme's creative thinking keynote, ‘How to Suck Great Ideas Out of Your Head', which hones in on the attitudes and skills needed to create innovative ideas - the sort of ideas that save money and make money.
This workshop will motivate your people to challenge their current thinking style, and show them how to escape from old ideas and generate new ones.
"Graeme helped set the scene and facilitated a couple of relevant themed activities during a Strategy Alignment day for the Dulux business. As a way of getting people's attention up front, Graeme assumed the character of a Trade Painter and proceeded to 'tell it like it is', focused around our theme of the Consumer needing to be at the heart of everything we do. The activities were tailored to our business, and promoted significant interaction and discussion, not the least of which was the activity around team behaviours, which was something we'll remember for a while to come! Graeme played a large part of keeping the day stimulating and fun, ensuring that people remained fresh, creative and focused on the task at hand. At the end of the day people walked away feeling fresh, rather than drained, and we had achieved what we came to do." Dulux Group
"With little preparation time, Graeme was able to tailor his presentation to our complex industry, and facilitate a worthwhile two hour workshop. The response from my management team was very good. They enjoyed the session and saw value in the creative thinking tools. It is important in these conferences that people can relax, and Graeme was able to do that with his humour and practical approach." Computershare
"The session you delivered was tremendous. Conference feedback scored it at 93% . . . the best ever result from any conference we have participated in. Thank you for making us look great!" Vero (at Ausbrokers Conference)
"Running three 75 min workshops consecutively is not any easy task. However, we were extremely impressed with the level of enthusiasm, energy and professionalism you demonstrated. It seems that this workshop was the most well received, enjoyable, and above all useful workshop conducted on the day. It has certainly assisted Vero in setting ourselves apart from our competitors. I believe that the success of the workshops was largely due to your preparation and discussions with key Vero staff prior to the event. You clearly had an understanding of the insurance industry, the challenges our audience is facing in the future, as well as a thorough understanding of the key messages and differentiation Vero wanted to promote." Vero (at IBNA Conference)
"Graeme was engaged to deliver a half-day presentation and workshop to Dunlop Foam sales, marketing and operations people. We were keen to get our team thinking creatively about some important issues, so Graeme kicked off with his keynote address, 'How to Suck Great Ideas out of Your Head'. This led into a workshop where Graeme facilitated discussion and idea generation around the topics of:
Handling sales objections
Increasing effectiveness between the Sales and Operations divisions.
Graeme perfectly reflected our brief in delivering a workshop that compelled our group to "buy in" to the true concept of creativity." Dunlop Foam
"Your ability to mix humour and facilitate a workshop with realistic outcomes is a testament to your versatility. The "How to Suck Great Ideas out of Your Head" segment was well accepted and the delegates used the insights to work through the issue we agreed to address. Peppering the day with your different characters, stringing together industry jargon and issues then finishing with the tailored rock song kept our delegates engaged and entertained while still getting the job done!" Sanitarium
"Not only were you consistently labeled as one of the most entertaining and useful speakers, people thought your style and content were "fantastic" and "brilliant"! Many people thought that you were indeed the highlight of the event and found real value from your workshops." Association & Communications Events
