Collective-Brainstorming

I have always been an advocate of brainstorming, ever-since I tasted the power it has. Now brainstorming has usually been associated with Creativity and hence its usage is limited in the many meetings, corporate have. The fact is Brainstorming is a:

Great equalizer – it fades the hierarchical boundaries and accepts each and every idea or thought as an equal possibility

Creative-idea-generator – it helps open-up unseen dimensions and directions in each topic of discussion.

Big and small pictures – it helps one to see the big-picture and also go deeper into the many puzzles that make-up each idea

Brainstorming is an activity that we use in our Discover session before we start to design Visual Presentations. Recently, I met a client who had to create a presentation for a conference. Now she had made a lot of effort, to collect a whole lot of data and compile them into a cohesive one. The challenge we faced was to understand those huge chunks of data and give it visual meaning. After we managed to put-up a presentation, we had this wonderful opportunity to actually demonstrate the presentation to not just her, but to a small team of peers, seniors and even the head of the organization.

At this juncture I need to pause…because the aftermath of this demonstration was a great blessing – suddenly many minds began to open-up with ideas and perceptions and possibilities. Soon the conference room became a place where collective-brainstorming began to take place. And it was wonderful! I as an outsider could see the wealth of ideas that were pouring forth and in that short span of time – I understood more about the presentation than the 5hrs I spent creating it. That is the power of collective-brainstorming.

Why do I call it collective-brainstorming?

It is a term that I use to portray different groups of people, from various departments of an organization, who meet to discuss a certain topic. The key word is ‘different’. Normally brainstorming is done within departments and so ideas are limited to the combined understanding of that group. In contrast, here we see different perceptions, and ideas expressed from a collective gathering of individuals who represent the whole company. The result: A wealth of ideas and possibilities which can only come-out of such a collective brainstorming.

So what are you waiting for?

Find ways to have collective-brainstorming sessions in your organization when it comes to finding solutions for the consumer. You can even take it one step further – involve your partners and if possible some of the customers. You will be surprised by the wealth of ideas you will generate.

Two different reports

A manager of a multinational IT company hired two graduates from a top management institute. Let’s call them A and B. Now A was a person who had the airs of achievement about him and always looked as impeccable as ever. B on the other-hand was the casual, friendly type – who began to make friends, right from the office-boy to the top guns who shared the occasional elevator ride.

After a long, solid internship, the manager called A and asked him to go to a chicken farm, on the outskirts of the city, and find if any IT work was possible for them. A set out on this very prestigious journey, only to find that his Honda, had to be stopped at-least two kilometers before the venue.  Having finished his work, A returned. (Kind of smelly and with traces of feathers)

The next day, the same assignment was given to B.(only to another chicken farm) Now B went in a bus, to get a feel of the ride and returned back with a few chickens, grinning at the experience. (With many anecdotes to share)

Both submitted reports.

A’s report summary:

The chicken farm is chicken feed for an organization like ours. It’s a place where education is neither respected nor sought-after. IT will definitely not have a role to play there.

B’s report summary:

A different experience altogether! Enjoyed the ride, warmth of the people, and the fellowship! Learnt about the simplicity and passion in work! A little IT would definitely help them. And all these chicken farms are inter-related. (Business sense) If we make one project for them, then we can duplicate the same for a thousand others (with minimal customization). They would need a kiosk with a PC and the same can be used in the evening to teach the kids in that area. (Social investment) It will be a challenge to develop VERY user-friendly software, but then that is our challenge. (Creativity) By the way, they have the money (my free chickens go to only prove that). I am ready to do an intense project feasibility study on this wonderful opportunity.

Guess what happened next?

One of them stayed there, while the other left – can you identity who and why?

Using AV to tell God’s Story-Part3

AV Tools & Conclusion

Now the next big question may be:

Not everyone is digital! So the latest fads are only hindrances in telling God’s story

Well, the answer is simple. Follow God’s way! So what is God’s way – using the right tools for the right audience at the right situation!

But how?

Using the right audio-visual tool for the audience in a given situation!

But isn’t all audio-visual – digital? NO.

Digital is simply the name given for the latest audio-visual development on the planet. Audio-visual communication as you have seen from the above pages, started at Creation. It is the way God communicates! Now we as his children, his image need to go to him, ask him for wisdom, that we may borrow his creativity and use the right audio-visual tool to tell His story.

So what tool can you use?

I would like to broadly divide audio-visuals tools as:

1. No technology
2. Low technology
3. Medium technology
4. High technology

No technology:

This includes

Biblical storytelling ² – telling the exact stories of the Bible, without any changes (Except in word placements to aid telling – 95% context accuracy and 75% verbal accuracy)

Contemporary storytelling – using stories from our present age to share the message from the Bible

Drama / Skit / Play – acting out the story of either the Bible or a contemporary story relating to the Bible (using different characters, props, costumes etc)

Puppet show – using puppets – string puppets, sock puppets, shadow puppets, rod puppets, Object puppet, Finger puppet etc to tell a pure Biblical or contemporary story using mime, animated acts and dialogues

Comics ³ – using Biblical stories, created in the form of comics to share God’s story; Using cartoons to reflect on a message from the Bible; Using mainline comics to dig out God’s message.

Low technology:

This includes

Whiteboard / Blackboard drawing – drawing a story in sequence or random to tell a story – fully Biblical or contemporary

Flipchart drawing – drawing a story in a page-roll format

Post-it storyboard – creating a storyboard with lots of interactions and questions, weaving a story with audience participation

Medium Technology:

This includes

View Master ⁴ – this is a simple viewing device into which a circle shaped disc called Reel is inserted. The reel has a story in sequence which can be seen by clicking one image at a time.

Slide projector – a simple tool used widely before the advent of movie projectors. You can use it to show 35mm film strips.

OHP projector – a projector which can throw visuals onto a wall using a lamp and a mechanical projection system. Stories can be created on transparencies and compiled together to form a sequence.

Visual Presenter – the big brother of OHP. The main advantage is that you can project any object, even a pen or paper or photo by placing it on the presenter. Stories can be drawn on it and emphasized by adding relevant photos or objects.

High technology:

This field uses a combination of photography, video techniques, computer and the web to create a series of stories – creativity and knowledge of relevant tools, is used in submission to the sharing of the message.

This includes

Camera – Film and Digital – the idea is to make a picture with sequenced still images, using a storyboard

Video camera – capture moving images to form a movie

LCD Projector – to throw visuals – still and moving onto walls

Computer – to edit the different visuals and audio and to create a work of synergy

MP3 Player – record a story with dialogues, sounds and music; used for podcast also

Telepresence – a advanced web broadcast technology which can project a very good image of people from different parts of the world, so they can communicate together in on place, without being there in person. This takes us back to sharing with No technology using the advanced high technology.

Now, that you have got a fair idea, of the great variety of tools that form a part of Audio-visuals – you must now make choices: Which tool can I use for which audience? How can I use the creative wisdom, God has given me to tell His story?

Finally the action question is:

What must I keep in mind when using Audio-visual to communicate?

God is the Equipper:

All communication must bring glory to God. That is what Jesus (as an example for us) did and that is what we are expected to do. The key is to surrender to God and ask Him to give you the creative wisdom, so you can produce powerful audio-visuals which can tell His story.

Message is primary, Entertainment is secondary:

In our zeal to create and produce audio-visuals, there is a big danger that we should not fall over into the pure entertainment segment. The core message of each audio-visual is vital. The word must be presented clearly, over and above every perception that audio-visual has.

God holds us accountable for what He has given us:

We were created in His image and as Christians our mission is to tell others about our Jesus Christ. You may not have a camera, or a high tech tool, or even a medium tech tool, but still you can use your memory, voice, visual (facial expression, gesture etc) to share the story of God. The challenge is to learn and develop your talents daily.

Everything we have comes from God! To the one who chose to die for us, and save us from eternal punishment, we must bring all glory and honor.

Now that you know the real meaning and power of Audio-visual – Use this God’s method of communication, using the right tool, developing daily your gift that many will come to know the true story of God.

God bless You

References:

¹ A Young Earth as mentioned in the Bible http://www.answersingenesis.org/

² Biblical Storytelling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_storytelling

Tom Boomershine http://gotell.org/

Network of Biblical Storytellers http://nbsint.org/

³ Japanese Biblical comics http://www.nextmanga.com/

⁴ View Master Christian reels http://www.3dstereo.com/viewmaster/vvr-bib.html

Using AV to tell God’s Story – Part 2

Presented at the

National Conference: God’s Story, Our Story

Organised by GoTell (www.gotell.org) & Impact at NSK, Bangalore

Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2009

Author: Ashley Chris Vinil J P

Was mankind using audio-visual to tell stories?

“The world is made of stories, not atoms (M. Rukseyer)”

Travel with me on a journey as we uncover the way mankind had tried to tell stories audio-visually.

After God created Adam and Eve, they began to see and hear the audio-visual world around them. I am sure, they must have shared the many discoveries, they made in the Garden of Eden. This was the beginning of storytelling (Don’t we do that, even today? – share all the incidents that happened to us, to others – maybe, add a few exciting or emotional tit-bits – but end up telling a story – not one, but many)

Now, after the fall and departure from Eden, (around 4000BC) ¹ mankind began to share the stories of Eden and the fall, around fires and their children and grand-children listened spell-bound. And God had also given them great talents.

²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. ²² Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of ^[g]bronze and iron. (Gen 4: 20 – 22)

With these amazing talents and the creativity that God had endowed on them, they began to carve the stories in the walls of their residences – caves (We call them today as interior decoration or home décor – place important photos, paintings, flowers etc to add the unique touch to our home)

As civilization grew and prospered, the concept of adding on to the original stories became rampant and each group of people, now grown distinct by their learnt behaviors, customs and physical separation – started developing and sharing their own concepts of creation. A concept that faintly resembled the real one on one hand, but on the other depended solely on the creativity of mankind. For in their quest, to create a superior being, they used nature, animals and humans and made them into gods. So man did use his creativity greatly! (That is how the many mythologies were created in each religion and society)

We see, the great Egyptian civilization (Around 3000 BC) drawing murals on their great constructions – telling stories of their gods and kings. So did the other civilizations spread across the earth! This continued for ages and still does. Around 500 BC, the Greeks presented to the world their mastery of the art of public-speaking. Soon these learned men, who knew the art of storytelling with persuasion, became the real audio-visual communicators. They were the visual (their facial expressions, gestures and body movements) and the audio (words, tone, pitch, throw).

Now, we come to the grandest event in history – the time of Jesus Christ – a time when audio-visual storytelling, was used effectively by the master himself. With the apostles and early church lovingly sharing this story of Christ, Christianity grew. Soon the strongholds of the Christian faith began to tell God’s story – through stained glass paintings (around 950 AD), paintings (1000 AD), and bar charts (1350 AD). Soon, the church dominated the use of audio-visual techniques. This took a grand leap with the Guttenberg printing press (around 1439). This put the church in complete control of both the elite and the poor. The story of Christ now bloomed in every hand – as Bibles and books reached every corner. This became the accepted medium of the church – the written word.

But God was still speaking to people and mankind began to invent amazing objects which continued to enhance audio-visual communication. But some of the discoveries which moved the world ex: the magic lantern (1798), Comics (1845) were scorned by the church and even persecuted at times. But the world continued to invent, and many of the inventions were by professing Christians. Soon the camera, view master, slide projector, telephone, radio, TV, TV camera stormed the scene. From 1875 on, inventions began to spill-out at a rapid rate. And then in 1981 came the PC, followed by the Mac in 1984, which revolutionized how we worked. Even as the church was grasping to come to terms with all these inventions (having started to at least embrace the radio), the World Wide Web was born in 1993. This changed how one communicated. From ‘one-one’, the world had moved aggressively to ‘one-many’, but suddenly it found an unknown concept: ‘many-many’. With www came a whole new way of information, conversation and connection! Instant Interactivity became the new norm and to add to the confusion, Gen Y (born between 1975 and 1994) came into being (that includes me!)

While every corporate and media house hurried and re-shaped itself to cater to this new generation, the church chose to look back into the tools of old. And slowly every new occurrence happening in the outside world began to be scorned by the church. Rather than accept its helplessness and need for change, the church chose to criticize and condemn the new ways of audio-visual communication. The result: media became the new religion of choice. Except for a few, the overall church began to forget the audio-visual way of communication. Today even as the Gen Z (born after 1994) is embracing the audio-visual culture of the time (termed ‘digital’), the big question we need to ask ourselves:

What are we doing about it?

Using AV to tell God’s Story – Part 1

Presented at the

National Conference: God’s Story, Our Story

Organised by GoTell (www.gotell.org) & Impact at NSK, Bangalore

Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2009

Author: Ashley Chris Vinil J P

“Why use audio-visuals?”

God the creator, the source of creativity, made everything out of nothing! He existed before the created concepts of time and space. He, the light (Visual) made everything by speaking (Audio).

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good (Gen 1:3, 4)

God is an audio-visual being and He made mankind in his image – male and female, He made them. So every person is an audio-visual person!

God used his creation (nature) to speak to his creatures (including mankind), but then people were special – they refused to see or listen, much less try to understand. So God used his creative nature to produce miracles. They were the earliest form of ‘produced’ audio-visuals to tell God’s message. A flaming sword in the garden of Eden; hordes of animals walking towards the ark; the destruction of Sodom; the burning bush; the pillar of fire; the red-sea partition…the list is huge and you must be getting the idea! Each miracle was a powerful Audio-visual spectacle. God used different tools, to present his message audio-visually. Right from a voice calling from the sky to the grand spectacle of light & sound effects, God used audio-visual effectively to convey each of his message.

Even as God was using AV powerfully, his creations, desired to follow him – many a time in the wrong way! Consider this picture from mount Sinai – as God was conversing with Moses, preparing lovingly ways to build his people, the very people were busy creating a golden calf and they went on to worship it with sounds and dance! This did not just end there. For the Israelites saw the whole world around them, filled with all kinds and shapes of visual gods. And they could not even see their God!

Now, God understood their pain and predicament but then He had a plan; a plan forged at the very dawn of creation itself – that plan was to reveal himself; And He did.

⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:6, 7)

Now, Jesus was not the description of God that the Israelites wanted! He was different in every way. The one aspect of Jesus, I am going to concentrate on is His way of communication.

Jesus was not a theologian, but God who told stories Madeline L’Engle

He did not just tell stories, but he weaved his stories audio-visually. He did not sit inside a set synagogue and render hour after hour of monotonous laws, but reached out to every person – be it in the city, or in the village; be it a Jew or a Gentile; be it in the mountain-side or in the lake-side. His stories involved characters right from the surroundings, be it humans, animals or objects. He was God, who saw life unrolling around him and used it effectively to tell His message. Even in cases, when he was stuck to a place, he used relevant pictures from the lifestyle of that place, combined it with imagination, right questions and crafted a message that soon got him a huge following!

Why, even the end and beginning was communicated audio-visually.

⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. (Mathew 27:51)

²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. (Mathew 28: 2-4)

So the two learning, I have got from this powerful history is this.

• God is an effective storyteller
• God is an amazing audio-visual expert

So what are we supposed to do?

No, I am not saying this is the commandment or commission of God, but what I am trying to impart here is this: Can we communicate using the techniques God had used and is still using, through His word – the Bible?

Welcome to Audio-visual storytelling