Every day in the life of an event planner is intellectually challenging. Your clients expect you to come up with creative ideas every day, year after year. Each event needs to be bigger than the last!
If you’re attending an event, you also need to be sure that you’re getting the most out of it by arriving with a focused mind.
With so many things to think about from the moment you get up, it can sometimes feel like you’ve emptied your ideas bank before the day has even started. It doesn’t have to be the case.
Here are some simple steps to ensure that you begin each day with a bang and give your most innovative thinking the opportunity to thrive.
Open your eyes
The artist Grayson Perry said that “artists notice things that other people miss.” You can replace the word ‘artists’ with ‘innovators’. Innovators are great observers and are constantly on the lookout for fresh ideas.
We miss so much when we don’t open our eyes. If you are on public transport on the way to a meeting or event, turn off your smart phone. Look around… Observe what you see and be curious. Write it down. Turn your smartphone back on and use it as a camera. Create a folder on your phone called ‘inspirational ideas’. Check in with it all the time.
If there is a particular client problem you need a new angle on, open up your eyes, look around and see what inspiration you can find to provide some extra insight to that problem.
Eat a good breakfast
For anyone in the high-energy events and travel industry, this is extremely important. Not only for your creativity, but your general productivity, performance and happiness.
A 2015 study showed that young adults who ate more fruit and vegetables reported higher average eudaemonic well-being, more intense feelings of curiosity, and greater creativity compared with young adults who ate less fruit and vegetables.
Other foods known to boost creativity include:
● Kale and other leafy greens
● Blackberries
● Olive Oil and Peanut Oil
● Avocadoes
● Lots of water
Just think: what type of food will still have me kicking goals at 10pm tonight?
Walk
Walking has a profound effect on creativity. According to a recent Stanford Study, 81 per cent of the participants saw an increase in creativity when they were walking.
Many attendees will drive to their events, or get chauffeured from the door of their hotel to the venue’s entrance. They do no exercise before they go, then stay seated for the majority of the day.
If you can’t get out and do any exercise during the day, take five to 10 minutes to walk in between sessions.
Exercise is not only good for your body. It’s great for your ideas. Exercise releases dopamine into the brain, which increases the free flow of information around the brain, enabling the left and right hemispheres to connect and have an ideas party.
If you cannot fit any exercise in, go to bed earlier and resist the temptation to scour social media as the last thing you do at night. A quick five minutes turns to 30…
Block out time for creative thinking: try journaling
With a limited attention span and so many distractions available on your computer at work or on a device at an event, it can be hard to block out time for a clear mind and creative thinking.
Writing your thoughts down is a great way to let your creativity flow without judgment, and to start to develop the great ideas your clients expect.
Journaling first thing in the morning also lets you access the great thoughts that have been flowing around in your brain overnight, instead of being consumed by the first email that you look at on your phone.
Simon Banks is a speaker on creativity and innovation for big business. He is also the Director of creative training company VisualFunk. VisualFunk is known for their great energy in running Innovation Hubs, Conferences and Training days to really shift the way that people think and develop market leading ideas. His first book on developing a culture of Innovation is due to be released in March 2017.
