Working in the creative industries is both demanding and exhilarating. Creative minds not only need inspiration but also a lot of discipline. It’s a process that requires almost a military approach to succeed. So how to unleash the creative beast? First, stop the birds around your head and listen to your client, who will be a resource of fresh ideas. Working together always ensures a satisfactory end result, so bring all the team together to ask, suggest and listen.
Next, study your target and let them be the key to facilitating the creative process. Consider things such as the core age group and professional background to understand how likely are they to enjoy event you’re planning. Sometimes a group will need something vibrant and extraordinary but on other occasions, subtlety is key.
Beware of relying too much on Google search. Trying to find innovative solutions by referring to others’ work is not as effective and satisfactory, so listen to your own intuition and the ideas coming from your brain. Recycle but don’t copy. An idea can be recycled to use an element not used in a different context. Innovating often helps to relieve the pressure of constantly creating something new.
Never stop exploring. Go outside, watch movies, talk to new people, listen to music and read books that are completely unrelated to your search. The ideas and solutions you seek are frequently outside what you are actually looking for. Keep a notebook at all times as ideas will come when you least expect them, and creativity mapping will assist enormously on the process.
Tell a story. Think of an event as a visual journey that will make sense to the primal senses. Our five senses are constantly stimulated and we need to trigger that use of sensorial exploration. Create an imaginary world in which the guests are the stars, but be aware that too much or too little can ruin the experience. Keep it clear and clean, with no visual rush.
Stick with the budget. An unlimited budget is not the mother of invention; some of our most creative events have been done with limited finances. We can have a fountain of ideas that will not be in the client’s interest; creativity means to be fertile in a desert and successful outside of your comfort zone.
Solve problems and don’t promote solutions. My approach to presentations is not to hard sell the idea to the client. We must let them fall in love, engage and be active with the idea or concept. We position ourselves as problem-solvers, able to answer any question and tackle unexpected issues.
Be unfaithful. Go to bed with different ideas, and when you find “the one” do not throw the other away – keep some options under the pillow.
