Get Digital

On the 16^th of April 2013 I attended the final DICE conference Get Digital in the Helix. This conference was slightly different to the others. It began on the second floor in the Helix, where each DICE group was given a designated area, to hang up their Mobile App poster and present it to judges.

My group’s idea was to create an App where students can easily access their Email, see what events are happening in DCU, discover where there are free car parking spaces and free computers on campus and also DCU connect which is essentially a Dropbox for DCU students.  I enjoyed this part of the conference. The judges had interesting questions which made our group think more about cloud computing and how it works.

After two hours of presenting our posters, all of the DICE groups entered the Mahony Hall for the main conference. Dr. Theo Lynn again introduced the conference Get Digital. Theo always has interesting insights; he spoke about Intel and said how they train those to be more innovative. This intrigued me as I had always seen Intel as just a Technologic platform and didn’t take into consideration their innovation and creativity. Theo also spoke about the Irish Centre for cloud computing, which is located in DCU. I personally didn’t know much about the Centre, but Theo briefly explained what they do and it is evident that they have had a fantastic start!

Prof. Martin Curley the Vice President and Director of Intel Labs Europe was the first speaker. The title of his presentation was “Reshaping the future of industry and society”. He spoke about how cloud computing is just starting and how technology is changing the world! As I have grown up technology has been evolving and it is only now that I realize how technology has had an impact on my life. I can now see the way in which it has changed people’s lives and I can only imagine how it is going to change our lives in the future.

Martin said that the next war would probably not be a physical war but a cyber war. This astonished me! Technology has not only changed our lives it has transformed business for example we can now buy clothes online and have them delivered to our homes.

Martin also talked about Sustainability and Innovation. I learned that in order for sustainability to develop double usage must occur and resources need to be bent in order to be reduced. Innovation is also changing; he discussed the pursuit of Moore’s law. Initially I found this to be very complex and hard to understand but after he explained it I can now see how it can open doors to innovation and how it collides with so many different domains. He talked about the Triple helix innovation and the Quadruple helix innovation.

After seeing these diagrams I now understand we need an aspect of all in order to have innovation at its fullest. He told us a bit about Intel and how they are working closely with Dublin City Watch. This allows interaction with the city in real time, which is very unusual. One of the last things Martin said was  “Innovation starts with a vision”, this amazed me as a vision can not always been seen initially as innovation but through time it can.

The next speaker to take the stage was Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev, he is a Russian economist who is Head of Research for St. Columbanus AG and also a lecturer in Trinity College Dublin. At the beginning he spoke about the Irish Centre for cloud computing and how scarcity doesn’t really exist in cloud computing. Because scarcity doesn’t really exist in cloud computing, cloud computing doesn’t really have a place in the economic system at present.

Sometimes I found it difficult to understand Constantin, but from what I gather he spoke about Cloud human capital platforms, which are all things focused on physical capital. It can be seen in Europe for example the Irish taxation system. There has been a shift in favour of tax rather than against. Constantin said that he thinks Ireland will have to hire people in at a higher cost, which will cause higher disruption. I can see why he chose this instead of Ireland competing for physical platforms as they have low value added. I found it very intriguing how he said that we cannot rely on 20^th century politicians; I never really connected cloud computing with the economy. But now I understand that we need to change our politicians for the better. I personally feel that Minister Bruton may be on the right track!

My favourite speaker of the day took the stage next, Claire Dillon from Microsoft Ireland. She spoke about the vision for cloud computing. She showed us a video that really made u step back and think where Technology is going.

 

After showing us this video she spoke about the trends in computing:

• Multiple devices
• Changes in social behaviour
• Connected
• Natural interaction

Prior to her telling us these trends I personally wouldn’t have noticed that we use multiple devices and they are connected. She showed us another video that gives u great insight into what could be our future in connecting our multiple devices.

 

I am looking forward to future inventions because none of us know what’s next! Claire said that there are lots of cloud problems to solve but there are people working on them, so therefore we don’t know what is in cloud computing’s future! We will just have to wait and see.

Fergus Gloster, the Managing director of Marketo International, was the last person to speak. He talked about Marketing Automation and how a cloud computing company is run. In his opinion the marketing model, which is presently in use is dysfunctional as it is obsolete.

The way in which people buy and sell products/services has changed so therefore the way they are marketed must also be modified. There are 6 Marketing Automation tools that Fergus suggested that companies should employ:

1. Report of analytics
2. Inequality capture
3. New lead processing
4. Lead nurturing
5. Scoring and insight
6. Life cycle

I think these tools would help many businesses to reform their marketing model. He also spoke about the SAAS revenue model. He showed us formulas and I got a bit confused but I think he was trying to say that businesses should try change their business model by looking at their pricing strategies to see how they could best compete.

Overall I enjoyed the conference, however I do not feel that I fully understand what Cloud Computing is but the speakers on the day gave me great insights into what it could be.

Get Started

On the 12^th of February 2013, I attended the Get Started conference. This conference was held in the Mahony Hall in the Helix. The conference was split into two parts. The first part was about Social Enterprise and the second part was about commercial enterprise.

Theo Lynn was the first person to take the stage. He talked about engaging with the community and how many aspects of our lives contribute to Social Enterprise. I found this to be intriguing, as I had never really thought about how aspects of our lives could in fact be a Social Enterprise career. Theo said

“Start-ups don’t fail because of bad ideas they fail because the entrepreneur gets bored”

This really got me thinking on how entrepreneurs really don’t consider growing an idea fully; they just want to start up new innovative ideas!

Theo then passed us over to Sean Coughlan from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. Social Entrepreneurs Ireland supports all of the social entrepreneurs within Ireland by going along the entrepreneur’s journey with them. Sean introduced us to all of the speakers.

Michael Kelly is the founder of GIY (Grow It Yourself) Ireland. I found this company to be very different to other companies. Six years ago Michael’s life changed when he was in a supermarket and he noticed that the garlic he was buying was produced in china. His hobby changed into a full time job. He didn’t think that this was right, as garlic is easy to produce.

This encouraged him to start producing his own vegetables at home. He soon realized that Ireland imports 5 Billion euro worth of produce, 3 billion that could be produced here! Michael saw an opportunity and decided to take the plunge. He employs six people to try and encourage others to grow their own. His reasons for GIY were for health benefits and to be environmentally friendly.  35,000 people around Ireland are now involved in the movement. Michael said that before starting your own business you need to consider the following:

• When is the right time to start?
• Is there a demand for your good/service?
• Can you pay the companies bills?
• Do you have the skills to pull it off?
• Is there any support network available to you?
• What does your gut say?

These really made me see how you need to be prepared and be aware of all the possible risks out there, in order to have a successful start up. Michael left us with a very inspiring quote from Wayne Dyer:

“Don’t die with your music still in you!”

This really makes you want to get up and be the best that you can be!

George Boyle from the Fumbally Exchange then took the stage. Fumbally exchange tries to encourage people to start up their own businesses. George first discussed the five stages of recession and how we are all in the acceptance stage.

She then went on to discuss the 7 catholic concepts that a business may go through:

1. Impulse
2. Freedom
3. Guilt
4. Personal Responsibility
5. Forgiveness
6. Permission
7. Style

She started off Fumbally exchange with no seed capital. They used traditional methods of bartering and begging to start their business and this really got my attention as prior I had always thought that money had to be your starting point! But by listening to her and her story, I realized that passion is needed to succeed.

John Fitzsimmons the chief executive of Camara was the third speaker. Camara is a company, which tries to transform education. The company aims to give children across the world the gift of digital literacy. With Camara 250,000 kids will get the skills to be able to access the Internet and use computers. John discussed how Camara built their teams.

“Lone heroes only survive in the movies” Bill Lowe

This quotation caught my attention as I always thought that people could be successful in growing a business on their own, but now that I think about it in reality they need support and backup from others. John said that you have to focus on the people not the idea, which is true, as the people need to have an interest and passion in the idea for it to be successful! John gave three main aspects that should be used in creating a team:

• Do they have similar beliefs?
• Do they fit the brand?
• Do they have passion in the Product?

In fulfilling these aspects the team will succeed, as they want it to be successful!

When you have the right team with the passion and drive for success in order to retain them the business needs to communicate, manage and give the team vision. Through this I discovered that in order to be successful you need to have the right skill set within the team and if not it needs to be brought in!

Lucy Masterson from Hireland.ie took the stage following John. She was by far my favourite speaker of the day, because I could see that she had passion and the motivation to succeed. She talked about seven main areas of getting yourself out there:

1. Marketing- she told the audience about how marketing has evolved and it is now about telling a story that can spread. This intrigued me as I can now see how many other companies are trying to make a connection with consumers.
2. Keep it simple- she also said that when starting out its best if you take it one step at a time. I personally don’t feel it would work in all start-ups as sometimes it may take more than one step at a time. However I do see how it relates to hireland.ie as they are trying to get the workforce back by the concept of hire one.
3. Break the rules- this was by far my favourite step as I don’t think all businesses take this into consideration. When starting off you need to establish your business as something that is new and by going outside the boundaries you are making it more intriguing for customers.
4. Start a movement- she also discussed how you could reach out to many other people with the same issues and merge together.
5. Embrace evolving technology- technology is constantly changing and we need to keep up to date in order to make consumers aware of our product in the best possible way. Lucy also talked about the rise is social media in recent years and how it is easier to connect with like minded people with similar wants.
6. Social, local and mobile- these three aspects have all been condensed into one our mobile. This opened up new routes to market.
7. Be BOLD- Lucy was very passionate about this step in particular she said that “If you don’t ask you don’t get” this really got me thinking. You have to be willing to go out and work to try to make people aware!

Darren Ryan a representative from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland was up next. At the beginning he asked us to consider whether we would prefer to make lots of money or make an impact on the world? This made every individual in the audience consider what was more important to them Money or Impact! Commercial entrepreneurs are more focused on Profit whereas Social Entrepreneurs look more so at the impact. A great example of a business that incorporates both commercial and social aspects is Tom’s shoes.

 

 

The panel discussion was held next. This is always an intriguing part of the conference as there are many people with different views. There were many things discussed but what I found to be particularly catching was:

When will young Ireland embrace social enterprise?

George from Fumbally exchange said that fear will stop them because they have been brought up in seek of job security but she expressed how taking the plunge into entrepreneurship is such an amazing experience. I believe that she is correct as we are now in recessionary times and this can impact on our decisions to become an entrepreneur. Lucy from Hireland.ie had a different view she said that the young people hold all of the power and can create the country we want. In a way I would agree with what she is saying as the young people have to have the willingness to be BOLD!!

We had a short break and afterwards in the second part a representative from Zartist, John Dennehy, took the stage. He gave us a brief introduction into himself and how he had studied at DCU. He talked about how public relations is the most effective way to getting noticed. He also spoke about how it is best to start-up a new business when you are young because nothing is holding you back. I think that he is right in this because in the latter of life people have families and they need a stable income, which is not always guaranteed in starting a new business.

Next up was the Raising funds panel. Sitting on the panel was a numerous of interesting business people:

• Ciaran Mac An Bhaird (Ustart)
• John Hannon (3060)
• Terence Bowden (Propeller)
• Gary Leyden (NDRC)

They spoke about equity and its importance. I was very intrigued to discover that it is the most valuable thing to give away. If I was to start up a business now I would most definitely take their advice and at other options such as grants.

Conor Winders took the stage after the panel. He is the CEO of Redwinds Software. He spoke about the company he set up and then he gave tips on what starting your business should and shouldn’t be.

It should be:

• Fun
• Hard work
• Rewarding
• Have passion about it

It shouldn’t be:

• All about the money
• About an exit strategy

Conor was a wonderful speaker and really had me thinking about the pros and cons of start-ups.

Irish Entrepreneurs panel was up next each of the following entrepreneurs had very captivating views on start-ups.

• Aidan Gallagher (Inishtech)
• Anne Butterly (Easydry)
• Paddy O’Connell (Paddy’O’s Granola)
• Ciaran Crean (Mikes Garage)

From their discussions I gathered that they all found it tough but rewarding!

Gerry Duffy was last to take the stage. He had a very striking story. He accomplished something that was thought to be impossible, 32 marathons in 32 days.

This astonished me and made me see that the impossible is possible. We all need to raise the bar and challenge ourselves! We need to work to the best of our abilities.

Gerry showed us one of the most influential videos that I have ever seen and I will conclude with the video as it speaks for itself and truly shows that anything is possible. Overall the conference gave me great insights into starting a new business showing me the positives and negatives but this video showed me that anything is possible.

Get Mobile

On the 4^th of December 2012 I attended the Get Mobile conference in the Helix. A number of representatives from different companies spoke about the concept of Mobile Marketing. At the conference we were brought through the development of a mobile app, different mediums used in mobile marketing and how businesses use mobile marketing.

Dr. Theo Lynn from the DCU Business School opened the conference. He is apart of the Techspectations initiative in DCU. He spoke about the initiative and how it aims to increase the overall digital participation in all aspects of Irish life. This interested me, as I didn’t know that Techspectations was apart of DCU. He also spoke about the Web 2.0 Framework, He showed us the diagram displayed below. From this I gathered that we use the Web by inputting Data, then the different Mechanisms that exist on the Web allow us to have different outcomes.

Theo also discussed Jampot, which is a Mobile App Builder. Jampot allows anyone to create their own personal app within two hours. I went to the App Builder website and it very straight forward, they guide you the whole way through, so there is really no reason as to why we don’t have out own apps.

 

Dominic Muldoon, from Púca, was the next person to take the stage. Púca is Irelands leading mobile marketing specialist. It was established in 2000. They provide a wide range of mobile technologies and services that enable mobile marketing. Dominic Muldoon said that for him it starts with Alexander Graham Bell in 1976, when he created the telephone. However phone calls have now began to diminish as technology has evolved allowing us to use SMS messages. Practically everyone owns a mobile phone, so therefore mobiles touch all aspects of our lives. Dominic told the audience that almost 74% of Mobiles owned are smart phones. Because people are now using smart phones brands want to interact in this division. Samsung said, “Mobile is the glue that is holding human experiences together”. This shocked me, as I never really noticed how much we use mobile phones, it has just become second nature!

He also spoke about how 91% of smart phone holders have their phones within arms reach. This has shown me that we use our mobiles for more than they were intended for! Dominic stated that we need to be “Device ready”; I personally see a problem with this, as older generations don’t seem to want their devices to change. Therefore I believe that businesses that want to cater for both generations need to make their mobile apps simple so that they can be accessed by all.

The head of sales and marketing from Nokia, Eoin Cruise, addressed us next. He started off by saying “how did we get here?” The old Nokia phones are now unrecognizable to the new ones. As I have grown up mobile phones have been constantly evolving, therefore I hadn’t taken much notice. Looking back to the old mobiles there is no comparison to the new windows phone!

 

Nokia had to change from Symbian and Meego to Windows phone, in order to have the ability to compete with rivals such as Android. This showed me that innovation is everything. The new windows phones allow you to access Microsoft office, which has many advantages to both businesses and to individuals.

Patrick Ward from Windows Business Group then showed the crowd Windows 8. He explained how the PC and Tablet have now become companion devices. I found this to be very intriguing, as I had never thought of them combined. Windows 8 is the “bringing together of user experiences”; it allows you to keep up to date for example with your friend’s news through the friends tab.  Windows now allows you to have 7GB free online storage, this I personally think is one its best features, because this means that you can access your Data from any mobile, tablet or PC.

After all of those wonderful speakers, was the App Expo. The App Expo was a display of some of the DICE groups Clubs and Societies Apps. I enjoyed this part in particularly as I got to see what some of y fellow classmates had come up with. My group produced an App for the Olympic Handball Club, using the Jampot App Builder.

http://webapp.theappbuilder.com/apps/53fd0d2a-c651-4998-94a9-93f1dc138303

The Vice president from PayPal, Louise Phelan then spoke to use about mobile shopping and payments. 40% of Smart phone owners have purchased something through the use of their phone. I am not really surprised that this figure isn’t any higher. She discussed the reasons why people are held back from shopping on Mobile devices the three main reasons are:

1. Security
2. Convenience, they like to go to the store and touch the product
3. Usability, they find the screen too small.

She also talked about how PayPal try to make their service secure, simple and innovative for their customers. I have used PayPal in the past and I liked the way in which they build customer engagement through easy payments.

Next up was the Panel discussion; a number of interesting people from different aspects of Mobile marketing took to the stage.

They first discussed the trends in the Irish Global market. From this I discovered that in 2010 businesses woke up to Apps and began to connect the core system of their business to mobile Apps. Sylvie McDermott, the mobile manager from Paddy Power, stated that 44% of Paddy Powers customers are mobile app users. This astonished me I didn’t expect that many people to be bidding through the use of mobiles.

The next topic that they discussed was how much faster Mobile has advanced in comparison to PCs. I don’t think I would have ever considered this. But looking at it now I can see how they have progressed and even why. People use their mobiles far more than their PC so therefore I think businesses have put more innovation and research into mobiles. The members of the panel then discussed their favorite most useful apps. I enjoyed this part of the panel most as it allowed the audience to become aware of new apps. An app is interesting when it contains fantastic elements. The Hailo app was introduced to me at the conference. I have since downloaded it and it is so practical I have used it many times.

 

The last speaker to take the stage was Dr. Johnny walker, the exiting founder of Global Diagnostic ltd. He is an entrepreneur who saw a better more viable way of delivering health care in New South Wales. His story was truly fascinating! He was performing 48 ultrasounds out of a Toyota truck in the middle of the Bush and came across many crises such as Hydatidiform Molar pregnancy and he said that “If in doubt fly it out”, meaning they had to get the royal flying doctor. Therefore his invention of the tele-medicine network was a practical necessity.

 

His challenge was that he had very little funds to go on! So bit-by-bit he evolved the idea. The royal flying doctor is now flying 27% less than it was 10 years ago. This has changed health care for the better! It is now being brought into the UK and Ireland, as it has been so successful! Seeing how he got an idea and evolved it, so that pictures of X-rays, colonoscopies, etc. could be instantly shown on PC and Mobile devices making it a quicker process. His story is most definitely something that I will always remember, as it is truly amazing!

Overall I really enjoyed attending this conference. It gave me great insights into mobile marketing and how mobile technology has evolved up to now. All of the speakers gave very interesting opinions and views towards Mobile Marketing.

Get Social

 

On the 16^th of October 2012 I attended the Get Social Conference, which was held in the Helix. A number of leading social Media Strategists gave interesting insights into the uses of social media within a business.

Dr. Theo Lynn from the DCU business school first addressed us. He spoke about viral videos, in particular the latest viral video of Psy singing Gangnam style. He spoke about how a viral video has to touch many common motivations, in order to have impact on an audience. Gangnam style became viral because it contained humor, wit, sexy and its also controversial. However it also became viral through social networking websites such as twitter. Through twitter Britney Spears and Robbie Williams are just examples of two celebrities who encouraged others to watch Gangnam style, fuelling Gangnam style to become viral. As Theo was talking about how a video has to touch many different aspects, I realized that it just has to be something new and innovative. The more unusual it is the more likely it will become viral. In order for a business to make something, which could go viral through social media, they first of all need a group of innovative people with different perspectives.

A representative from the Edelman Trust Barometer, Mark Cahalane, then took the stage. He spoke about how the Edelman Trust works with global organizations that are looking at trust for opportunities. They look at 4 main institutes:

• Government
• Businesses
• Media
• NGO’s

People are generally distrusting of the Government. 67% of Ireland distrusts the government. This is because we don’t see politics delivering on our behalf. 43% of Ireland holds trust in businesses. The trust Ireland holds in the media is around 38%. We trust the banking system 9%, when I discovered this I was astonished. Even though we have this distrust in the banks we blame the government for not regulating the banks. Mark talked about “ways forward” they included Public engagement, Social purpose and Business competence. Through listening to what Mark was saying I realized two things: people hold very little trust in the government but they have high expectations of regulation. This surprised me as they don’t trust the government but they do want them to regulate.

Claire Wardle from Storyful gave great insights into online identity. I had never really thought about how you can become anyone online. Firstly she talked about how you need to manage and protect yourself online, so for example on Facebook you must decide who you are and what you want people to see. The next thing she talked about which intrigued me was “professional vs. personal voices”. She talked about how people have corporate branded accounts, corporate individual accounts and personal individual accounts on sites such as Twitter. People generally don’t like when something feels cold and fake for example the BBC press office on twitter tweet press releases whereas Sophie Brendel who is part of BBC’s brand tweets about her own interests as well as BBC. This allows people to have a balance where they get BBC’s news while not feeling like its fake.

 Jane White from Twitter then discussed how businesses could market their businesses and products on Twitter. For a business Twitter is a canvas to forward transactions and to talk to customers. I found it very interesting how businesses can promote themselves on twitter through promoted accounts, teams, tweets and trends. I found it particularly interesting how twitter allows consumers to become closer to a brand, as they can communicate any questions they have and receive answers promptly.

After all of the interesting insights from social medias perspective I then got a businesses perspective from Phillip Kelly who is the marketing executive in Electric Ireland. He spoke about how they use social media to grow awareness of their business. He brought us through how they began on Boards.ie and has rapidly grown through the years to the point where Social media is now the heart of communication for the company. I found it very interesting that within a few years they are now many social networking websites to communicate with their consumers.

Darragh Doyle the community manager from World Irish was by far my favorite speaker. He spoke about engagement in Social media. From his many examples such as sending a postcard for an Irish postcard in return, I realized that it is the small things that allow you be involved. I personally had never heard of World Irish prior to this conference and found it very interesting how they want to bring the irish from all over the globe together. I found a youtube video which explained the whole concept of world Irish and it allowed me to understand why we would use Social media to get connected to others.

After the break there was then a Panel discussion, they discussed the state of social media in Ireland. They all had very interesting opinions, which helped me understand that social media is emerging so businesses and individuals need to keep it simple and not over analyze.

 Catherine Flynn talked about How Facebook can help a business grow. This for me was very interesting, as I had never looked at how it allows businesses to grow fans and connect with people worldwide. Facebook is now used as a search engine where people discover new businesses in their own local areas. If a business decides not to use Facebook they would potentially be losing custom. Catherine talked about all of the different aspects which Facebook offers businesses. They have created a four step process:

1. Building your Facebook page
2. Connecting with people
3. Engaging your audience
4. Influencing friends of your fans

Through these steps businesses can connect with there already existing customers and raise awareness of there product or service.

 Brian from Google+ then addressed us, he spoke about the series of channels through which businesses can communicate and how one must manage their expectations, keep things relevant and know brands in order to control expertise in future careers. It intrigued me how he said that we all must connect to Social media and be brave in order to stand out from the crowd!

Overall I really enjoyed the conference as it gave me a businesses insight into social media which I had not seen before.

Get Creative

On the 2^nd of October I attended the Get Creative Conference. I was unsure of what to expect, as I had never been to a conference like it before. The guest speaker was, Nigel Newman, from the Edward De Bono Foundation. He is a global master practitioner in Dr. Edward De Bono’s Thinking Methods. He is also an activist, he thinks that you either have an idea or you don’t. If you don’t have an idea or are unsure of your idea he believes that you should move onto something new.

At the conference I discovered that the Edward De Bono Foundation is a global organization in over 40 Countries. They have 7.5 million users worldwide. It was set up in 1969 and is a cognitive research trust. Nigel Newman enlightened me with the underpinning of the foundation, which is the Mechanism of the mind. I found this particularly interesting as I had never really thought how the mind works mechanically and I was intrigued to find out how to become a practical thinker through the De Bono thinking tools.

One of the first things Nigel Newman talked about was how the brain uses regime. This really surprised me, as I had never thought that nearly every task we do uses patterns. For example you always put your left shoe on your left foot. You would never really consider putting your left shoe on your right foot. Our Brain is extraordinary and I really take it for granted but Nigel Newman enlightened me on how our brain stores sub programs, which contain patterning systems that allow us to function. He also said that these patterns have a negative and positive affect on us. Patterns can withhold us from becoming creative but they also mold our perception, which allows us to see new ideas and make decisions. So this made me think that in order to be creative we have to try and break through our routines in order to see the bigger picture.

At the conference I realized that our minds have many habits and we have to look through the gaps in order to think differently. Nigel Newman mentioned the book Hare brain and Tortoise mind by Guy Claxton. The quote on the book really makes me think; “why intelligence increases when you think less”. This quote really captured me I always thought you had to be first there in order to be the most creative, but that’s not true, if you give great thought and use more time your idea can actually be more creative.

“What you see is all there is”, Nigel Newman discussed how we essentially deal with the known knows and we rarely look at the known unknowns. I personally found this mind-boggling. When we think creatively we never really consider what we don’t know! The example that was given was “All cars must be painted yellow by law”. There are many reasons as to why this would and wouldn’t be viable. So therefore I think through the viability of an idea our creativity is shaped.

The six thinking hats is a very interesting concept. The six hats allow you to separate your thinking; you must switch the hat in order to change your thinking. This idea made me realize that you can reshape your thinking by putting on the different hats. Each hat is used in a different way as they all have a different meaning:

• White- Information
• Red- Emotion and intuition
• Black- Negative and caution
• Yellow- Benefits
• Green- Possibilities
• Blue- Managing the thinking process

From attending the conference I have realized that in order to be creative, you must look for opportunities. You must be creative when trying to solve problems and also when trying to improve things which already exist.

At the conference Nigel Newman set the audience a task, we were given a sheet of A4 paper and we were asked to make a hole big enough to fit my whole body through. Looking at the A4 sheet I tried to imagine how it was possible, but logically I could not see how it would work.  When Nigel showed us how you rip the paper in order to make a whole big enough, I realized that I need to look beyond logic. I now realize that logic can influence our judgment and restrain us from being creative. After realizing this I now know not to take things at face value as most things have different aspects. I now understand everything begins as an idea but when you build on it becomes a concept, this concept can also fuel other ideas. For example if a café was brought into a supermarket the concept would be refreshments, this would fuel other ideas such as a Juice bar or a Nail bar.

Albert Einstein once said “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it”. I deem this to be true as the more creatively you think the more innovative the idea will be. The De Bono foundation thought me the concept of TEAM; you need to have Time to be creative, you need to have Enthusiasm, you need to have a good Attitude and you need to Model the creative behaviors of those around you.

Overall I really enjoyed the conference I attended, it gave me great insights into how I should structure my thinking in order to think more creatively.