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From icebreaker to hackathon, co-creative brainstorming renews

Have you ever heard of “barcamp”, “world café”, “forum ouvert” or “hold-up”? Because this is the animation of technical meetings, meetings or workshops renewing the format and methods generally used to discuss and stimulate collective creativity. What put an end to the acute syndrome meetingitis suffered some organizations?

The brainstorming, it has been

The forum “ Changer d’air” held on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at the Cité des Sciences has continued to insist on the Society of “co” emerging today. Collaborative consumption, open innovation, co-creation, production peer-to-peer networks are all examples of this trend. And in the field of management and facilitation of meetings and events, the time is now to co-creative techniques of a new kind, far from the traditional brainstorming.

The principle is quite simple: it is to facilitate social and individual participation by breaking the usual formats contribution interactions. This avoids as much as possible to reproduce the patterns of meetings around-the-table sluggish or speaker configurations (s) hearing organized monopoly of speech against public is too often silent.

Lilian Ricaud, working on collaborative tools and practices since 2005, observes an increase of formats meetings (meetings, events) developed in recent years: “beyond animation techniques, some of which are very old, appear new formats which include not only technical but also animated special “it’s true after all architectures”: a house is not designed as a theater or restaurant, why should it not be the same as types of interactions want?

An open architecture debate

World Café, Barcamp, Coding party, Hackathon, part of these architectures have the advantage of promoting trade more dynamic, open, co-organized based on voluntary interest, individual passion, “they try not to erase the differences between people and feed on individual creativity, “says Lilian Ricaud, which also highlights the more playful side that is.

The principle is quite simple: it is to facilitate social and individual participation by breaking the usual formats contribution interactions. This avoids as much as possible to reproduce the patterns of meetings around-the-table sluggish or speaker configurations (s) hearing organized monopoly of speech against public is too often silent.

Shared by Stéphane Riot specialist collective intelligence in organizations finding process, for whom “time is the rediscovery of internal resources (employees, customers, suppliers, etc..). And especially since the development of new technologies (such as social business networks) promotes the flow of trade. “Becoming more agile organization even learn to co-create their own creativity techniques, always in order “not to limit the collaborative techniques to brainstorm and develop a collective perspective action to disappoint participants and see no tangible result.”

A box of collaborative tools

In order to see more clearly and to have a set of formats in which to draw needed, Lilian Ricaud decided to create at the end of March 2013 the first collaborative library open co-creative events. If necessary, you can design the place of a meeting as follows:

If a network of individuals interested on working towards a common goal without being necessarily well known, why not starting with an “icebreaker” for participants to get to know and create friendliness? Continue with a “Coffee Projects” for a collective reflection, then finish with a “Hackathon” or “Coding-party” (to produce software) or a “flash-mob” (for artistic purposes), a “Perma-blitz” (to plant a forest garden), the meal is prepared by a “Disco soup” (a collaborative meal prepared music from food disposal).

Today, more than 200 more or less similar formats are referenced in the database open to contributions from everyone. Not to mention how users can adapt and duplicate hacker format: for example, “the” hackathon “inspired or led many variations, some relatively close to the original but adapted to other areas such as “Libérathon” and “Traducthon” (methods emphasizing collaborative writing or translation of a book in a very short time) or other truly original as Museomix (an event where for three days of amateurs and professionals together to reinvent a museum co-producing prototypes more interactive exhibitions), “said Lilian Ricaud.

But the most innovative formats remain those that combine several types of formats, like meetings Moustic (a participatory event on ICTs and social innovation): “This event combined the” tables of discovery “(to share knowledge), the “accelerators projects” (for a collective reflection), the “workshop co-construction” (to co-produce), a “conference shrugged” (lecture so theatrical), a “moving debate” (informal debate to prevent conflicts) but also participatory artistic interventions (to think and live the cooperation of non-verbal). interactions and the energy that emerged in this context were fabulous! “says, enthusiastic, Lilian Ricaud.

For him, as for Stéphane Riot, these tools will soon be forced passages: “I believe that companies and institutions are beginning to understand that a collaborative software tool is not enough to create collaborative uses and must also adopt new ways of working and less pyramidal networks, “said Lilian Ricaud. But beware, warns the founder of Noveterra: “if this is a prerequisite for developing a form of resilience should not believe that collaborative resolution is all the shadows of creativity in business, even the new Eldorado of their innovation or future performance. ”

So, want to participate, draw and add to the list? You have all weekend – see the summer – to submit ideas to your surroundings!
Anne-Sophie Novel