A lot of companies are realizing that,in order to stay alive, much less thrive, in the current economic climate, they better come up with new products, according to this article on Entrepreneur.com. A lot of this has to do with brainstorming, of course, yet so many companies don’t really encourage groups to go into those wild places where the truly great ideas like to hang out. From the article:

Learning the right way to brainstorm makes a difference, too. Most company meetings consist of bringing up an idea, then shooting it down. Instead, generate a list of ideas before analyzing each one. You’ll open the gates to thinking creatively by separating imaginative thinking from critical thinking, says Gregg Fraley, a partner with Chicago marketing and product development consulting firm D.S. Fraley & Associates. He also suggests having a 15-minute meeting once a week where product and service ideation is the only item on the agenda.

This is a terrific idea. Why aren’t we doing more of it? Probably because of fear–you know, you might say something stupid, or impractical, or whatever. So what? I say, let it all fly. The question is how meeting planners can design the session so participants feel free to let go with their most outrageous ideas. I like the open-space concept, but it may be a little too too for some groups who need more structure. What really works for brainstorming sessions? Hmm, I feel an article coming on…

A lot of companies are realizing that,in order to stay alive, much less thrive, in the current economic climate, they better come up with new products, according to this article on Entrepreneur.com. A lot of this has to do with brainstorming, of course, yet so many companies don’t really encourage groups to go into those wild places where the truly great ideas like to hang out. From the article:

D.S. Fraley & Associates. He also suggests having a 15-minute meeting once a week where product and service ideation is the only item on the agenda.

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I found a very strange article in yesterday’s The Guardian via Nick at blogborygmi: New technology uses human body for broadband networking. A snip:

Using RedTacton-enabled devices, music from an MP3 player in your pocket would pass through your clothing and shoot over your body to headphones in your ears. Instead of fiddling around with a cable to connect your digital camera to your computer, you could transfer pictures just by touching the PC while the camera is around your neck. And since data can pass from one body to another, you could also exchange electronic business cards by shaking hands, trade music files by dancing cheek to cheek, or swap phone numbers just by kissing.

NTT is not the first company to use the human body as a conduit for data: IBM pioneered the field in 1996 with a system that could transfer small amounts of data at very low speeds, and last June, Microsoft was granted a patent for "a method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using the human body."

But RedTacton is arguably the first practical system because, unlike IBM’s or Microsoft’s, it doesn’t need transmitters to be in direct contact with the skin — they can be built into gadgets, carried in pockets or bags, and will work within about 20cm of your body. RedTacton doesn’t introduce an electric current into the body — instead, it makes use of the minute electric field that occurs naturally on the surface of every human body. A transmitter attached to a device, such as an MP3 player, uses this field to send data by modulating the field minutely in the same way that a radio carrier wave is modulated to carry information.

Forget about nTag namebadges–this would take networking at meetings to a whole new level, though Nick has his doubts:

Say you’re transferring data to a colleague via handshake. Is it possible we’ll someday hear comments like, "This download’s taking longer than usual — have you put on some weight?"

All kidding aside, this technology, if it pans out, could have huge implications for real-time education; if your attendees’ bodies are turned into computers, basically, they can download info any time, in real time. They’d still have to come to meetings to be in close enough proximity to do it, though, if I’m reading this right.

Still, it creeps me out–it’s all a little too Borg-ish, don’t you think?

A big round of applause to the 433 newly designated CMPs who passed the Certified Meeting Professional’s Jan. 22 exam! That brings the total number of CMPs to more than 10,000, so congrats also to the Convention Industry Council, which administers the test.