by Mr. Darold B. Cummings. Contact: daroldcummings@yahoo.com
Mr. Cummings has been refining and presenting Creativity Workshops for the last 30 years.
Most recently, he has had workshops at Boeing Commercial Aircraft, The Boeing Technical
Excellence Conference, the Boeing Leadership Center, the AIAA Aerospace Sciences
Meeting, NextGen Aeronautics, and a special joint workshop with NASA Ames and Cal Poly
SLO University.
There are several versions of the Creativity Workshop, but the basic operating logistics are
the same for each.
Workshop basic information
The Workshop is most effective with diverse teams of people, with 4-6 people on each
team, and four to five teams. This provides an attendance accommodation of 16 to 30
people. The teams are selected ahead of the Workshop. The Workshop should be held in an
area where there is enough room for each team to work comfortably at a table, without
interfering with other teams. There are no computers or cell phones allowed! The
company/university supplies an artist’s easel and a 24” x 30” bond paper “flip pad” for
each team, along with a generous supply of large colored markers. There also needs to be
a projection system that can support a CD. Mr. Cummings voice is loud enough so no
microphone or podium is required!
The Creativity Workshop is presented in several versions, based on time available:
Four-hour workshop
This is used at Universities where it can fit into class schedules, and for companies that
prefer to use a half day of participant’s time (before or after lunch).
The Syllabus contains:
• Discussion on the global business environment, and the need for creativity
• Pictograph of the Creative Process
• Short exercise in pattern recognition for the teams to work together
• Discussion of Meme Pools
• Description of Metacognition
• Brain Basics
• Brain Storming Techniques
• “Forced Relationship” team product design exercise (one hour)
• Transformation to Innovation Summary
The All-day Workshop
This is the preferred Workshop to sharpen creative skills, and there is a working-lunch to
keep the teams together. There is more interaction and discussion about Creativity, two
more exercises, and more material on healthy “brain building” activities.
The red items are added to the four-hour Workshop:
• Discussion on the global business environment, and the need for creativity
• Pictograph of the Creative Process
• A Group discussion on personal creativity
• Short exercise in pattern recognition for the teams to work together
• Discussion of Meme Pools
• Description of Metacognition
• A team exercise on “The Beast that Destroyed Creativity”
• LUNCH
• Brain Basics
• Healthy “Brain Building”
• Brain Storming Techniques
• “Forced Relationship” team product design exercise (one hour)
• Product extension exercise of the above product
• Transformation to Innovation Summary
It is recommended to have an artist at this workshop. It gives the teams more confidence in
their products, and it is helpful to keep the teams on schedule. Some companies provide
and in-house artist, or Mr. Cummings can provide an artist.
The two-day Workshop
The two-day Workshop provides exercises in Creativity on the first day, while the second
day is devoted to actual strategic planning/product development for your company or
organization. An artist is a must for this Workshop. The two-day Workshop is tailored for
four teams, but they can be larger than six people (seven is recommended) because the
second day will more demanding, and a larger team can be useful. This will require some
homework for the teams, as Mr. Cummings provides written material ahead of time on
some predicted alternate futures that the teams will use to plan strategies and develop
products. The syllabus is as follows:
Day One: same as the All-day Workshop. Get revved-up on Creativity!
Day Two: This will require a room that has at least 20 feet of clear wall space for each
team. The company/organization supplies a roll of white butcher paper (or rolled bond
paper that teacher’s use). A 15-20 foot piece of paper will be put up for each team. Each
team will start the day by doing a “radial thinking pattern” representation of their team’s
alternate future of the far right side of the paper, along with a notional time line (10, 20, 30
years in the future). The artist is very useful for this activity. Next, the teams put the
skills/products/capabilities of their company or organization on the far left. The next portion
is to do a “Brainernet” connectivity exercise where the present status of the company is
connected to the alternate futures to come up with new product and service strategies.
This exercise quickly identifies gaps in strategies and products! About and hour and a half
is left at the end of the day for each team to present their alternate future, and how they
have planned to be competitive and successful in that future!
Custom-tailored Workshops, or longer length versions can be provided.
