Engage . Inspire . Empower

And that's a wrap!! We did it! 18 participants, 10 different countries, divided into 4 teams working to solve "wicked problems" for 4 local organizations through the Innovating for Employment Success Workshop with MosaicBC. 

Next week, the City of Vancouver, Zaber Technologies, and Camp Pacific will get to see the amazing work these guys did, innovating solutions that came through learning and doing service design in just under 9 days. A set of innovative solution recommendations which will that create the most impact and value for all the stakeholder groups involved from services to products/tools. from business/employees to the customers/users.

I’m fortunate to have this opportunity to custom build yet another workshop curriculum for a targetted audience group, then facilitating the hands-on experiential learning. The content is rooted in learning the service design methodology via the Double Diamond Design Process framework, which is a combination of the general DD design process out there and my own design process expertise.

We all worked together, many faced deeper human relation challenges that was brought on by language/cultural/personality barriers, as well one's hardwired beliefs, such as over analytical or impatience to solve the problem based on self knowledge instead of letting the insights in discovery provide the solutions. In the end we saw participants experience transformational realizations on just how much more valuable and impactful the solutions they can come up with when applying service design with a vetted methodology, while getting invaluable mentorship on how to do it well, as well as having an impact on both professional to personal perspectives. It's been a very rewarding experience yet again. An honor to work with such highly educated and a very international group. 

As always, it has been an honor to teach, facilitate and mentor. Thank you to all of the participants for providing me with so much more experiences as a service design consultant and educator/facilitator. I look forward to seeing you at your presentations and for the wrap party next month!

We got through our first ever Global GovJam with smiles and two plausible public service concepts that we all wished were real! Of course there were a few small hiccups along the way, from planning logistics to participants not being able to commit to both days last minute, which meant some teammates were left solo at times, but everyone collaborated and worked to help one another out... it was really quite wonderful to see and experience as a host and facilitator, that the spirit of co-creation and collaboration came through strong. 

Kudos to the participants who worked through the hiccups and totally shined btw!

Here is a link to some photos we’ve captured throughout the two days, on our Facebook Innov8 Collective Page, and to see the service concept design process and validations, check out the projects here.

Over the next week, hopefully our volunteer videographer will get the chance to share the videos he captured for us, of our two teams’ final presentation of their service concept, and the final skit to show us how the service layers work. We’ll keep you posted here and on the FB Page. 

So with the GovJam completed, we have one more public design jam event for the year, and that would be the Global Sustainability Jam, taking place at the end of October and beginning of November, over the weekend. 

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you sponsors again, for supporting our efforts and our passion in engaging with  folks who want make the world we live in a better place, inspiring them with the possibilities to do so, and by empowering them with the know-hows and tools to become better innovators to take action...

First off, thank you to The Network Hub for providing us with a wonderful facility space for two whole work days, along with equipment and hosting supplies. Second, thank you for OpenRoad jumping in early on with offers to sponsor the cost of snacks and refreshments, as well as materials needed for basic prototyping, oh, and for supplying two volunteers to help out pre and post jam, while they participated in the jam as ell. Most grateful for your support, in the event, as well as advocating the value of service design!

Should you be interested in being kept posted on our monthly meetups or the jams, we welcome you to join us over on our FB Page or our FB Group, where we stay in communication with one another, sharing questions and insights on service or experience design and anything else relatable. For inquiries about bringing a design-thinking brainstorming workshop to your office or school to help build better innovators, feel free to contact us here or on FB Innov8Collective by a direct message

For those who are reading or hearing about Global Jams for the first time:

An annual global service design jam event that aims advocate, educate and engage with both professionals and the public on the value of facilitated collaborative design innovation.

After a touch and go couple of weeks, we have a venue sponsor! Just in the nick of time, as the Jam takes place next Wed to Thurs. We just need to confirm the number of people we can accommodate, then we will announce in full tomorrow afternoon! Tickets are available now via the link above, “Registration.” For those who are considering participating in the Global GovJam taking place in Vancouver, but a little fearful of the unknown, as such is the nature of design jams, it’s a participatory style workshop, learn hands on, as we go. Here’s a little insight from one of our past participants, Akshay Chauhan. He shared with us what he got out of the jam as well as his experience was in a short slide show: http://www.slideshare.net/akshaychauhan/service-design-45382732

Due to this global jam running during the weekdays, we’re running into some logistical issues with securing our regular venue sponsor for space that’s available for use for two full days during the week, on June 10 - 11th. 

If you or know anyone that might have a space that would be suitable and would be open to sponsoring the use of the space, please get in contact with Kai @ 778.235.9366 for more information. What type of space do we need? A large open room with plenty of wall or window space for collaborative brainstorming and concept design activities. Needs to fit approx 16-25 ppl. along with 6-10 work tables, our guess it would be around 800-1000 sq ft. Additional space for teams to break out and run prototyping scenarios would be a bonus.

Equipment needed:

Chairs for 16-25 ppl, 6-10 Med-Large Tables that fit 3-6 to work at

Ideally have projector and screen/wall, and audio hookups.

What being a venue sponsor provide in trade? WIthout saying, you’d get our and the attendees’ deep gratitude and be part of an amazing experience, as well as mentions via our online channels:

Facebook Page, event page, group posts; Eventbrite event page; Website listing as our venue sponsor; Twitter sphere with Service Design Vancouver, Innov8, and attendees; Instagram location checkins and photos.

Here are some photos showing the space we’ve used for the last two Service Design Jams weekend events at Emily Carr (ECUAD):

Each year, people interested in service design and service experience will meet in Vancouver and other locations all over the globe.

In a spirit of experimentation, innovation, co-operation and friendly competition, [organically formed] teams will have less than 48 hours to develop and prototype completely new services inspired by a shared theme. At the end of the 48 hours, their collection of brand new services will be published to the world.

WHAT IS SERVICE DESIGN?

WHO CAN JOIN? Anyone can take part. You just need to be interested in services or creativity, and have an open, enquiring mind. You might be a service designer, an academic, a customer, a student, a customer experience person, a UX ninja, a patient, someone in the customer frontline, unemployed, an actor, an artist, a doctor, or a grandpa.

WHY COME? As a participant in the service jam, you will work through a whole design process in one weekend. Whether you are experienced or completely new to the field, you won't just be talking about service design, you will be working with others on developing concrete ideas and designs which could become real.

You will learn more about a design-based approach to problems, and about sustainability.

You will pick up a load of new ideas and work practices.

You will meet a lot of cool people at all levels of experience.

Your work and ideas will be reviewed by your peers, and presented to the world, where they can be seen by potential customers or employers, or people who could make them real.

You will design something that may become a real business.

You might get rich and famous.

You will certainly have a blast.

What’s a Global GovJam? 

“The Global GovJam is an event which will apply the concept and energy of the Global Service Jam and Global Sustainability Jam into the world of government and the public sector. Working around a common Theme, small Teams meet at multiple locations, working for 48 hours on building innovative approaches and solutions towards challenges faced by the public sector. At the end of the two days, they upload their results and publish them for the world.

The Global GovJam open to everybody who is interested in the public services, and who wants to add their own ideas and perspectives while enjoying themselves and learning more about how the world works. Both individuals and organisations can join - you do not need experience of government or the public sector. Anyone can host, and it's possible to have more than one Jam in the same town - but it's much more valuable to get them under one roof!”

- Global Gov Jam HQ - WorkPlayExperience

The first Global Service Jam took place in March 2011, where more than 1200 participants in more than 50 cities created around 200 unique service designs around the Theme "(Super)HEROES".

The Global Service Jam is a non-profit volunteer activity organized by an informal network of service design afficinados, who all share a common passion for growing the field of service design and customer experience. The Jam has a staff of none and a budget of nearly nothing. - GSJ HQ

27 FEB 6:00:00 PM 9:30:00PM Room 463 28 FEB 9:00:00 AM 9:00:00 PM 01 MAR 9:00:00 AM 3:30:00 PM 4:30:00 PM After Jam drinks at Bridges sports bar/lounge

WHAT IS A SERVICE JAM? Each year, for one weekend, people interested in service design and service experience will meet in Vancouver and other locations all over the globe.

In a spirit of experimentation, innovation, co-operation and friendly competition, [organically formed] teams will have less than 48 hours to develop and prototype completely new services inspired by a shared theme. At the end of the weekend, their collection of brand new services will be published to the world.

WHAT IS SERVICE DESIGN?

WHO CAN JOIN? Anyone can take part. You just need to be interested in services or creativity, and have an open, enquiring mind. You might be a service designer, an academic, a customer, a student, a customer experience person, a UX ninja, a patient, someone in the customer frontline, unemployed, an actor, an artist, a doctor, or a grandpa.

WHY COME? As a participant in the Global service jam, you will work through a whole design process in one weekend. Whether you are experienced or completely new to the field, you won't just be talking about service design, you will be working with others on developing concrete ideas and designs which could become real.

You will learn more about a design-based approach to problems, and about sustainability. You will pick up a load of new ideas and work practices. You will meet a lot of cool people at all levels of experience. Your work and ideas will be reviewed by your peers, and presented to the world, where they can be seen by potential customers or employers, or people who could make them real. You will design something that may become a real business. You might get rich and famous. You will certainly have a blast. AND WHEN WE’RE DONE, WE CAN ALL GO FOR A WELL EARNED DRINK!

REGISTER NOW

EVENT SPONSERS + SUPPORTERS

Big gratitude goes out to the following organisations and volunteers who helped to make the 2015 Global Service Jam possible:

VENUE SPONSORS:

SNACKS AND REFRESHMENTS:

Day 1 - Service Design Vancouver Day 2 - Bolliger & Associates Day 3 - Service Design Vancouver

HOST/ORGANISER: !NNOV8 Collective Kaishin Chu

ORGANISING TEAM: Ben Bolliger Andreas Eiken Jocelyn Ng Nancy Sun

ASSISTANT VOLUNTEERS: