Inspiration

I work on my own much of the time coming up with ideas, stories and approaches to challenges based on research, prior knowledge and experience.  All good so far but I have to admit sometimes I am a little stuck as to what to do with all of that knowledge and research to make it into something that my client will understand, value and be able to use.

Since I am an experience specialist I have taken to searching for new ways of getting the creative juices flowing so I thought I would share a few with you today.  

• Fresh air and a bit of a walk with the dogs - this gets my body away from the desk and my mind off the problem - it's very hard to worry when you are throwing a ball, waving a branch or paddling along the beach.
• Music - especially something that promotes chair dancing (you know what I mean) - it gets the blood flowing and lifts the spirits.  Try and avoid anything too sad.  They do say Baroque is the best kind of classical music to wok and study to - Pachelbel's Canon is one of my favourites although I can't listen to it without thinking of sheep. (They used it for the background music for a pure new wool carpet ad featuring a sheep when i was growing up in the UK - in case you were wondering).
• MindMapping - I am very visual and pages of text can be a bit daunting so I will often resort to a mind map and coloured pens - it's a great way to get the ideas out of your head and onto paper - you can turn them into sentences later.
• Creative games - one of my favourite books is Caffeine for the Creative Mind - Stefan Mumar and Wendy Lee Oldfield - it contains 250 exercises to wake up your mind and provides some great games for training workshops to keep people pumping - the sillier the better I find! 

How do you keep yourself inspired and creative?  I'd love to hear!

Missy Moos Rocks

    

It's Fremantle Heritage week which gives us an excelent excuse to have a trip to the Port City.  We had a little adventure to Cantonement Hill to soak in the beautiful views from one of the best vantage points in the city.  We took the doggies to the beach - always a great experience and found the Pickled Fig, a new restaurant to try out later.  Then we went to Missy Moos - what a treat!

As you can see from the picture the place is funnky and fun but just check out those burgers!!!  Two Little Dickie Birds and a Humpty Dumpty with chunky chips and milkshakes - heaven!  Clearly we're on a health kick.  Apart from being brilliant burgers the staff were fabulous, super friendly and they even sounded like they cared when they asked how our lunch was!  I would definitely recommend it!

Technology Changing Our Experiences

We have a major National Conference here in Perth in November (14-18) At the Frontier 2011: Exploring the Possibilities.  It's the first ever joint Interpretation Australia and Museums Australia Conference and should be a cracker. Make sure you put it in your diary!

One of the themes of the conference looks at some of the new technology that is coming along that will change the way we develop, manage and interact with our art and culture.  As part of my research for the conference I was having a bit of a scout around on TED (that's TED.com - do yourself a favour and go and have a browse) and I found this great little video from Amit Sood from Google.  

Amit has been working on a project whereby he has collaborated with 17 of the world's most famous art galleries and museums to create online access to their collections.  The site allows you to explore the museum, look at paintings and really explore the collections.  The images are staggering resolution - billions of pixels - which allows you to see things you would have no hope of seeing even with the naked eye.  Check out the Google Art Project and be amazed.

The question on many people's lips is probably something like - if people can view the collection online why would they bother coming to the site?  Amit's answer is an interesting one, the project for him is all about access.  He undertook his education in India and just didn't have access to the museums, art galleries and the works of the great masters.  If we agree that the world's art and culture should be available to all, knowing that not everyone can get to these places, isn't this the perfect solution?  

In The Golden City

This blog finds me in Western Australia's Golden City - Kalgoorlie.  Home of the Superpit and more miners than you can shake a stick at.  

I'm here for a few days to present two very different workshops.  Tomorrow I will be with the WA Museum in Kalgoorlie presenting on heritage and cultural tourism and interpretation.  It will be very hands on and lots of fun.  On Wednesday I will be presenting to tourism businesses about enhancing their visitor experiences and I will be working with new Australian Amy Johnson to present social media.  Can't wait!

Tonight I was out for dinner on my own.  I'm never truly comfortable about eating out alone but I couldn't face the luke warm burger and soggy chips in the room so I put on my brave head and ventured out.  I went to the Palace Hotel on Hannan Street and headed for the Balcony Bar and Restaurant.

Despite being there 20 minutes before the place opened I was shown to a table and offered a drink.  The waiter came back and said that they would be happy to serve me whenever I was ready.  His accent was familiar so I asked him if he was from Dublin, he sounded just like my Uncle Andrew.  As it turned out he came from the same place as my mum - what are the chances!!!

The meal was lovely - I can recommend the Beef and Reef (thanks for the tip Amy).  The service was friendly, efficient and unobtrusive and the hot chocolate was the chocolateyist I have ever tasted - I may never sleep again!

Today's lesson then is that good customer service is helping out the customer even though they appear to not know the rules.   Thanks guys for making me feel welcome and comfortable.

Welcoming Feedback

We all get things wrong sometimes, it doesn't mean we are bad people or our businesses will suddenly crash around our ears, it just means we get things wrong sometimes and we have an opportunity to make things right.

Having said that customer feedback, yes even complaints, can be a real bonus for the business owner.  I can think of one person who might disagree with that but hear me out.  Most people don't complain, at least not to the business.  If things go wrong they think that this is just the way things are, the business, product, sales person or employee is obviously rubbish and they take that as their cue to include it in their war stories about poor service and lack quality.

However, when a customer comes back to you with a legitimate complaint (I'm not talking about folk who are whinging or trying to get something for free) they are giving the business owner an opportunity to show them that they really care and to deal with the issue.

So my example today is a handbag.  Not just any handbag, it's my favourite handbag.  I bought it in 2007 at a market in Leederville, and it still looks pretty good today.  It's red and somehow I manage to fit heaps in it even though it is quite compact.  This bag was handmade by an artisan, Kristine of kiki leather, based in Fremantle WA.  Kristine sells her bags at various markets and festivals around WA and I have seen her a number of times since I bought the bag.

In about 2009 the stitching around the zip started to come undone.  I was devastated.   The time had come for a new bag but nothing could really replace my favourite bag so I kept using it even though the zip was broken.  This weekend I saw Kristine at the Nannup Music Festival and explained the issue.  That's the first time that has happened she exclaimed!  I'll fix it for you.  There was no blame, there were no questions, I felt like a valued customer and Kristine had a chance to do her first zip repair.

When I took the bag to her workshop today we picked out a new decoration for the front and agreed that i would come back later to collect it.  I love Kristine's bags so much I bought a new briefcase to match my bag and when I left Kristine thanked me for giving her the chance to fix the bag.  

We often complain that people really don't care about customer service so it is all the more heartening when you meet a true artisan who is committed to making great products that last for years.

P.S. I wanted to show a picture of the bag but it's night time here and I couldn't get the right light.  So I have attached an ordinary shot of the bags modelled by my dogs PJ and Jesse who are clearly are not impressed and would rather be in bed than in my blog.