Live Stream TEDxShanghai at 10 pm EST Sept 4

TEDxShanghai in 24 hours

2nd TEDxShanghai takes place this weekend.

Theme is 10,000 hours, based on Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers.

Live Broadcast

Sept 5, 2010 from 10 am to 6 pm Local time

or

Saturday Sept 4 to Sunday Sept 5

10 pm to 6 am EST

9 pm to 5 am CST

7 pm to 3 am PST

Speakers,

http://www.tedxshanghai.com/ted_shanghai_2010.php

CPSI 2010 Opening Recap

Back from Buffalo, New York after attending the 56th CPSI, also known as the world's oldest creativity conference.

Folks here pride themselves on the "How To" of the innovation. If you missed it, it was a very different kind of conference. Below is my brief recap of the opening session which I was one of the speakers.

The General Opening Session started with different twist. The Master of Creative Ceremony, Bill Olsen, CPF, did not say a word for the first 5 minutes. Yet it took him 2 seconds to engage everyone in the audience. A master of interactive facilitator, he paced and led the audience from zero to a 100% participation. His Z2P workshop teaches you how to do that.

Tony Baxter, the Imagineer from Disney, who designed many of the famous rides, took us down the memory lane and inspired the future imagineers with great slides and stories. Here is a giant who spent a few days with the CPSI-lians and the youth program. Amazing. When chatting with him, I felt the spirits of my heros talking: Walt Disney and Joseph Campbell.

Then, yours truly facilitated 350+ CPSI-lians to paint on water. People from 13 countries, all sorts of background, age group, knowledge banks and skill sets were able to come together on the same water level. The room was buzzing.

The participants became the artists themselves. The participants became the innovators who collaborated as a team: strategized the action plan, brainstormed for the title of the painting, and journaled what they learned. They actively engaged, played and learned. Many seasoned leaders commented positively on this proven learning model which yours truly designed and developed over the years. It's gratifying to watch the attendees "got it." Afterwards, the largest CPSI Suminagashi Exhibition was installed in the Hub. Truly a historical moment.



The staff members at CPSI were great to work with. Full of energy and positive attitude. Things got done in lightening speed. Many of the consultants are bringing the CPSI way back to their organizations. As Bill Olsen taught me to say: Bravo Zulu.



P.S. On the down side, my SD card mysteriously lost half of the photo from the conference. Spent 3 days on data recovery. Still hoping that some magic will take place to recover some of the historic moment. If any reader of this blog has any photo from CPSI, I would be very grateful to receive the copies, Amy@PaintingOnWater.com. Thanks.

Post-ACE Pre-CPSI

From May 6 to 8, I was at ACE, Atlanta Creativity Exchange.

Connecting with the like mind is one of the real pleasure of living. It was a privileged to share my experience of doing things different: Painting On Water for a change. Will blog more about that later.

It's like when you share a 10-course Chinese banquet. The food (ideas) kept coming. Between sampling and tasting, talking and eating, I chewed on the food for thoughts. The programs came in different shape and forms, all delivered by seasoned colleagues with a passion to share.

ACE did a great job of spreading the words to many new comers. Hearing their feedbacks was assuring that the field of creativity is growing and expanding.

How could it not be? It's about time. From Daniel Pink to Richard Florida, creativity has arrived. Innovation is her to stay. The collective conscience is that everyone has the gift of creativity, everyone can learn and be more innovative. Well, that is if you step up and take action.

When I over heard the exchange between the new comers, I could not help but smiling from inside out.

People used to think that creativity is for artists only. Here at ACE, they have break out sessions for education, business and life. It seems creativity is everywhere.

Everywhere is right. From your local school to world peace, next big product innovation to technology breakthrough, creativity is the essence of positive change.

For those who enjoyed ACE, I highly recommend that you step up to the next level and make plan to attend CPSI, June 20- 25. For those who missed it, here is your next opportunity to catch up. This one is specifically for Creative Problem Solving Institute.

By the way, help your young ones to have a taste of creativity and innovation that will last their life time. Bring the whole family to attend CPSI. They have an awesome Youth group (check the site for details). Then you can extend the family experience. Both Niagara Falls and Toronto, Canada are just a hop and skip away from Buffalo, New York, where the CPSI conference will be held.

Click here to get 10% off the registration fee. Enter the code CPSIBLG10. Deadline for this promotion is May 31. Do it now so that you can start making traveling plans.

Did I mention that Tony Baxter of Disney will be the opening keynote?

Would you like to see yours truly facilitating 350+ people Painting On Water at the opening session? See you there for a once in the lifetime experience.

Read what others say about CPSI.
Gregg Fraley, author of Jack's Note Book;
Missy Carvin, Missylaneous.com;
Pablo Munoz, Spanish Blog;
Cynthia Rolfe, even-wheels.blogspot.com

How has CPSI helped me Create, Innovate and Lead Change?

Attend CPSI Conference to increase the odds for the Certainty of Probability and the Probability of Certainty.

Since 1989, I applied my version of creativity, and revived an ancient art of Suminagashi to become what is known today as Painting On Water™. For years, I applied various ideas and ways to paint on the water surface. Sometimes with great success, other times with frustrations to no end.

Eventually I figured out a shift of perception and attitude that led to my work these days. In 2006, I prepared a one-person show at the Illinois Institute of Technology, titled: The Probability of Certainty.

That summer, I attended my first CPSI in Chicago, after Gregg Fraley told me about CPSI numerous time. By then, I already had made my contribution of creativity in the engineering research and in the art field. However, I still took the basic "Springboard" offered by CPSI.

"Why? Was that a waste of time?" some asked.

First of all, the program gave me the vocabulary and the language to communicate with other innovators. It's like knowing calculus when speaking to the physicists. Sharing a common language expedites the speed of communication.

And, it is also about the attitude. A waste of time is when you think you knew it all and did it all. Innovation and positive change happen when you have an open mind. Ready to see the uniqueness among the common. Prepare to catch what standout in a most familiar setting.

That's when you might get that precious light bulb moment. The best way to increase your odds is to have the sense of certainty and probability, simultaneously.

CPSI is known to be the oldest creativity conference on earth with new comers all the time. It draws people there year after year. Its success, I believe, is that it offers both the new and the old, the proven traditional way as well as the cutting edge way of thinking, doing, playing and being.

What CPSI helped me is that I can be a practitioner and a leader, a student and a teacher, all at the same gathering.

I learned much from CPSI. It will be an honor to share three more topics at this upcoming conference: a pre-conference program, an ice breaker at the general opening and a break out session.

If you would like to increase your odds for the Certainty of Probability or the Probability of Certainty for innovation, please come join the rest of us.

Reserve your space. Sign up now.

Here are more blogs about CPSI:

Missy Carvin organized a CPSI Blog Party.

Roger von Oech, author of A Whack On The Side of The Head

Gregg Fraley, author of Jack's Note Book;

Jonathan Vehar, author of More Lightning, Less Thunder;

Maggie Dugan, about Creativity in Europe;

Tom Fishburn, cartoonist on Creativity;

Old and New

Right in the middle of Shanghai city, here is an ancient temple stood among the modern high rises. Glad to see the contrast and that here is a sense of history. Much like the churches in Manhattan, the temple is visited by many.

Tea in China

The place is known as "Dragon Well" that produced green tea. Unlike the red tea that typical Chinese restaurants served in USA, the leaves are neither formated nor roasted. The color of the tea is yellowish and pale green, with a fresh taste.

The leaves are the sprout of the new leaves on the bushes, to be picked by hand in the Spring time.