ACT-NOW! The Innovation Journey - The Inaugural Experience - Some Feedback
The
Orchestrator
I (Oliver
Schwabe) traveled to the Padua Galileo Innovation Week and the inaugural
experience of the Innovation Journey with mixed feelings. Was this going to
work? Would the participants actually turn up? How will the audience react?
Will the right story be told (I do not speak Italian).... I had no fear, but a huge respect for the challenge ahead. It also did not help
that I had just recovered from the flu (not Covind though) and had managed to
strain by back two days earlier... so I could have been feeling better. While
we had had a short Zoom conference to get to know each other and introduce the
concept on the preceeding Friday this certainly did not allay my concerns -
Zoom is not face-to-face reality, is not the challenge of orchestrating young
novice/amateur actors to a stage performance in front of a demanding audience
of 200+ people, and is definitely not the same as looking others in the eye, telling them "all will be well" and feeling/being responsible! So when we met at 9 am on the
Wednesday Thursday October 14th in the auditorium we had seven strangers
looking at each other and willing to brave an experiment - in the knowledge
that the curtain would rise at 5 pm, that we only had until about 1 pm to
prepare and that, actually, they could walk away.... It took a while to get
started but by 10:30 we had decided on a specific innovation to use as an
example (an electric car in the late 19th century) and had actually run through
ACT 1 (see https://innovation-web.eu/act-now-the-innovation-journey-version-2-20201006 for the complete script). The actors were working in Italian (with
some kind translations for me), we were taking short breaks here and there to
discuss progress, share ideas, discuss team dynamics, and investigate other
stories from everyone that exemplified what was happening. A high performing
team emerged quickly and it was amazing to see how the actors transformed the
script into their own story, in their own words, in their own style and having
the courage to ask for help whenever they felt too uncertain (as did I by the
way!). At all times they had permission to interpret and shape as they felt
right - as an orchestrator I "just" worked to ensure the story
remained aligned with the script, the human dynamics led to a real team
forming, and that everyone felt comfortable. While we all felt it was going
well - the proof would be the performance itself - no safety net there,
although in the final seconds before going live, I did remind everyone that no
plan stays unchanged when it meets reality, that mistakes would happen, but
that the audience would respect their courage and be friendly. Worst case
everyone had permission to stop what they were doing, call a time-out, and ask
for support. For me as the orchestrator, although having gone through similar
emergent situations before, every event remains unique and turns out
differently - so the nervousness stayed until the performance was over - to
standing ovations. Allowing others to make the script their own, giving
permission to experiment, trusting in the ability of others to jointly master a
huge challenge.... it worked once again. Once again I had stretched myself
beyond my comfort zone and enabled others to do the same in a friendly and
protective atmosphere - thank you to everyone for making that possible. Not to
forget though - once that curtain rose, the play started, no-one truly knew
what was going to happen... we had to trust in each other, expect the
unexpected and above just do it! The magic is that again and again trusting others leads
to wonderful results as you can sense from the thoughts shared below. Something
magical happens during the Innovation Journey and it is something that makes me
feel alive and contributing to making this world a better place - more please!
:) Before I forget, a little travel advice - the inner city of Padua was not
designed for Chrysler Grand Voyagers vans - it gets very tight at times! More
info at https://open-european-innovation-network.blogspot.com/2020/10/world-premiere-of-innovation-journey.html.
Brave Actor
#1
"I'm writing
to you because after a week I'm still thinking about the spectacle, and I what
to say thank you to you. First of all, I want to thank you for believing in us
without hesitation, for letting us play and look for our own path without
impositions. Personally, thanks to this experience and thanks to your
continuous support, I felt considered and I was able to express myself without
fear of making mistakes, because, as you told us, "even if we were wrong
it was part of the game, and no one knows it". Secondly, I wanted to tell
you that I find this project wonderful because it allows the participants to
understand the idea's process, with bad moments and good moments, and also it
allows the participants to understand that also they can make the difference,
and they can bring out new ideas and let the world know their voices. My
personal experience was completely amazing. I did not feel useful to my team
and I thank that nobody was interested to listen to me, basically, I felt
insecure, but you believed in me and in the team and we shined. Before that day
I did not know the people, I collaborated with, but we worked together to
conquer a goal, with respect and passion. We learned to manage the time, share
ideas, and create a team, everything just in 3 hours. Finally, I totally
support this project because it changes the self-belief of people and you can
learn really a lot about team building, leadership, respect, the value of
everybody and how is the ideas process. Thank you so much for everything and
for believing in us."
Brave Actor
#2
"I'm an
engineering student at University of Padua. This October I had the opportunity
to take part into the fantastic initiative that the Innovation Journey is. I
had never had any experience in acting: I'm a well-organised person and I
usually like to be fully prepared before exposing myself. When I heard about
this opportunity that Oliver was offering us, I immediately applied for it as a
volunteer, because I considered it the perfect chance to measure my self in
something different and totally new, out of my comfort zone. I love innovation
and this experience provided me with the opportunity to live it from a
different and unusual perspective. Even if only for one morning, working with
Oliver has been a pleasure and an honor for me: he's very passionate,
professional and brave (the fact that he entrusted us with the role during the
project's premiere proves it). Working with other people, challenged to build
from the ground up a play in only 3 hours, with the aid of improvisation,
contributed to create a wonderful experience that made me grow and prompted me
to leave my comfort zone, having a lot of fun meanwhile. I truly feel to
suggest it to everyone who has the opportunity to join it. During the process I
also discovered more about my self and my personality; I experienced a new type
of communication, addressing both the colleagues and the audience. I am really
proud of being part of the Innovation Journey; I think there is a huge need of
this type of experience in the academic environment and I hope that more people
as possible will follow this initiative."
Brave Actor
#3
"The
Innovation Journey for me was an incredible experience. But let’s start from
the beginning. This project was the last part of University of Padua’s big
project called Contamination Lab, started in March 2020: a multidisciplinary
laboratory in which students from different courses/ degrees work together to
bring to life new and innovative businesses. The Innovation Journey took place
in October 2020, inside the great final day of the project, at Centro San
Gaetano in Padua: the mission was to create, in a day only, a small representation
about the life of an innovative idea, mixing arts and business. Six students,
six clabbers, meet at 9 a.m. on the stage and supported by Oliver Schwabe (and
just a very very simple plot) made a thirty minutes show in five acts, telling
to the audience a story from the moment when an idea is born to the moment when
the product arrives on the market and became viral. The six of us were not
professional actors and know each other not very well. We use only our words
and our bodies to communicate with the audience (not music, not particular
clothes, not special effects).The evening before the Innovation Journey I read
the document Oliver send us and I thought: “Ok, I’m not able to do this. I’m
not an actor, I’m scared about talking in front of an audience, I don’t like
very much improvisation. And I don’t like English, so tomorrow will be a huge
catastrophe”. But the morning, at 8 a.m., just an hour before the project
starts, I said to me: “Let’s do it, why not? I’ve nothing to loose”. At the
beginning I had no hope we will be able to do something great: we were confused
and I felt a little bit uncomfortable. But we kept going on and we did it. The
secret was not looking at this like an impossible journey, but like an
opportunity to do something new and innovative. We were brave, we were on the
stage. We found a blue ocean. We made the audience laugh, speaking about
important topics (like women in business), doing it in front of many important
person of University of Padua. And we had no fear. The surprising thing, for
me, is that we had only three hours to try the representation and not enough
time to try the entire show from the beginning to the end. So we made it only
by improvisation and this for me was an opportunity to go beyond my limits
(because I really need to try millions of time before speaking in front of an
audience). I really suggest this experience to those who want to put arts,
innovation and business in the same place, mixing together, going beyond the
borders of our traditional way to think. And, at the end of the day, I felt I
really like this new way and more self confident."
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