The Heinrich-Böll-Foundation Greece in cooperation with the Green European Foundation and the Green Institute Greece, organised the event “The European Youth Dialogue 2014” (EYD). This event was created to focus on new and innovative ideas about youth’s role and opportunities in culture, politics, economics and society in general. In order to achieve an active and engaging contribution of the participants, the Foundation planned a number of workshops in a wide range of topics.
Towards a creative, social and participatory economy, the Foundation asked me to plan develop and facilitate a one-day workshop for a selected group of 25 young Europeans aged 18-25 years old. Through hands-on interactive activities, participants collaborated to develop their entrepreneurial skills using a creative mindset. After the engaging workshop, participants presented to the plenary the workshops and discussed on the continuation of further projects.
Approach
The workshop was designed to help, guide and inspire young creative entrepreneurs to learn how to make choices and create a business that truly reflects their own enthusiasm, passion and values. Through the workshop, participants had the opportunity to define and explore their idea and it’s viability, exploring and identifying the different types of relationships they will need to develop their product or service.
They worked on how to create a more detailed operational plan, identifying the relations, the real needs and characteristics of the key stakeholders of their new product or service. Moreover, they developed the skills in order to be able to develop a greater sense of vision, clarity and enthusiasm for starting their creative business that is aligned with their core values.
The workshop was designed to be very interactive, motivating and engaging. This high-energy four-hour session gave participants a common level of understanding of the Service Design and Creative Thinking principles, key tools & terminology.
The co-design techniques used during the workshop were incorporating visually, design thinking oriented tools and activities such as, scenarios, affinity mapping, sketching, role-playing and prototyping, on real team with users.
By the end of the workshop, participants left with the confidence and enthusiasm to drive their business idea forward and the tools to make it sustainable.
