Various of these have been presented to the U.S. Army at the Advanced Warfighting Working Group and at the Annual Armor Conference, the Association of Proposal Management Professionals, Walt Disney TV & Feature Animation, RAI-TV Rome, the National Association of Broadcasters, and to thousands of media content creators. Pamela also contributed to a class at West Point Academy on Mental Skills for the Modern Warrior.
A number of the topics could be supplemented by books written by Alpha Babe Academy instructors:
• INNER DRIVES – archetypes and systems theory via the Centers of Motivation (chakras)
• THE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE – overviews of the many ways things can go wrong, the dangers of group-think, why people slide to the dark side, ways to counter that from humour to education
• SYMBOLS.IMAGES.CODES: The Secret Language of Meaning in Media – to help groups select appropriate and powerful symbols, imagery, colours, icons, etc.
Offering these books to the attendees would bring added value to the presentations.
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MASTER YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS
Whether initiating community projects or building airplanes, working with the natural cycles of creativity can make you much more efficient and effective.
From initial inspiration through research, writing, development, budgeting, pitching, funding, production, marketing, and distribution – increase the power of your creativity with these timeless, practical tools.
Explore the 4 Stages of the Creative Process.
Learn about timing-and-order, balancing emotions and mind, the power of silence, the fine art of collaboration, celebration, and moving on.
Get a heads-up on the specific pitfalls of each stage and how to avoid them.
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AND THE AWARD GOES TO…
The world of proposal and project writing, preparing, and presenting is much like the world of story-telling. It requires sparkling inspiration, scintillating ideas, and solid implementation.
This presentation introduces you to classic tools of story-telling easily adaptable to creating vivid, engaging, and winning proposals – whether for hardware (bridges, buildings), software (educational programs, management systems), or wetware (building communities and training for collaboration).
• Learn media techniques such as SDS: Sympathy-Danger-Salvation, and how it can be used to spark attention, deepen interest, and encourage sign-on.
• Fine-tune your own assessment capabilities to determine whether to stress passion-or-ration with different clients.
• Build a Pyramid of Communication Information to guide other’s understanding of your works.
• Use Symbols & Imagery (verbally and visually) to intrigue and influence your audience.
Enjoy film clips about good and not-so-good proposals.
Walk away with a handful of golden ideas to help you bring home the big awards.
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GROUP DYNAMICS for COLLABORATION & TEAM-BUILDING
Tried the Meyers-Briggs? Used the Enneagrams? They’re both fine, but they require the person being analyzed to participate and to answer the questions honestly.
With INNER DRIVES you do-it-yourself by consciously observing a person’s dress, speech, demeanor, topics of conversation, references, and reactions. From the book and/or workshops you’ll learn analytical tools that can help you assess a person’s motivations – their real Inner Drives.
Knowing this can help you uncover truths about people, persuade opinions, inspire people to action, and put together effective teams.
Based on millennias-old empirical knowledge verified by contemporary science, the Inner Drives system IS who we are. When using the INNER DRIVES Centers of Motivation you tap into the actual physiological and psychological mechanism that is influenced by our actions and which influences us to action.
As taught to U.S. Army, RAI-TV Rome, Disney Animation, and hundreds of writers, actors, and directors.
Learn to use the INNER DRIVES and improve your performance and your effectiveness.
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IMAGES & SYMBOLS for BRANDING, MOTIVATING, and PROMOTING
Communication is the most important aspect of human interaction and it is accomplished in a number of ways, from utilitarian to artistic. Some of the most primitive yet still most effective modes of communication are visual – that’s just how our brains are wired.
In our multi-cultural, instantaneously interconnected global village we speak hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects with diverse and specific cultural backgrounds. How can we communicate effectively across all these borders?
Symbols and images affect people emotionally – hence their exceptional effectiveness. Because there is no particular rational attachment to them, visuals are a universal language that engages our intuition and imagination.
Specifically tailored to your organization, this presentation explores various Symbols and Images that can effectively convey your message to the market and inspire your colleagues with esprit de corps.
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IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. It’s the Law of Unintended Consequences, when one seemingly good thing causes something else to happen, and that leads to another and to another, and the eventual outcome stinks.
The Roman Empire’s fabulous water distribution system used lead pipes, which some say may have contributed to their decline via lead poisoning. Rabbits were introduced into Australia for sport hunting but they quickly propagated into horrific pests, destroying much of the environment. The drug Thalidomide stops morning sickness, but causes deformed babies. Some dams for flood control and hydroelectric power have become ecological disasters.
The instantaneous interconnectivity of the internet puts the world at our fingertips, but is eroding actual physical communities. How much of it might in retrospect prove damaging?
• How is our wired world affecting our brains?
• How can we break the feedback loop of isolation and lack of real-world experience while maintaining the positive aspects of being on-line?
• What does the “etheric” noise of so much electronics do to our brains and our minds?
• How can young people acquire essential work-place skills that aren’t formally taught anymore?
• Can classical traditions like meditation and contemplation still serve us?
• Are old-fashioned activities like gardening, outdoor play, and reading aloud of any use to us anymore?
In planning and projecting the future, whether technology or people systems, if we either do not search for and analyze or willfully ignore the unintended consequences of our seemingly good ideas, we can reap unfortunate results.
This presentation explores how to use history and seemingly unrelated events via pattern recognition and analysis to project likely outcomes. It offers methods for setting early-warning policies and avoiding having to relive that old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished”.
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LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Film Production Protocols for Better Business Practices
A recent survey showed that the average school classroom takes 2-3 minutes for the kids to settle in and start paying attention. The average workplace takes 10-12 minutes for people to get coffee, get to their desks, settle in, and start working. On a film shoot people start work within 10-12 seconds of walking onto the set.
These are instant teams of 5 to 80 people, some total strangers to the others, who show up and work together as a finely tuned machine from the word “go”.
How does that happen? What can your organization learn from the film production world? How can you adapt those principles to your particular organization?
This presentation delineates the protocols of media production:
A common language and a common goal
Alignment with the Director’s vision
Systems familiarity – people can fill in for others
…and many more.
Examples are illustrated with real-life stories from production at the major studios to TV commercials to documentaries in far-flung regions of the world:
The Frozen Penguins
1st Class trash
The Substitute
…and many more.
These tried and true principles and protocols of media production that can turn out high-quality product in a short period of time can help focus, invigorate, and enhance your own business practices.
And it’s fun!
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Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis – education is the safeguard of democracy