The Thinking Hotel 24h workshop

The Thinking Hotel
A 24hr Workshop to prototype
the business model.
What happened at
The Thinking Hotel?!

Photo by Stefan Lubo http://www.stefanlubo.com

“Imagination is more important
than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the world.”
(Albert Einstein)

© The Thinking Hotel TTH – Workshop 7-8-08-2010 – Report 2

Introduction Discovery 1 Discovery 2 Imagination Fun Clarity Incubation Action Courage Insights Next steps

Welcome to The Thinking Hotel

This document is the public story to report and
share the process and outcome of our first 24hr
workshop, a process to prototype the business
model for The Thinking Hotel.

Hello Kim!
This is your welcome package to The Thinking Hotel. Here you
have your room key, but as you know we don’t have real rooms yet,
therefore your room exists in our minds. We believe when you unlock the
two parts, something magic will happen, and you have opened the door of
your room at The Thinking Hotel.
This is a little message from our team, to inspire your imagination.
And this…is your TTH little book of thoughts. We would like you
to write here every though, idea and feeling you may have while you
stay. When you check-out you can take the room key with you and the leave
the book with us, another guest will add more thoughts and we will reflect on
these.


Introduction Welcome Discovery 1 Discovery 2 Imagination Fun Clarity Incubation Action Courage Insights Next steps

The aim of the 24hr workshop: a triple target thought…

The aim of the 24hr workshop: a triple target thought…

Target 1 – to prototype the business model for The Thinking Hotel.

A business model defines the value proposition, how it creates value, who and
with whom it creates value for, and how a business retains value.

To prototype the business model is an engaging process, simultaneously a
creative and structured method. It implies ‘ideation’ and ‘iteration’ as a process,
it is about exploring possibilities and not knowing the all answers, as well as
expecting open-ended outcomes.

The Thinking Hotel © project starts with a clear vision – this workshop is a step
forward towards making it happen.

Target 2 – attract a team of engaged social innovators, meet members of our
Linkedin group and discover what The Thinking Hotel means to them, as a way to
obtain insights of demand and what social needs our project can tap-into.

Target 3 – design and test (prototype) a ‘thinking hotel experience’ – which is
the essence of this project. We were also curious about how much fun we could
generate and how this experience could create value for those who engaged with
their time and creativity.




Why a 24hr event?

The first answer is …why not?

You might have experienced the frustration of engage with an event, and when it
achieves its best momentum, we have to interrupt the great work and leave, and
the room stays…empty. To us, at The Thinking Hotel, this is a waste of resources
including creative capital. With this in mind, we wanted to be open to the different
types of personal ‘clocks’ and allow anyone engage for how long they wanted as
well as at their favourite time, night, day or evening.




The structure of the workshop

We planned 8 stages (Ages) for the Each stage had different tasks, flow (in/out) we had different short
24hr journey: facilitated by a designed process and activities designed to promote a creative
• the age of discovery 1 and 2, executed in parallel teams. Before and and collaborative state of mind through
• the age of imagination, after every age (a 3hr time slot), our playful activities. We also had a report
• the age of fun, guests could check-in or check-out. back moment to share the findings.
• the age of clarity,
• the age of incubation, There were no pre-requisites to engage
• the age of action at any age; and no pre-defined numbers
• and the age of courage for each activity. To support the guests’

Age of discovery 1 Age of discovery 2 Age of imagination Age of fun (that ends with a big bang)

12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
NIBBLES, SALAD AND CHEESE A YUMMI LUNCH DINNER TIME FOR HUNGRY THINKERS

The big y
and hair

The big The big y
iry and hair
and ha
g
The bi
iry
and ha

g
The bi y
ir The big
and ha and ha
iry
WELCOME

Welcome! 4 groups and 4 tasks 4 groups and 4 tasks Positioning 3 groups creates the storyline of MAD HAT dinner party! One great
Refreshment 25 min each task. 25 min each task. and 3 BIG IDEAS. idea based
for soul and (Guest, guest journey, brand (Stakeholders, sensorial value Preparing three presentations. on three big
body. and trends.) experiences, SWOT, activities.) propositon. ideas.

© The Age of clarity
Thinking Hotel Age of incubation Age of action Age of courage
TTH – Workshop 7-8-08-2010 – Report 6

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00
NUT, FRUIT AND CHEESE TOAST, JAM AND COFFEE FRESH BREAD AND FRUIT


The structure of the workshop (Cont)

Teams were self-organised, randomly We selected various design-led We served food for thoughts and bodies,
and without pre-structure. Guests were methods and innovation tools for each along the 24hr served by the great ‘room
Age of discovery 1 Age of discovery 2 Age of imagination Age of fun (that ends with a big bang)
also free to shift from one group to task, and also expected each participant service’ team, however the majority of
another,13:00 they wished. At the end of 16:00 to bring17:00 add their own inputs, as 20:00
12:00
as 14:00 15:00
and 18:00 19:00
our guests engaged with the idea of self-
21:00 22:00 23:00
each task, our teams were asked to
NIBBLES, SALAD AND CHEESE
they registered through the booking
A YUMMI LUNCH
service! DINNER TIME FOR HUNGRY THINKERS

dedicate 5 minutes to fill a ‘report back’ services. The big
The big y
and hair
The big y

file. Along their stay in The Thinking
iry and hair
and ha
g
The bi
iry
and ha

Hotel, they were also asked to record g

their thoughts, ideas and feelings in
The bi y
ir The big
and ha and ha
iry

their little book of thoughts.
WELCOME

Welcome! 4 groups and 4 tasks 4 groups and 4 tasks Positioning 3 groups creates the storyline of MAD HAT dinner party! One great
Refreshment 25 min each task. 25 min each task. and 3 BIG IDEAS. idea based
for soul and (Guest, guest journey, brand (Stakeholders, sensorial value Preparing three presentations. on three big
body. and trends.) experiences, SWOT, activities.) propositon. ideas.

Age of clarity Age of incubation Age of action Age of courage

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00
NUT, FRUIT AND CHEESE TOAST, JAM AND COFFEE FRESH BREAD AND FRUIT

Fact finding. Shhhh…Zzzz…we are busy dreaming. Still asleep? Rise and shine. Sharing vision and a brand new business
(Resources, Costs, Revenues and Market.) Please do not disturb too much. Prepare for a new day, new ideas model. Questions, feedback, critics and
and make great presentations. forward looking.



A million thanks for the amazing 45 great thinkers!

We don’t really know if we had 45 or 55
thinkers, as some guests arrived as ‘friends
of guests’, however we know the following
co-creators joined at some point, and made
an amazing contribution:

Patrin Watanatada Marianne Petersen Farnaz Nickpour Skype Participants:
Hannah Charlton Vincenzo Di Maria Regine Wilber Maria Azevedo Coutinho
Carole Osterweil Johnnie Moore (never made Kalam Ali Bruce Lloyd
Stefan Lubomirski de Vaux it, but as like being there) Monika Hestad Blake Cotterill
Elizabeth Sawyer Paul Sturrock Andy Patterson-Jones Ian Lewis
Kim van Niekerk Marzia Arico Anna Yang
Robert Urquhart Ayisha de Lanerolle Maria Ana Neves
Consuelo Yavar Larrain Olga Casamonte + 3 children Lili Larratea
Yashoda Sampath Katerina Symiakaki Jeremy Barry
Joao Mello Hua Dong Ayako Fukuuchi
Nani Brunini Will Hill Neishaa Gharat
Eva Karia + Partner David Pinto Hally Bowman + Husband
Jordan Dalladay-Simpson Hyaesook Yang Anders Groenli
Hina Patel Max Yates



Early adopters profile

And this is the mind-
profile of our collective
thinking, which may
help us understand
the pioneers (or early
adopters) profile:



Why people wanted to join the workshop

People gave different
reasons to join the workshop.
The main reasons listed was
curiosity, eager to learn and
explore, meeting like minded
thinkers and the attraction
to the concept The Thinking
hotel.

"The idea.. and "The concept is "Collaborating "I'm curious about
the concept great - fantastic with others who how this event will
- never tried alignment with believe in the art work out"
anything like it much of my work" of thinking"
before"



A million thanks to Sense Worldwide

As designers we are well aware of the engagement… and made it possible to The light, the furniture, the space, the
impact of the space in the ways we host this first ever 24hr event. sound were definitely key factors on
think. Luckily we met Sense Worldwide creating an atmosphere for innovative
Network’s manager who was open to co-creation.
the idea, and working in a company
that is well aware of the value of human

Sense Worldwide has for over ten years can sign up here:
helped global companies by transforming their http://www.thesensenetwork.com
approach to insight, innovation and strategy.
A brand new website is coming in November
You are all invited to become part of their global for the community, along with several events
Sense Network co-creation community of linked to the launch.
articulate, creative, thinkers and doers and



The “24hr preparation”

Key success factors for the prototyping how to design experiences to help panic attack and found a good insurance
workshop were a venue for 24hr, gather relevant insights, promote package!
curious people, an experience fun and engage groups of diverse
programme designed with a particular people with and without previous The fifth factor was Purpose. Although
mix of processes and the tools. connection with the project. For each prototyping a business model for
task (15 in total) we designed tools, someone else’s business may seem
First priority: to find a committed and including ideation cards, a report card anything but purposeful, we found that
enthusiastic team. We had two project and an insight card, as well as a task those who joined, had one of the three
leaders (Maria Ana and Monika) two instruction card. Monika, Lili and Maria agendas: designing their own enterprise
event experts (Sarah and Lili) and 5 Ana were the main designers of the – therefore wanting to learn, rethinking
great advisors, thinkers and linkers sessions, with great help from Sarah. their personal choices due to a transition
(Paul, Susana, Sofia, Stefan, John and stage and/or excited to contribute to a
William) with the extra cool help from Food was taken seriously and was new venture that was meaningful for
Ayako and David. prepared at home by Nick, a great themselves.
chef, who helped create a menu to
The second and third aspects were please everyone and to be served The budget: This initiative was
People and Place: once the venue was along 24hr. accomplished within a budget just under
agreed with Sense Worldwide, we had £1000 – including catering for 50 people
10 days to organise and deliver the Sarah also highlighted the need to over 24hrs, and all materials needed
event, with a challenge: how to engage have a dedicated team for cleaning, even the insurance package. Of course
a reasonable number of people to join create scenarios ‘what if’, to be this was only possible due to the support,
us?! Our priority target was our Linkedin prepared for worse case scenarios, commitment and generosity of everyone
group members, which response and define clear roles for the team, who helped us making this workshop
was extraordinary. Other enthusiastic a good plan to pack-up at the end, happen. We estimate if we had covered
supporters offered to disseminate prepare a good welcome message as all costs we would have had a £7K event
through their blogs and tweets. well as for the end of the event. (i.e. a cost of around £150/pp ) for a
workshop with 50 participants. (Detailed
The fourth factor was the Process – We also had a last minute insurance costing available on request)



The age of discovery 1

The Age of Discovery had two main objectives:

For the project: to get a collective insight on what
people’s ‘think, see, feel and believe’ the Thinking Hotel
can offer and to whom, and achieve a sense of shared
direction.

For participants: offer a co-creative experience in which
participants engage with a shared vision, as well as
contribute to shape the project with their own input: The
Thinking Hotel is…what we want it to be.



“Would you tell me, please, which way
I ought to go from here?
‘’That depends a good deal on where
you want to get to’.’ Said the Cat.
I don’t much care where / Said Alice.
Then it doesn’t matter which way you
go, said the Cat.”
Lewis Carroll



Four tasks to explore dimensions of the TTH

Guests worked in teams, in parallel sessions, based on
various creative methods to help define: customer profiles
and their needs (Personas), the customer journey, explore
current trends and the context for this project and the brand
personality.

Personas TTH personality
Describe a person you know really well and that you Each brand has a unique personality, and there are
think will be a ‘guest’ at TTH. various ways to define it.
Then define a need that you know is real, and that you We asked our guests to choose key words that would
think TTH can provide a solution. define emotional and personality traits, as well as identify
Then…imagine solutions. references, such as a parallel with other brands, famous
person, or a place.

Guest journey Trends
There will be various touch points between Guests and What is happening in the world that may have an impact
the TTH, which will happen at various stages, from on the TTH? Can you identify a current / emergent
becoming aware of TTH existence, to make a decision Political agenda (such as The Big Society), or a social
to check-in, arrive and spend time at TTH or engage trend (such as an increasing level of uncertainty) or
with an activity, to pay, use services, and extend the environmental trend (such as the paradigm shifts we face
experience through a mobile phone or website. and the need to be more imaginative) or technological
Think of each possible touch point and describe how this speed and the fluid/dynamic markets without boundaries
will work. Link those touch-points with Personas and their (which calls for innovative ways of thinking).
needs. Connect trends with the offer of The Thinking Hotel.



Personas

The personas gave insights into who
can be visitors and what kind of needs
these have.

The TTH could be for young busy
people, value had to be according to the
outcome, basic pricing or membership.
Another suggestion was that the TTH
was perfect for people that needed time
to meet their inner seslf. The experience
was young and improvised. The TTH
learned from the visitors.



Guest journey

The guest journey proved to be the
most difficult task. It evoked many
discussions:

- is TTH a place or space, if there were
other relevant metaphors
- how involved people should be at TTH,
the need for consultations
- diversity of TTH
- payment methods
- why people should come to TTH

Photo: Stefan Lubo/ http://www.stefanlubo.com/


TTH personality

The brand personality was defined in
various ways. Among the people char-
acteristic there where Dalai Lama and
Jamie Oliver. The color was purple
because it was cool, complicated and
calm.

Some of the personality traits that was
used was daring, funny,
imaginative, friendly and inclusive.



Trends and PESTL analysis

The TTH is part of many trends:
- paradigm shift in value
- lack of time, distraction everyday
- no time for self reflection
- aging population, people working after retirement
- talent/thinkers available
- crisis - what worked doesn’t work any longer
- hard to sustain like minded people
- lack of fait in legal system

The TTH was seen as a place to reflect over values, to meet
interesting people and to share valuable knowledge and
insights.



Play rethink

Between the two ages we had a group checking-
in and a group checking out, integrated by a Play
Rethink moment. This transition was designed-in the
programme to stimulate creative collaboration for the
following stages. In order to integrate new guests into
the process, we established a need to pause, reflect and
communicate ‘discoveries’, and created the space to ask
all kinds of questions, even silly questions …because
they were not there!



The age of discovery 2

The age of discovery 2 was simply a deeper level of the
earlier stage, towards defining the value, the challenges,
the positioning and the brand look and feel.

The aim of this age was to explore with our co-creators
the opportunity, the challenges, the value proposition and
for whom, and the positioning axis, emerging from the
insights of the previous age.




Four task to explore dimensions of the TTH

SWOT Look and feel
What are the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, Create a moodboards to describe the ‘look and feel’ of
threats the brand

Value proposition Position axis
What value do the brand deliver to a potential client? How to position the brand in the market?



SWOT

The SWOT analysis highlighted the need to have a better
defined value proposition.
Guests felt as a particular threat the uncertainty of
how TTH will generate revenues, and as a particular
opportunity and strength the fact that the Hotel Industry
is quite conservative and therefore new and more
innovative models may find easier to penetrate. However,
if the business success is based in establish partnerships
with existing key players, this could be a weakness – as
a conservative industry the resistance to change can
be higher. One key word emerged as ‘multiplicity’ –
probably referring to the nature of this Brand concept,
which can be from ‘spaces’ to ‘processes’.



Look and feel

This task aimed at creating
a mood board for the
brand, therefore a visual
outcome, which we hope to
explore in various stages of
development.



Value proposition

In the definition of the value proposition the first question Key findings:
was “a TTH for whom?”. TTH have different value Business - semi random people joining the hotel, outside
propositions for groups business, individual, government. perspective on your ideas, angles, prototyping ideas, sharing
However, the discussion went soon into cross pollinating. ideas with public, play
The different groups will have interest of sharing the
same TTH. Individuals - prototype, experiment, share work, show
portfolio to individuals, play

Government - neutral space, integrated synthesis for
coalition, bring in local people to pilot policies.

All - networking, place/space to create, networking, seeds
of ideas, rehearse/reading script, forever changing, to
experiment, possibility to play, create, balance thinking +
relaxing, cross pollution



Position axis

At the core - The Thinking Hotel brand
is an innovation platform, and as such, it
is a place that allows ambiguity, in other
words, the ability to be something and
it’s opposite as well.

The positioning axes identified provide
us guidance of which dualities/conflicts
we need to consider and the basis for
the business design strategies.

Suggested axis:
inclusive - exclusive
traditional hotel - spiritual hotel
distance - local
keeping secrets - sharing
local people - travellers
secret info/protective
- open source
individual - collective
relax - work
challenging/provocative thoughts -
meditation



Something interesting from the outside

After this session, guests were asked to go outside, and where they had a nice chat with a Guest that was reading a
find something interesting, which they could bring into book.
The Thinking Hotel – an inspiration from outside.
Sharing the external discoveries was the way we moved
One guest brought cards which made him think…and from age of discovery into the age of imagination.
two guests accidentally discovered the Soho Hotel,



Something interesting from the inside

The transition between age of discovery
and the age of imagination was also
catalysed by a Sacred Geometry
meditation. We only did around 10
minutes, and we wanted to use this
to integrate the new guests, as well
as help each guest unlock something
inside them.

A real Sacred Geometry method
requires a few days of continued
work, however we felt this could have
an impact…but we will not know as
we didn’t really manage to measure
and track changes, so…who knows?
Perhaps an interesting activity for a
future workshop.




The age of imagination

After the period of discovery, which was useful to ‘set
the scene’ we made a radical move into imaginative
techniques of strategise.

Guests were divided into three groups and each group
had to write a book.
Each group had a different briefing, with a specific
agenda: one team would find how we made The Thinking
Hotel happen, one had to describe the experience of the
thinking hotel, and the third team had to describe the
impact of TTH in a community.

This is a process that combines story telling, with
creative visualisation and strategy, and is extremely
powerful.

Resources to help the groups included a decision making
dice (yes, maybe, no), children books to show simplicity,
and magazines, scissors and drawing paper.

The outcomes of this age of imagination were…beyond
imagination!




Three books of imagination

Guests were divided into three groups
and each group had to write a book.

Each group had a different briefing,
with a specific agenda: one team
would find how we made The Thinking
Hotel happen, one had to describe the
experience of the thinking hotel, and the
third team had to describe the impact of
TTH in a community.

This is a process that combines story
telling, with creative visualisation and
strategy, and is extremely powerful.
Resources to help the groups included a
decision making dice (yes, maybe, no),
children books to show simplicity, and
magazines, scissors and drawing paper.
The outcomes of this age of imagination
were…beyond imagination!



The TTH as a liquid



The TTH as transformative as a butterfly

This was a story of a 3 brother’s and each theme has stories in it. Now
immersion in a Thinking Hotel, to think think the same culture will be applied
and imagine their futures, post job for the experiences at The Thinking
losses in financial careers. Hotel…which will be beyond ‘just look
at me’.
The team approached the briefing with
highly visual and imaginative thoughts,
in which the story heroes transformed
themselves from cats and dogs, into
donkeys and people. But not only
personal physical transformations
occurred during their staying at the
Thinking Hotel, the place and people in
it keptchanging.

So…what do we think of this?
We have no doubts about two core
messages: The Thinking Hotel is a
platform for transformation through fun,
and…it transforms itself as well.
Imagine a company where there is a
dedicated creative team, with magicians
and film makers, which constantly
design new experiences…
Well…think how Selfridges create new
themes for their windows every month,

Photo: Stefan Lubo/ http://www.stefanlubo.com/


The TTH as The Analog Web

Part One: The Thinking Hotel process is This team had a challenging task – write a
used to develop a collaborative solution story about the impact of a Thinking Hotel in a
to London’s bike crisis: adjustable bike community. Through this co-creative method
lanes this story offers a space for the Thinking Hotel
as a platform to restore the communication
Part Two: When the grid goes down, with each other which as the potential to
a series of ex-hotlliers uses sets up
local ad-hoc Thinking Hotels to address
urgent infrastructure needs

Part Three: As the thinking hotels nodes
grow and establish communication with
each other, a new human based analog
collaborative grid develops to replace
the old. when the old grid is restored,
peolpe decide to avoid reliance on it
and concentrate on cultivating the new
Thinking Hotel Grid.



The age of fun (that ends with a big bang)

Most guests didn’t want to leave, the energy at The Loft was
high and the conversation about the new insights from the
stories was quite exciting. However we had a mission and we
had to move on, and meet the new guests.

The Mad Had Dinner shifted from a non-sense conversation
into a deeper and meaningful conversation, which may be
appropriate to call…serious fun! This is also an important
aspect to reflect: fun may not always be what we pre-
conceived as fun, and for that we (the event organisers) must
be open to the possible shifts led by the participants.


Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:
Alice: But it’s no use going back
to yesterday, because I was a
different person then.
Lewis Carroll



The age of clarity

The age of clarity was designed to be based in
fact finding research, to support the business case
developed through the previous ages, however we
suspect that minds that were awake at this stage
were not interested in facts and figures, so we moved
into feelings and the human side of the project.




Our 2am … deep insight: what brought you here?

In a round table, non-planned activity, we asked each guest We already knew, from the PESTL trends analysis and the
to share their feelings. This was a real moment of honesty, stories shared, that TTH was a place for transitions – and
openness, insight and co-activation. now we had the core values and value of TTH well described
by the guests at the age of clarity!
The 4 key words emerged from this round table:

Curiosity Connectivity

Co-Creativity – the ability to collaborate Change
and apply creativity



The age of incubation

The aim of the incubation age is to catalyse thinking, joining
the dots and create more meaningful visions; it’s the proc-
ess to find answers to…what does it really mean?

There are different ways of ‘incubate’ ideas, insights and
discoveries, and at The Thinking Hotel we respect this
by not having rules or structured activities, therefore our
guests were free to make their personal choices: sleep,
dream, chat, draw, or just look at the stars in silence.

We think…and will continue our research, that integrating
the incubation stage into the process of a co-creation ac-
tivity may have an impact on the quality of the outcomes.
(This idea is not new, in a way, retreats and away trips have
made us think about the real value of a time of incubation
as part of the process)

zzzzzzzzz

Photographers sleeping...


The age of action

Good morning! we have work to do, guests to arrive and
the challenges ahead. This was in fact an energiser mo-
ment – Monika did her stretches, Ayako looked as if she
came back from Mars, Maria Ana was unsure of what to do,
Farnaz, Joao, and Jordan were still asleep, and Ayisha and
Hyaesook were in perfect Sunday Morning shape!

HOWEVER we had to make decisions forward – and this is
when we went back to our business modelling: IF we had all
the money and resources in the world…what would be our
investment priorities, and what would we need to set up our
project to be a successful enterprise?

This time we focused on defining the Team, the Partner-
ships (alliances and copetitors) as well as the resources.

And…we had breakfast!




Mapping the business on the business canvas
Sence of
‘thinking’ Conviviality
community Connection
Quirky,
Different - with other
related
organisation people +
professional
Space resources
where you Loyalty Philosophy
Conversa- Diversity can of human Co-
Local tion Libraries develop Innovation interest creation
Creativity Niche
business
Events own ideas- space to Sharing
Potential Space - to create enjoy
Universities - participa-
Research tory let go of Courage Interpre- Innerself
(CSM, Thinkers
institutions Goldsmith…) interactive everyday - to try sty Lost prop- tation travellers
Local Hotels Group life new/to erty office ‘Personal
business Individualdialogue change touch’ Establishing
Warm
Inspiring space Create Access to individual
Human welcome wants
Museumsreserves suround- Under- memory Deep different
Department ings stand- democracy process Diversified busi-
ing and ness, freelance,
EU, framework entrepreneurs,
funding A
Open Fun - space Open- Twitter students,
organisation People government ness yuppies
inquiry to be Word by
(that sure) Co- Network mouth
creative and
Linked in Col-
engage activation
Physical blog
laborative Different Press
dialogueminds skills areas
Open Archive Social
Local Balancing Linked
media
relaxing + in
government RSA thinking
Connection Brand
with people ambassadors
Dynamic
Space for & com-
spaces that Network
sharing munity After
are open Networkng
sale
and secure Online
Big question network
- enjoy the
challenge
People/Staff Networking

Kick off for Philan-
Must be
value driven
Time business thropy
Maintaining Different
packages Events
the network,
branding (specialised)



Defining team, resources and partners

Creating a team was an exercise to visualise and stra-
tegically identify what do we need and who do we know
that can help us, at such an early stage of the project.
Defining job titles and salaries was also interesting – so
we understand the cost and makes us prioritise.

Hyaesook transfered the ideas into posters.



Welcome (back) to The Thinking Hotel…age of Courage!

This is 9:00am …and a Sunday, first weekend of August,
and we had an amazing group of thinkers checking-in,
excited to find what we have done over the previous
21hrs, and ready to press on our courage to commit to
the next steps.

In a scale of 1 to 10…the commitment from our guests
was 8 to 10!




Challenged to pitch the dragon’s council!

We asked the Dragons, to shift their mindset from investors or in the world.
into potential partners. We’ve also explained what attracts people to the TTH
- Triggers curiosity
We’ve explained the Vision: - Allow people to apply their creative ability
Create space for thinking in every city which would combine - Connections, engagement and work with others
an environment, with the tools and services, designed to sup- - Platform for change
port personal and professional decisions, to boost creativity,
imagination and collaboration as well as strategy. So… what is it?
Our last guest from Skype, Ian Lewis told us: what The Think-
And what we believe the TTH core value is about. ing Hotel is doing is: co-activation!
It is a platform for transition in a company, community, society



Action cycle commitments

So what were the commitments: BUT the truly target was well achieved: we have a beginning
of a new product, a much clearer understanding of who needs
One team decided to write their understanding of TTH and it and why, and…a fantastic team around this brand!
share on Linkedin

The other team said they would contemplate for 10 days and
then share personal insights.

There were attempts to act within one week, such as – define
a pitch to deliver a TTH experience and find a client/partner to
organise one TTH workshop.




Guests from the Sky(pe)

This was another innovative challenge. sleep. He might have been so confused
In an event that has multiple actions, he sent us a really good questionnaire…
where people check-in and out, and to help set up a normal business. Are we
collaborate…how do we bring in those a normal business?
that are far away? The idea sounds
simple to implement: skype them into Skype 3. Sunday 09:00am
the room. However we haven’t done this Bruce Lloyd (in Guernsey)
before, neither we had a 24hr prototype What happened?
to predict what would happen. BUT…we This was the second attempt! A lot of
thought, why not? background noise, but was nice to hear
from Bruce (who knows all about this
So out of 8 Skype Guests, 4 made it. project from day one).

Skype 1. Saturday 5:30pm Skype 4. Sunday 09:30am
Maria A. Coutinho (in Lisbon) Ian Lewis
What happened? (somewhere in UK …miles away)
We had a chat, Maria asked questions, What happened?
and two of us explained what was going It worked!!
on. Ian arrived when we were making the
decision to do the Dragons, and he
Skype 2. Sunday 08:30am sat on the middle of the table. Jordan
Blake Cotterill (in Birmingham) helped moving the laptop around.
What happened? He took part of the discussion, asking to
We showed him around, showing each speak, as well as listening.
board, and told him what we knew.
Blake had a chat with two of us, but this And he was so tuned with us, that his
is at the end of age of action, we were final input clarified the essence of what
worried with everyone arriving, and no TTH will do to users: co-activation!


Insights

• People came to contribute and meet other
interesting people
• The atmosphere was unique, helped
people to also work with their own projects
• The TTH is a ‘liquid’ not one project but
many
• Sharing and openness is important to
develop the TTH
• There is a need for a TTH
• Yes! We are inspired to move it a step
forward



Next steps

• Sharing the information and key lessons
with the world
• Developing the 24h concept into a work-
shop concept for businesses (First stone
of the project)
• Defining the strategy for the next stone of
the project
• Start to work with the next prototype:
- a prototype where people can come
with their own projects
- a workshop concept for a potential
partner


The Thinking Hotel
Workshop report Thanks....
Contribution by
all attendees to all attendees
Edited by Maria Ana & to Stefan for pictures
Monika to Sense for the loft
Most photos by Stefan to Nick for delicious food
Some by Monika and Ewa to readers, thinkers & inspirators

So what do you
If you have comments or
content please share at

THINK?
the Linked in discussion
group, or send us your
thoughts.


The Thinking Hotel 24h workshop

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to The Thinking Hotel 24h workshop

Similar to The Thinking Hotel 24h workshop (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The Thinking Hotel 24h workshop