I generally try not to use the word ‘interesting’ because it always seems like a euphemism for something else, but I’ll make an exception here because Interesting Vancouver needs a catch-all title to hold together so many kinds of stories, perspectives and musings in one evening. In a format that kept a quick pace, the audience shared laughter, wonder and even a tear as we were told stories of trials and triumphs as well as lessons and artful expressions.

“The plan is to have all sorts of speakers speak about all sorts of stuff. Not brands, advertising, blogging and twitter but interesting, unexpected, original things. I’m hoping to find fascinating people and to just ask them to speak about something they care about. I want to replicate the experience of clicking from one really good blog to another, ranging across sciences, arts, musics, jokes and whatever” – Russel Davies, founder of Interesting

The rebranded Museum Of Vancouver turned out to be a fantastic venue for this event, which meshed nicely with their visioning project to focus on Vancouver as a physical reality as well as an idea, engaging the community and addressing contemporary issues. Full access to the museum was included with the price of admission and actually encouraged with a scavenger hunt during intermission. Having the museum to ourselves really created an intimate experience. I highly recommend checking out the Neon Vancouver/Ugly Vancouver exhibit and just stand silently by yourself in the middle of all their glowing signs and let their buzzing fill your head.

I had never been to the MOV before but look forward to many more visits like this. Interesting Vancouver has already confirmed the MOV as next year’s venue partner! One of these year’s I’d love to get up there and speak about some of the projects I have worked on. I just hope I’m ‘interesting’ enough.

The international speaker series Creative Mornings from New York has made a splash entrance on the Vancouver scene, packing the W2 Media Cafe for the second time in a row.

Creative Mornings is a breakfast lecture series held monthly for the creative community. Although the format is a twenty minute talk followed by a Q & A, it is not about an experienced professional imparting wisdom on an audience nor is it about indulgent portfolio presentations. The mandate is to get away from the teacher/student paradigm as well as needy networking meetings. Creative Mornings is designed to spark dialogue and debate among peers where a subject is approached, talked about by an industry professional and then opened up to the floor.

This month Ian Grais (Creative Director at Rethink) talked about the discipline and process of creativity. He described inspiration as a confluence of ideas and the practice of opening yourself to the recombination of these ideas in new ways.  He even gave criteria for recognizing a good concept – clear, relevant, achievable, fresh, true and social. If your idea doesn’t meet all these criteria he says not to give up but rather to give your work a rating of KG (Keep Going).

As part of his presentation, Ian had a few videos showing a massive amount of creative fodder in just a few seconds – just enough time to subconsciously recognize some of the branding or go into seizures. From sketch books, note pads, print outs and screen shots, he made it clear to budding creative types that it is important to have a sketchbook and don’t treat it like it is sacred.  Go back and revisit old ideas, they may have been better than you thought, suited for something else or you just have a new way of seeing them.

As the floor was opened up, the audience was first asked to consult with one another for seven minutes to come up with  some really good questions since time was short – a great ice breaker. My favourite question was how to evaluate whether an idea is fresh or not and Ian’s answer was this – if you do something that has been done before and you do it better, then you own it.

Next month’s speaker will be Vancouver’s own super beautiful monster Bif Naked! These events are free but you still need a ticket to get in since demand is high and the event has a cap of 150 attendees. So far these events have booked out in under three minutes so you need to have your finger on the trigger when the EventBrite page releases them.