蓝莓视频

How can innovators and entrepreneurs create meaningful solutions to help people achieve their goals without roadblocks? Part of the answer is collaboration, saying yes, and lots of sticky notes, according to Karin Schmidlin of 蓝莓视频鈥檚 Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology Centre.

Humans are hardwired to take shortcuts in everything we do and strive to make daily tasks as easy as possible. Although we have systems that allow us to get our jobs done, we don鈥檛 love using them. Drawing on her background in user experience design,听Schmidlin shared her tools and methods at an Innovative Problem Solving workshop as part of the , held March 5 and 6 in the Science Teaching Complex. The two-day event brought together women from across disciplines to connect, inspire, and explore their potential.听

Schmidlin shared three main steps to coming up with needs-based solutions to everyday problems:听

1. Identify the problem: watch what people do听

鈥淭he first law when identifying a problem is never assume.鈥澨�

Understanding the audience you are designing for is key to supplying people with the solution they need, says Schmidlin. Don鈥檛 assume you know the individual circumstances of your users. Surveys and self-reporting are a useful part of identifying these needs, but they cannot stand alone. 鈥淒on鈥檛 believe what people say; watch what they do,鈥� she says. When conducting surveys, fill information gaps with action-based observations.听

2. Imagine a world where the problem does not exist听

鈥淎lways think bigger. Even if you have a solution, ask yourself, 鈥榟ow can we make this more important?鈥欌�� says Schmidlin.听鈥淏e open to making it even bigger and more powerful.鈥澨�

More often than not, the best ideas are developed by building on existing ideas, so be open to incorporating all suggestions even if you already have an idea. Saying 鈥榥o鈥� will block your ideas and limit your ability to go further. Schmidlin suggests that, when working in teams, always respond to your teammates with 鈥淵es, and鈥︹�� to keep the idea generation flowing.听

3. Ideate with abandon

鈥淪ketch your ideas out and, most importantly, give everyone a pen,鈥� says Schmidlin. 鈥淲hoever owns the pen owns the power, and you need to hear every team member鈥檚 voice.鈥澨�

Ideas come when you鈥檙e inspired, Schmidlin notes, not when you鈥檝e given yourself a ten-minute timeframe to come up with one. Rather than limiting yourself with words on a laptop screen, draw your idea on a sticky note and post it on the wall 鈥� standing up and moving your body will help get the ideas out of your head. Take advantage of the diversity within your team by making sure everybody has a chance to contribute. 鈥淒on鈥檛 worry if you think you can鈥檛 draw 鈥� anyone can do it,鈥� she says.听

Participants use sketches听on sticky notes to redesign the symbol for "love" during Schmidlin's Innovative Problem Solving workshop

蓝莓视频 women solve problems and pitch innovative ideas at WIMIn Ideathon听

Throughout the weekend, attendees participated in hands-on workshops, received advice from mentors, and heard from a number of inspiring speakers including听听

• , co-founder of Bridgit, about navigating the male-dominated tech and construction industries as a female entrepreneur,
• , author, advocate, and founder of Informed Opinions, about how the conversation changes when women鈥檚 voices are present in the media, and
• , 蓝莓视频 City Councillor and president of Durrell Communications, about the importance of a good pitch and convincing investors that your product matters.听

The weekend concluded with an idea fair, where judges selected the top ten ideas to participate in a final pitch competition. All ten finalists won a startup coaching and mentorship brunch with Brendan Wylie-Toal and Elle Crevits hosted by St. Paul鈥檚 GreenHouse. Additional prizes of $300 each were awarded to the top ideathon winners:听

• Best Pitch: PASS app, an evidence-based mental health solution to let the bad moments pass
• Biggest Social Impact: Sunshine, an app that allows caregivers of autistic children track and share behavioural patterns
• Most Innovative: D.A.M, a system to eliminate drug miscalculations in the acute care industry

See more highlights from the weekend by checking out .听