#specialexperience

[giny-us]

If you live in Korea you can see braille in your every day life. Korean government want to make the life of visually impaired people easier by introducing braille in the subways, street crossing, toilets, banks, elevators, stairs, doors and so on. They also have a sound system for announcing the stations in subways and busses and of course the doors have one as well. Also, crossings do announce when to cross and where not to. As well as streets and parts where you can walk, that present yellow dots on the ground. They serve as guidelines. I think we should learn and do more for each other and of course try to be better each day. The braille alphabet for the Korean language is known as Korean Braille. It has no visual similarities to other braille scripts that may be found worldwide. Instead, it distinguishes between initial consonants, vowels, and final consonants and follows the patterns observed in hangul. On November 3, the Ministry of Interior and Safety's National Archives of Korea announced that handwritten manuscripts for Hangeul Jeomja (Braille) and their associated documents had been restored in honor of National Braille Day (Nov. 4). #MOFA #UnboxingKorea #KoreaAllimi #언박싱코리아 #대한민국알리미 #UniqueKorea #SpecialExperience #두맘코튼#담심포#애착인형#점자#점자카드#낱말카드 #비장애인과함께#시각장애#시각장애인#시각장애아동 #한글공부#점자공부#색칠공부#봉사활동#재능기부 #cards #wordcards #cardsforvisualimpared #점자 #braille (at Seoul, Korea) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClSjiosvymm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[taiyejeremiah]

Part 3/4: Shocking Lessons God taught me in College that is helping me to get through life😳🤔😇🥳

#specialexperience #experience #unique #strangeexperience #miracle #miraculousGod

#shockingGod #lovingGod #special #wildwomanforGod #wildwoman #Godswilderness #Jesuswilderness #challenges #opposition #wilderness #winds #storms #sickness #spiritualfood #physicalfood #Godsword #Godssermon #Godissayingsomething #movingGod #flowingGod #flowwithGod #howtotalk #presentation #howtopreach

[shellygossip]

performance+humor+taste= perfection!! Me & my colleague also tried pounding mochi! (it's nice experience especially for tourists from overseas) #六本木炉端や #炉端や #炉端焼き #東京 #出張 #ディナー #餅つき #roppongirobataya #robatayaki #japanesecuisine #tokyo #dinner #luxury #businesstrip #interactive #havefun #grilledfood #delicious #instanice #instafood #instadelicious #instafun #japan #l4l #like4like #diningexperience #poundingmochi #specialexperience (at 炉端や)

[youyi0116]

一如往常平凡的度過。。。只希望新的一年能平順點，平淡點，開心的過每一天，keep working hard and live。#littleprince #petitefrance #gapyeong #tripalone #specialexperience #walkeverywhere #happybirthdaymyself 🎁🎂🎈 #gettingolder https://www.instagram.com/p/BsswCJiHPet4_uFIYlJzFQaK3hecKH2C_7PU-s0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=mpramv3n90um

[sparrowatheart]

Selfie with the Captain! #OneDayCruise #HollandAmerica #Oosterdam #Bridge #Captain #VancouvertoSeattle #specialexperience (at Port of Seattle, Pier 91)

[heydecenterforthearts]

This could be your view if you win “Dinner on the Roof” on the Heyde Center “Bid, Win and Grin” online fundraising auction. https://www.biddingowl.com/Auction/index.cfm?auctionID=17184 #supportyourcommunityartscenter #supporttheheydecenter #localarts #heydecenter #specialexperiences (at Heyde Center for the Arts/Chippewa Valley Cultural Association) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-o5n4SFD60/?igshid=1lgeh0dhmujtv

[creativesage]

(via Make Your Next Corporate Offsite a Disruptive Innovation Jam – Innovation Excellence)

By Soren Kaplan

How to transform a boring leadership offsite into an inspiring springboard for the future

I’ve been fortunate to work with thousands of executives from many household names over the past 20 years. There’s one thing just about every company and every leadership team share in common – the annual offsite.

Most offsites focus on building big visions, crafting change management strategies, and aligning around annual plans. Whether I’m brought in as the keynote speaker or asked to design and facilitate an entire event, everyone wants the same thing – to get away from boring meetings and have an engaging experience that delivers tangible results.

I’ve seen a major shift in recent times in these events. Today’s executives want to explore emerging technologies, create cultures of innovation, and discover new business opportunities to drive disruption – rather than sit through the standard ‘talking heads’ session.

A different kind of offsite

A few months ago, I spoke to Jason Sadler, President of Cigna International Markets, a global health service provider and insurer. Jason was planning an offsite meeting for 60 of his most senior executives. The company already has as well-deserved reputation for product and service innovation.  It is a leader in using artificial intelligence for health service apps and is ahead of the curve when it comes to providing support for specialist groups, such as the globally mobile or older people.  Jason was looking to double-down on this culture and show his senior leaders how everyone can innovate.   In Jason’s words: “The health and insurance industries are going through immense disruption, and we need to keep ahead of these dramatic changes. I wanted this offsite meeting to be different.”

Whenever I work with top executives on these type of sessions, I always begin with the end result. What tangible outcomes do we want to achieve? What do we want colleagues to do differently when they come to work the next day?

As Jason said: “We have several initiatives taking place at the moment, but I’m always keen to identify more specific and disruptive ideas which we can pilot across our international regions.”

Great offsite meetings push people’s comfort zones, give them a memorable experience, and jumpstart actions that accelerate business. When planning these type of sessions, I always incorporate four key elements:

Engaging Process and Environment – What type of experience will shift mindsets, stimulate creative thinking, and lead to tangible results?

Disruptive Innovators – Who can we invite to share specific breakthrough innovations that could potentially transform the industry?

External Industry Visionaries – What experts and thought leaders can we talk to about emerging trends and new business models?

Clear Deliverables – What is the measurable outcome of the event?

Here’s how to transform your next offsite into an innovation jam that disrupts business as usual, inspires participants, and leads to real results:

1. Ensure an engaging process and environment

First, we needed to hold the meeting – aptly named “Driving Innovation & Disruption for Sustainable Business Growth” – in the right kind of environment. I reached out to a contact of mine at one of the largest Silicon Valley venture capital firms and innovation accelerators, Plug and Play. The incubator’s innovation center was the perfect venue because it matches up large corporations with start-ups who want to explore partnership opportunities. According to Plug and Play’s Chief Revenue Officer, Michael Olmstead: “Big companies that visit us for startup pitches get incredible insight into emerging technologies and business models that may become the industry disruptors of tomorrow.”

2. Welcome the disruptive innovators

When exploring innovation, companies need to internalize a deep understanding of the rough and tumble process, including the need to fail fast, learn quickly, and become champions of agile change. That’s why we wanted to expose executives to disruptive innovators who could bring the process to life.

We kicked off the two and half day meeting by talking to several startup companies from Plug and Play’s extensive portfolio of companies. The startups were prepped to deliver a 5-minute pitch to the group and share live demos of their products over an extended lunchtime expo. The startups were well versed in various emerging disruptive technologies including blockchain, machine learning, AI, augmented reality, wearables, and peer-to-peer insurance.

Following the pitches and related demos, the Cigna group reconvened in a structured brainstorming session to share what they heard and seen. We began to build our Idea Board with individual opportunities written on pieces of paper, categorized by theme and displayed along the length of the main room.

3. Learn from industry visionaries

We also wanted to learn from senior executives from adjacent companies in the insurance and health care space, who have wrestled with similar challenges as Cigna, and could share their experiences and recommendations. So, we organized two “thought leader panels” focused on best practices in driving disruption. Among the leaders we included were Mike Connor, Chair of the InsurTech Fusion Conference and a top 50 influencer in the insurtech industry; Gary Guthart, CEO of Intuitive Surgical, the leader in remote robotic surgery; and Keith Bigelow, Senior VP and GM of Analytics at GE Healthcare. Quite a line-up!

These were no talking-head sessions. Each panelist gave a 15-minute presentation which was followed by a fierce debate among the panelists and Cigna group. I facilitated the session and helped the group capture insights and opportunities on pieces of paper, which were placed on the Ideas Wall with the earlier output. The panelists listened to the ideas and selected the top three they believed Cigna was best positioned to pursue.

4. Deliver practical results

Busy executives who invest two and a half days in an offsite meeting want something practical and actionable at the end. They want something that will move the needle on what’s most important for them and the company.

The 60 colleagues from Cigna represented heads of country operations and leaders from different departments around the world. From the start, we were intent on creating a portfolio of ideas that could be piloted across Cigna’s diverse markets. We wanted the team to truly embrace and own the ideas.

Cigna’s leadership were no strangers to the Design Thinking process, so we used this concept to generate, theme, prioritize, and select the top opportunities. Because we built out the Idea Wall throughout the session using the startups and thought leaders as a stimulus, everyone understood clearly the 50 or so ideas we lined up in the room, because they had been created and shared along the way.

Teams representing the different geographic regions convened at the end of the second day to each choose an idea they would pitch to the rest of the group on Day Three. We created a “pitch template” to give them a simple structure for their pitches, which covered the idea, value, timing and what the company needed to invest in both time and money. Each pitch had to be delivered in a punchy two-minutes. The teams had an opportunity to trial their pitches to other teams for initial feedback and build on their concept to demonstrate the power of rapid iteration.

On the final day, eight teams delivered quick-fire presentations, and everyone gave their feedback using a process which helped build on the ideas. We used phrases such as “I like…,” “I wish…,” and “How can we…” to create a positive environment. The group established a norm for building-up rather than tearing down ideas – making every idea better in a matter of minutes.

Make Your Next Offsite an Innovation Jam

Cigna embraced their “offsite” with huge energy and enthusiasm. As Jason said: “Successful innovation is not just about big ideas. There are plenty of small ideas that should be nurtured and encouraged. The team learned that everyone is fully empowered to bring up ideas and deliver the best value to our customers.”

Holding an offsite meeting is a major investment by a company and its individual leaders.  I encourage my clients to avoid the traditional talking head events – they can get this anytime by simply reading articles or joining web conferences.

In a time-precious world, offsites provide the opportunity to engage, collaborate, and disrupt the ‘business as usual’ model. Make your next one an innovation jam just like Cigna’s, or you just might find yourself on the wrong end of your own industry’s disruption.

[Entire post — click on the title link to read it at Innovation Excellence.]

***

Come experience our Creative Sage™ version of an Innovation Jam!

We’re glad that “new Silicon Valleys,” or place-specific innovation centers, are growing all over the world, at least in terms of innovation and the development of creative economy ecosystems — and we would love to visit them all! We all learn best by exchanging ideas across cultures and industries. We fully support complete diversity in the workplace, and overcoming the inequality challenges that are still too prevalent in our world.

Now, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and organizational leaders from other cities and countries who are visiting the San Francisco Bay Area can have access to Silicon Valley companies to learn from their cultures, hiring, leadership and innovation methods. Come join us for a dynamic, unforgettable, and very enjoyable Innovation Tour in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, the East Bay (Emeryville, Oakland, Berkeley, and more), in the Wine Country, or on the beautiful, rural Northern California seacoast in Mendocino County, including Fort Bragg, California, where we have worked on business, arts and tourism projects.

At Creative Sage™, we design high impact, customized creativity, innovation, and leadership programs, and we are now offering related tours, events, corporate retreats, and workshops in wonderful urban and rural settings that will spark your imagination — and your team’s — to come up with brilliant ideas and plan how to implement new innovations in services, products, your organization’s business model, operations, or in any other area. We also design programs for specific areas and markets, such as health care and health-related travel.

We use the latest in value-tested creativity and innovation techniques and processes; and we select world-class facilitators and partners to help your organization gain lasting value from your experience working — and playing — with us. Creativity and innovation processes could include design thinking, business model canvas, arts-based, interactive creativity activities, lateral thinking, gamification, World Cafe, or other proven methods.

We also work on workplace culture issues, leadership challenges, handling transitions, and building resilience in organizations and individual clients. You’ll be able to see first-hand how Silicon Valley companies create a culture of creativity and innovation, and you’ll be able to talk with their leaders. We’ll arrange a customized tour for you that addresses your organization’s issues.

We can design additional customized programs and tours for individuals, families, work teams, university students and faculty, including those in undergraduate or graduate entrepreneurship or MBA programs, and other special interest groups, such as the charitable tourism activities.

Join our email list and visit our web site, or call: (510) 845-5510 for more information.

You’ll take away essential, valuable insights that you could not achieve in any other way, while enjoying the experience of a lifetime!

***

[giny-us]

You may have already seen the red firefighter trucks in Korea, always rushing to a new emergency. Those are people who everyday save people's lives! The Fire Service in South Korea (or Korea Fire Service) is an organization to prevent danger, to protect the Republic of Korea people's lives and property, fire suppression and rescue, relief of emergency patients, prevention of disaster, disaster response, and providing recovery after a disaster occurs. They are composed of many branches and services, the most important ones are: - Central Fire Service - Korea Fire Service - National 119 Rescue Headquarters In 1950 the National Fire Department of the Security Bureau was established. The National Emergency Management Agency was established in 2004. In 2017, on the basis of the Central Fire Service, the National Fire Agency was established as the country's singular firefighting service. The firefighting organization of the Republic of Korea consists of the National Fire Agency under the Ministry of Interior and Security and the city or circuit firefighting headquarters. They also have a cute mascot and logo. The sparrow hawk symbolizes the National Fire Agency as it monitors its surroundings on alert, flying quickly to the scene to save life when an accident occurs, then flying up again with its wings spread wide.These mascots are collectively called Yeongungi—Yeongi is the female mascot, and Ungi is the male. Their names are easy to say and remember while creating a feeling of friendliness. Yeongungi, or “hero” in Korean, is responsible for safety and sacrifices if necessary for the people. For more information visit: https://www.nfa.go.kr/eng/uThe #MOFA #UnboxingKorea #KoreaAllimi #언박싱코리아 #대한민국알리미 #UniqueKorea #SpecialExperience #소방서 #119 #소방 #소방공무원 #소방관 #산불 #화재 #전문 #소방차 #소방 #소방공무원 #fire station #119 #firefighting #firefighter #firefighter #forestfire #fire #specialty #firetruck #firefighting #firefighter #Seoul #Yeongdeungpo-gu #emergency #emergencyservice #ems #긴급 #응급서비스 https://www.instagram.com/p/ClNW2biPG3N/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mattyear]

Alone #deserted #onlypersonthere #specialexperience #showonlyforme (at MGM National Harbor)

[shellygossip]

2018.11.23 1st night started from history of Aman Yangyun and emotional messages celebrating our anniversary, then having a toast at gallery with memorable surprise. ...then Wine Tasting Quiz session at this lounge. Mmm...I still have long ways to go...😂 #amanyangyun #amanresorts #aman #shanghai #luxuryhotel #luxurystay #luxurytravel #luxurystyle #cigarbar #winetasting #exclusive #companytrip #companyanniversary #specialexperience #amanjunkie #instaluxury #travelgram #instatravel #instacool #instaluxurytravel #instaexclusive #社員旅行 #研修旅行 #上海 #アマンヤンユン #ワインテイスティング #恒例のワインクイズ #予定は全部社長のシークレット #アニバーサリー (at AMAN Yangyun) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrAgQE2BFfM/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=a6jbu7erh1tj

[wesharebonaire]

Have you ever tried drinking a cactus? Don’t miss this special experience when you’re on Bonaire! The Cadushy Distillery​ produces something you would have never imagined: excellent liqueur, made out of cactus. Entrance to the Cadushy Distillery including a tour with explanation of the process and including the tasting of their liqueurs is entirely free! The only thing you need to bring is your good mood ;-). Go to cadushy.com to find out more! #wesharebonaire #bonaire #wsb #cadushydistillery #cactus #liqueur #specialexperience #rincon https://www.wesharebonaire.com/2017/02/03/the-cadushy-distillery-in-rincon/ (at Rincón, Bonaire)

[sparrowatheart]

There's a big glass window in the floor of the bridge. Terrifying. #specialexperience #soCool #Bridge #Oosterdam #HollandAmerica #OneDayCruise (at Port of Seattle, Pier 91)

[g4zdtechtv]

THE PILE PRESENTS: Beyond the Desktop: Windows XP - A TechTV Special

eXPerience It.

[villa-loggio-blog]

#workinprogress ....very excited to present our two Boutique wineries from Brunello and Vino Nobile that will be part of our “ Discover the taste of Tuscany”, that will give our guests a profound idea of the characteristics and history of tuscan appellations and culinary specialties🍇🍷🍽 #giveitatry #brunello #vinonobiledimontepulciano #appelation #deliciouswine #winery #villaloggio # specialexperience # tuscany #culinaria #sangioveselovers (at Solaria Winery, Montalcino, Italy) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGDXKpRH6Ox/?igshid=10fa0td574jcg

[tromsosafari]

Some magic to help you get through your Monday morning ;) Must do! 💚 reindeer sledding in search for the northern lights... Learn about it via link in bio 😊 #tromsosafari #reindeer #sledding #auroraborealblog #auroraboreal #northernlights #northernbuzz #visitnorway #northernnorway #northernnorway #specialexperience #leavethedream #beautifulnature #arcticnature #traditions #localpeople #indigenoustourism #tromsolapland photo of @oversiktluftfoto http://ift.tt/2isQicw

[giny-us]

On November 4th was the Braille Day! So let's raise some awareness! Do you know that Seoul Global Center has a special volunteering class where you can make “braille word cards for visually impaired children"? Before the class they will educate people to improve the awareness of disability and after you make together cute braille cards that can be used by visually impaired children! I participated in this class and I learned so much! I think is very important to raise awareness about visual impared people and help them as much as possible. Also, Korean Braille is the braille alphabet of the Korean language. It is not graphically-related to other braille scripts found around the world. Instead, it reflects the patterns found in hangul, and differentiates initial consonants, vowels, and final consonants. Which makes it totally unique. Did you ever participated in such activities? #MOFA #UnboxingKorea #KoreaAllimi #언박싱코리아 #대한민국알리미 #UniqueKorea #SpecialExperience #두맘코튼#담심포#애착인형#점자#점자카드#낱말카드 #비장애인과함께#시각장애#시각장애인#시각장애아동 #한글공부#점자공부#���칠공부#봉사활동#재능기부 #cards #wordcards #cardsforvisualimpared (at Seoul, Korea) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClALA5Zv7Yn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=