Avoiding the Usual
Great experience at i.school, at University of Tokyo, where students demonstrated the power of storytelling without being depending on the slides.
One team brought in a bicycle and acted out as they explained their service concept called Mono-log. The service values your experience and memories over an object and provides you benefits in case it needs maintenance or repair.
Another team showed their proposal using a video clip. They fast forwarded their drawing on the glass which enabled us to see the dynamics of the business models they were proposing. The idea was concerning how to utilize the unused, empty houses to increase sustainability concerning the construction industry in Japan.
Then, this team was my favorite. Had a concrete and what seems like a good communal solution not only in Japan but also in some other nations. They proposed an application where the aggregated intelligence would affect the public services. The idea exists in US or in other nations where the public service is failing, but I thought they had their job well done as they had more positive connotations and thought of the application in Japan. They obviously spent most of the time preparing the ideas rather than practicing their skits, but nevertheless, it was entertaining.
This is their intermediate presentation in front of the actual CSR and venture judges: Would be interesting to see how their ideas will evolve towards the final.
i.school in English: http://ischool.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english
