IxDA NYC is pleased to present

An interactive evening with Steve Portigal

"Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha: Improv, Creativity and Collaboration"

Improv is not "stand-up comedy." It's a series of games with rules that offer huge degrees of freedom within a set of constraints. In these games we bring out a lot of basic, quickly understood and communicated rules of culture that are implicit, not explicit. The activities of design (collaboration, creativity, and design research, for starters) have interesting similarities with improv: All have in-the-moment aspects; we learn upon reflection; there's enormous unspoken interaction and there is often an "aha" moment. Design and improv also have important similarities: the need to collaborate and brainstorm, the importance of breakthrough thinking, the balance between process, structure, and unfettered creativity.

Playing with improv can make us more mindful of the power of listening, and can be harnessed to create a more collaborative work culture, as a way to develop one's own creativity, or to help warm up teammates and clients in workshops and design sessions. In this interactive presentation you will learn more about improv, listening, creativity, and how they all connect together to support one another. No iguanas will be harmed.

WHEN
Thursday, November 19, 2009
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.  Networking and refreshments
7:00 - 7:10 p.m.  Welcome and announcements
7:10 - 8:30 p.m.  Presentation and Q&A

WHERE
R/GA
350 West 39th Street
New York, NY 10018
Map: http://tinyurl.com/rgalocation

Free and open to everyone interested however tickets are required. 

IMPORTANT!! Public seating is limited to 100. Tickets will be honored on a first-to-arrive, first-seated basis. Tickets are being oversold to accommodate the typical show-up/no-show rates. (Sorry, there will not be a wait list.)

Cancellations: Please email us (nyc.ixda@gmail.com) as soon as you know you cannot use your ticket. We'll release your seat for one of your fellow practitioners and generate good IxD karma for all involved!

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Steve Portigal is the principal of Portigal Consulting, a bite-sized firm that brings together user research, design and business strategy. Portigal Consulting helps clients to discover and act on new insights about themselves and their customers. Steve speaks regularly at design events (IDSA, IXDA, interaction09, etc.). He writes for interactions magazine, Core77 and the Portigal Consulting blog, All This ChittahChattah. He is an avid photographer who has a Museum of Foreign Groceries in his home.

ABOUT OUR HOST
R/GA is a full-service digital agency that transforms the way people interact with brands. A commitment to design, technology, strategy, and innovation has defined R/GA's continuing legacy as an iconoclast in the world of communications and marketing. With a holistic range of offerings that includes brand design, mobile, and retail, R/GA's agency model is adaptable to the ever-changing needs of consumers in the digital landscape.

Founded in 1977, R/GA has received the most prestigious creative awards for film, broadcast, design, advertising, and interactive. It was selected for Adweek's "Agency of the Year" in 2008, Ad Age's Agency "A-List" in 2008 and "Digital A-List" in 2009, and Creativity's "Interactive Agency of the Year" in 2007. R/GA is part of The Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world's largest advertising and marketing services organizations.

See you there!
The IxDA NYC local leaders