Post-Impactathon Guidance

Hi All,

Wow -- what a great day yesterday! Thanks for taking so much time to turn your attention to your design track and the lab process. As promised, here are a few reminders about next steps between now and the final celebration on Wednesday, June 17th:

This coming week:

  • Review the Activity Guide. To help with your final reflections, idea refinement, and iteration, here is a link to the final activity guide.

  • Check in with your team. If possible, meet together to reflect on the feedback you heard from the Impactathon and to coordinate on final listening session approach.

  • Attend the final listening sessions. Calendar invites have been sent out -- if you have not received yours, be sure to reach out to me or your team lead directly. Email reminders will be sent out the day before.

After the listening sessions:

  • Connect with your team to review the final listening sessions and make final iterations to your idea

  • Prepare for your team's presentation during the final celebration. Your team will have 20 minutes to tell the story about the process and design of your idea. I encourage to split speaking responsibilities -- the more the merrier.

  • Collaborate on the Google slides presentation Everyone has been added as an editor to the Final Celebration template. The template should be self-explanatory when you get in there -- start by reading through the first three "Read Me" slides, and then find your team's section.

    • If you have trouble accessing, you are likely using a different email address to get into Google drive -- just "request access" using the link above and shoot me an email.

    • All slides need to be complete before Tuesday, 6/16 at midnight.

And don't forget, please invite at least one person to the lab celebration on Wednesday, 6/17 at 5:30 pm! Remember: this is a perfect chance not just to share about your work during the lab but also to inform the broader community about the important role New Avenues for Youth plays, and to share the story about the lab!!

  • As a lab participant, you can register here.

  • All non-lab participants should register using the Eventbrite link: http://bit.ly/sp20-celebrate

    • Here's a blurb to edit as if you wish to promote this or invite a colleague or friend: You're invited to attend the Social Impact Lab's Virtual Celebration on Wednesday, 6/17 at 5:30 pm. Hear from lab participants about their experience designing around a local challenge, and learn about the ideas that emerged from the social impact design process. Registration via Eventbrite is required.



Your Guide to this weekend's Impacthathon

Hi All,

A gentle reminder about our Impactathon, which kicks off this evening at 5:30 pm Pacific. Here's everything you need to know for today and Saturday:

Day 1 of Impactathon - Friday, 6/5 @ 5:30 - 8:00 pm  PST - Register here

  • We will hear from Katie Krummeck, an educational designer and master facilitator, about designing creative ways to get feedback. There will be additional team-based breakout time as well to apply to your team's prototyping.

    • It would be useful to have a more narrowed idea for Friday's workshop, but know we will continue where we left off in order to identify assumptions and create prototype tests to use during our Saturday feedback sprints.

  • Before the end of day Friday, teams will need to determine whether or not they would like to talk to youth or not during Saturday feedback sprint time. All teams will get the chance to connect with NAFY staff.

Day 2 of Impactathon - Saturday, 6/6 @ 9 am - 4:00 pm PST - Use this Zoom link (also sent in a calendar invite)

  • We will focus on pulling everything together. You will work on your "prototype" and get early feedback from some special guests.* The day will be comprised of several sprints of feedback and iteration.

    • If you wish to preview, here's a look at our agenda for Saturday

    • NOTE: There will be lots of break-out time to work in teams, but I will ask that you honor the break down provided so that we can all stay mentally engaged and sharp for the duration of the full day!

❤️Erin

Wrapping-up Module 02 & Looking Ahead

As we get ready to wrap up the insights and ideation phase, here are a few gentle reminders for Module 02:

  • Audio files for follow-up listening sessions are available here in our Google Drive. 

  • Teams should be meeting to work through Module 02 together, and aim to come to Workshop 3 with at least one to three ideas or parts of an idea

    • Be sure to use the Module 02 Activity Guide, which has recommendations and activities to guide you through creating affinity maps, drafting insights and provocations, and working with the SD Blueprint to support ideation.

In addition, here is a quick overview of what to expect during Module 03 (and 04!), as it will feel like it will move quickly:

  • Wednesday, 6/3 - Workshop 03 @ 5:30 pm PST - Prototyping and Feedback - Register here and aim to come with 1-3 ideas from your team's ideation work

    • We will hear from Jacen Greene, the Co-Founder and Assistant Director of the Homeless Research and Action Collaborative, about ways to move from ideation to prototyping. There will be team breakout time to apply to your team's ideas and move them forward.

    • To prepare for Workshop 03, please re-review these two reports from our Project Resources:

      • Oregon's Runaway and Homeless Youth, Oregon Department of Human Services Homeless Youth Advisory Committee (2016)

      • Homelessness in America: Focus on Youth, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (2018)

  • Friday, 6/5 - Day 1 of Impactathon @ 5:30 - 8:00 pm PST

    • We will hear from Katie Krummeck, an educational designer and master facilitator, about designing creative ways to get feedback. There will be additional team-based breakout time as well to apply to your team's prototyping.

  • Saturday, 6/6 - Day 2 of Impactathon @ 9:00 am - 4:00 pm PST

    • We will focus on pulling everything together. You will work on your "prototype" and get early feedback from some special guests.* The day will be comprised of several sprints of feedback and iteration.

  • Module 04 Preview - Post-Impactathon Reflection, Refinement, and Iteration

    • We will not be gathering for an all-lab workshop; however, you will be given team guidance in the Module 03/04 Activity Guide re: reflection, idea refinement, and iteration. You will also have the chance to gather feedback during final listening sessions with NAFY staff. Your team leads should be coordinating times.

    • Teams should anticipate gathering at least twice before the final celebration to iterate on ideas and prepare for the Lab Celebration. Teams will be asked to prepare 3-4 slides that they can speak to during the celebration evening.

  • Wed, 6/17 - Lab Celebration @ 5:30 pm PST

    • This is a chance for you to share out your team's work to our project stakeholders and other lab guests.* This will be a free and "public" event. Please invite at least a +1 -- a friend, colleague or peer -- who will be excited to see the work you've been doing to learn about social impact design!

    • Direct all non-lab folks to this Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/104792579426

*Guest list is TBD but may include New Avenues staff and other project stakeholders.

Module 02 Reminders

Hi All,

Looking forward to seeing you all this evening at the second all-lab workshop that begins at 5.30 pm Pacfic Time. 

A few reminders for tonight:

  • Register to receive the Zoom link via email. This is your personal link to the workshop. Click here to register for Workshop #2.

  • Create a MURAL account and start exploring. This is a free collaboration tool that we'll be using during Workshop #2. 

    • Install Google Chrome (MURAL works best with Chrome, so please use this browser to avoid any tech glitches)

    • Create a free MURAL account here: https://www.mural.co/

    • Take a moment to update your profile name and picture so we can see who is who when we all log-in together on Wednesday

    • Check out the free tutorials available via MURAL if you're wanting to get explore. Also, bookmark this link for this evening. (We'll have instruction and guidance through this workspace, so don't get too far ahead!)

See you all soon,

Erin

Week of 5/18 - Module 01 Wrap-up and Preparing for Module 02

Great work this past two weeks -- as of tomorrow, we will have about 10 hours of raw content that we've collectively generated just through our initial listening sessions alone! Be sure you're reviewing not just your team's work but that of other teams -- check out the #1-channel in Slack for the latest on where team notes are stored. 

A few announcements and things to keep in mind as we wrap-up Module 01:

  • Discovery and Research does not end here. While we are turning to Module 02 on Wednesday with our second workshop, the act of listening, discovery, and research should be concurrent with the remainder of the lab. In fact, we'll have a chance to follow-up with your team's interviewees during Module 02 in small group listening sessions. If you haven't had a chance to sign-up for these, connect with your Team Lead.

  • Embrace the ambiguity (even -- especially -- when it's hard). A quick gentle note of caution as you get ready for Module 2 this week: While there may be an urge to solve something right now, especially if you've heard about something really troubling that was brought up during a listening session, do your best to not move to generating ideas or coming up with solutions quite yet. For some of you, this may really be hard! So now is the time to practice the mindset of embracing ambiguity. You may not be sure where your team is headed yet, and that's okay! We'll be talking this coming Wednesday about moving forward in the process based on what you've observed, listened, researched, discovered during Module 01. 

  • What can you do? 

    • Catch up on other listening sessions. For now (until Wednesday), your focus should still be on listening and taking in what you have heard. For example, listen to each other's sessions and check out the notes from other teams. Also, make sure you are reflecting upon what you may have noticed, what surprised you, what stood out to you -- especially if it is a repeating pattern. 

    • Take note of what you've heard and learned so far. Take the time this week to synthesize a list of memorable quotes or stories that stood out from your listening sessions, which can inform the connections and insights, almost like "data points." These will be really useful for Module 2!

What to look forward to during Module 2: Over the next two weeks, you will get the chance to work with affinity maps and other blueprint tools to connect your data-point-dots, craft insights, and draft provocations that can then prompt really powerfully informed ideas.

To prepare for Workshop #2:

  • Register for the second all-lab workshop on Wednesday, 5/20 at 5:30 pm. You must register to receive your personal link to the workshop --  the Zoom info will be e-mailed directly to you. Click here to register for Workshop #2.

  • Create a MURAL account and start exploring. This is a free collaboration tool that we'll be using during Workshop #2. This tool could also be of great help in the future (hint hint: the Impactathon!)

    • Install Google Chrome (MURAL works best with Chrome, so please use this as you may be needing to create your own MURAL board in the near future!)

    • Create a free MURAL account here: https://www.mural.co/

    • Take a moment to update your profile name and picture so we can see who is who when we all log-in together on Wednesday

    • There are several free tutorials available via MURAL but the best way to explore is to create a MURAL space and get things messy.

Looking forward to seeing you all via Zoom soon!

Week of 5/11 - Module 01 Reminders

Hi All!

Hope your week is off to a great start! This week, we're in the middle of Module 01, with a focus on Discovery & Research. Your Team Leads should be reaching out to you to make sure you're scheduled for your first listening session this week -- and you should be working through your Module 01 Activity Guide as a team or individually to help prepare for the interviews and meetings.

A couple important announcements:

  • All future evening workshops will begin at 5:30 pm Pacific Time.

  • If your team decides to proactively schedule other listening sessions with non-New Avenues staff, please be sure to review the best practices for representing the lab here.

    • Please keep this email cc'ed for any outreach you may do so we have visibility!

Finally, we received a note from our lab partner about a great resource that was published by the Children's Bureau Express for National Foster Care Month. It has a wealth of links and resources, but particularly may be of interest to Track D team! You can view this newsletter online here: https://cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/

Next steps for Module 01

Hi all!

Thanks for attending the first workshop for the Social Impact Lab last night. So excited to be launching the first week of the lab and the first module focused on discovery and research.

Here are a few important reminders for the first week of Module 01:

  • Review the Lab Huddle page. Remember, the password will be together20

  • Download the Module 01 Activity Guide (here). This workbook contains information and exercises to help support your social impact practice during Module 01. NOTE: It is designed to be printed out in booklet form, so you can write and take notes over the next two weeks

  • Connect with your team. Your team lead should be reaching out to coordinate a time to connect.

  • Stay connected via Slack. Use the channels that begin with #0 for track-based conversation and the channel labelled #1-research-discovery for all research or discovery coordination.

Welcome to Week 1 of the Lab!

Welcome to the Social Impact Lab Spring 2020 Cohort! We are so excited to officially launch the Spring 2020 cohort this week.

This first week is built into the lab to make sure you have plenty of time to familiarize yourself with the lab format & the New Avenues for Youth design challenges and tracks.

Here are three Launch Week Action Items:

01. Complete your lab registration forms:

  • Fill out your Lab Profile. We want to share your story with other lab participants as well as your project sponsor(s).

  • Provide the lab organizers with some final formal info by filling out this short intake form.

02. Review the Lab Huddle page, available here. This contains links to some key lab resources, including key Project Resource links (such as a recording of the Lab Orientation video and other resources you can begin reviewing as part of some initial discovery, and more).

  • This is a password protected page — you can unlock any lab resources with the password together20

03. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, 5/6 at 7 pm for Workshop #1, focused on Discovery and Research.

Be in touch with any questions!
@The Social Impact Lab