Gamestorming with a tree

Yesterday, while most Belgians were watching Zlatan Ibrahimovic play his last international match, a few lovely ladies and myself traveled to Deinze  for a Belgian Girl Geek event: a workshop on Gamestorming. We were welcomed at the Point Virgule offices with a glass of cava (to get our creative juices flowing?). Julie and Simon from Julie’s Lifestyle also provided us with plenty of healthy, colorful and delicious treats (even vegan cheesecake!) so the alcohol didn’t get us too tipsy.

Raw Vegan Cheesecake by Julie

Annelies from Co-Learning introduced us into the concept of Innovation Games. We could choose between a workshop on the Empathy Map, one on Impact Mapping and one called “Prune the Product Tree“, facilitated by Annelies’ male (!) colleagues.
I knew empathy mapping already, so I chose the last one, which seemed most playful. This technique is usually used to map out product features in branches. As potential new features are added to the tree, it becomes very visual whether they are balanced well.

Our first, shrub-like version of the tree

During the workshop, we created a tree to map out a communication strategy for Point-Virgule, across multiple (digital) channels.
First everyone worked hard to fill as many post-its as possible with ideas. They varied from involving famous chefs in the promotion of their kitchenware, to using pandas highlight their bamboo product range. Then we arranged the post-its into a tree. I’ll admit that first it looked more like a shrub, but after some skillful gardening, branches took shape.

Post-its arranged on a window in a tree-like shape
The final tree, with each branch representing a communication channel.

Of course the people from Point-Virgule were very interested in the results, and categorized them into New, Useful and Feasible ideas. I’m curious to see which one’s they will implement, but I guess we’ll find out soon!

Post-its on a wall, arranged in 3 columns: New, Useful and Feasible ideas.
The selection of New, Useful and Feasible ideas