Facilitation
Projects
Elevating diverse groups through
meaningful conversations and relevant content.
Ideation Workshops
The outcome of our ideation, research, and design process was the successful launch and awarding of two transformational prizes - the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE for $20 Million and the Global Learning XPRIZE for $15 Million.
XPRIZE's mission is to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity through increntivized competition, thereby inspiring the formation of new industries and the revitalization of markets. My role was to lead executives and prominent thought leaders through visioning workshops to ideate solutions to global challenges in education, health, energy, and the environment.
Using a design thinking framework, I approached the grand challenge through the lens of each workshop participant to collectively understand the problem at hand, the core contributors, and the market failures. Using ideation brainstorming and collaboration, we came up with potential solutions and "levers" to consider. Post-workshop, we incorporated that information into a prize design competition and gathered feedback from workshop participants, stakeholders, and subject matter experts for further testing and iteration. The result was a full competition design that created opportunities for innovators from across the globe to participate in the solution.
The Opportunity
As a prize designer, I was tasked with researching the barriers and potential for prizes in two key areas: 1) open-source scalable literacy software and 2) carbon capture and reuse. My team had to approach the issue from every angle to identify 1) whether a prize is possible and in what areas and 2) what criteria a prize would need to have to be successfully awarded. We immersed ourselves in the unknown to determine what is not currently being done and what is possible over the horizon.
The Approach
I started by conducting primary and secondary research, similar to a needs analysis. I reached out to SMEs, industry executives, scientists, and thought leaders who were invested in these issues. We formed Prize Group Advisory Committees with leading organizations in the energy sector - NOAA, Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, Royal Dutch Shell, Berkeley RAEL, NRDC, Heinz Center for Science Economics, and Seventh Generation Advisors as well as prominent educators including Sir Ken Robinson and Nicholas Negropante.
Together, we explored each challenge to fully understand the underlying barriers and possibilities for breakthroughs.
Through a lot of trial and error, we were able to distill down the core elements of each prize and how we would execute it.
The result of the ideation, research, and design process was the successful launch and award of two prizes - the
Carbon XPRIZE focusing on carbon capture and conversion for $20 Million and the Global Learning XPRIZE developing open-source software to teach reading, writing, and math for $15 Million. Additionally, I was invited to work with Portland's second-largest nonprofit organization, Energy Trust of Oregon, to teach stakeholders how to create opportunities for their own innovation programs using the prize model.
The Outcome
"Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up."
– Oliver Wendell Holmes
Vacation Home Class Series
The result of the class series for Oregon HIVE was not just education, but a roadmap to success for investors. Participants were highly engaged, asking questions throughout and requesting additional classes which led to a vacation rental panelist class with real estate experts from the community.
Taking the knowledge and experience I gained at Vacasa, I obtained my real estate agent license and launched Oregon HIVE, focusing on real estate investment opportunities. I partnered with another real estate investor/agent to co-create a series of classes for investors looking to purchase a second home, including The Opportunity in Vacation Homes, How to Set up + Optimize your Rental, and a Panel of Vacation Rental Experts. The classes were offered for Continuing Education credit and were presented in a conversational format. The goal was to lay a foundation for new investors to create their own custom roadmap and launch a successful vacation rental business.
The Opportunity
I found that many investors are interested in learning about vacation rentals but they have a lot of questions and hesitations and don't know where to start. Buyers get overwhelmed with market regulations, property management services, and rental projections. Our goal was to design a series of continuing education vacation rental classes to teach new investors how to find, setup, and optimize a vacation rental portfolio in Oregon.
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The Approach
Our classes were designed to build on each other so the investors can create a personalized, step-by-step roadmap for success. Each webinar integrated audience questions and reflection points to address learner goals. We established key learning objectives and a clear call to action. By utilizing a co-teaching approach, the material was offered in a fast-paced, engaging, and conversational style.
The Outcome
Success was measured by the level of engagement during the classes, requests for additional classes, and the post-class follow-up. We started with one class, The Opportunity in Vacation Rentals, and due to high engagement, decided to create an additional class on how to optimize and set up a rental. We received a lot of questions about how to work strategically with lenders, contractors, and property managers, which led to us designing a third class that involved a panel of experts with Q/A from the audience. Overall, the classes were highly attended with fantastic questions throughout.
