Sky-rocketing creativity, innovation and connections

“Don’t talk to strangers.”
“Nobody likes to be sold to.”
“Play it safe or you’ll look a fool.”

Not everything we’re told as children should be a guide to us as adults.

As the largest private university in Mexico, it’s highly regarded for its excellent standard of education in entrepreneurship and innovation.

The main drivers behind bringing me in were to:

1. Address the shyness of the Marketing undergraduates when appearing at exhibitions.
2. Undo the natual leaning towards lecturer-centred practice allowing for student discovery and increased engagement.
3. Help  students in the university’s Innovation Hub improve their Pitching, which was currently missing the mark.

Be less vanilla and more THRILLER

The result? The students networked, marketed and pitched not with fear but boldly and with confidence.

And the lecturers benefited too. They wanted more dynamism and student involvement in the lectures.

Consequently, workshops on learning psychology and acting techniques were thrown into the mix.

The ‘menu’ for the student workshops included:

1. Delivering techniques on interpersonal skills at exhibitions for Marketing students;
2. Confidence boosting techniques and Study Skills for undergraduates;
3. Introducing the skills for Powerful Pitching to investors for students in ITESM’s innovation Hub.
4. Creative Problem Solving masterclasses for Marketing students and those from the Innovation Hub.

The lecturers learned:

1. Crowd control: captivating and managing students’ attention, through the use of acting techniques and psychology.
2. Collaborative learning: transforming lectures from a teacher-focused style to a more autonomous, cooperative form between students.
3. Discovering the importance of play and discussion was essential, with a significant (and popular class) on Theatre Improv techniques.

“Frankie’s great capabilities in organisational communication strongly supported us in shifting paradigms, showing flexibility when it came to training different characters, profiles, beliefs, emotions. She has not only the professionalism and capabilities to support the organizations in this matter, but the personal strength to deal with these differences. The way she contributes improves performance by increasing coordination among departments and increasing organisational health. The courses made a real difference!”

Pilar Gonzalez, Ph.D., ITESM, Chihuahua campus

And, in the words of the students:
“Great techniques to make ideas real. Thank YOU”
“I learned SOOOO much!”
“The workshops we had with you at TEC were, quite simply, gold.”