An organiser's perspective

Little remains to be said after all words below.
The week was amazing, energetic, creative, intensive and very very satisfying. Less sleep is no problem when all this is the result. Inspiration does not watch a clock.
It's the people who make a week like this, so you can all do the math.

Thanks to all the students who participated, the volunteers who contributed their various expertises and the staff of De Rotterdam for hosting the whole week, giving us the assignment and - yes you can - use the results.

Many thanks to everyone involved and I hope the bell will be heard loud and far.

We are all winners!

What a week we had! In my wildest dreams I could not have anticipated the rollercoaster ride I took when we were meeting each other for the first time last Monday morning. A bit uncomfortable and unsure how this week would lift off, but already during our first lunch break it felt like we had known each other for ages. And when we had to say our goodbyes on Friday evening; we all tried to prolong the momentum. For sure friendships were born this week!

Our final presentations on Friday were all great, and despite the fact that most of us felt a little disappointed by the fact that the jury did not appoint winners, we did share the feeling that we are all winners. Monday morning Wouter asked us what our expectations were for this Masterclass; what we hoped to gain and what we felt we could contribute. The one thing we all had in common was the hope to gain inspiration and to contribute some knowledge from our backgrounds. Well, I think I can speak for every single individual that we felt part of something bigger than just a group of eleven individuals. Our expectations were definitely exceeded and we hope we were also able to exceed the expectations of the various stakeholders. For them the journey continues, and I hope they will be able to take our tips and ideas into practice. Hopefully we will be invited back to ‘De Rotterdam’ in a few months to see what progress they made.

I would like to thank every single person who made this amazing week possible and express my gratitude especially to my teammates, and yes, I consider Wouter and Josine as team members as well. I thank you for your energy, inspiration and effort, and I sincerely hope our paths will cross many times in the future!

Quite a long day yesterday, stretched out into the wee hours of the morning, in fact--perhaps trying to make the day last as long as possible after all. For the climax of the master-class, presentations were polished and brilliantly pitched, the ideas were concrete. Yet the jury was hung. That felt weird. The week could be described as either very long or very short; the former because Monday feels like centuries ago, and the latter because it's over now and we are going back to other businesses. In any case, farewells were hesitantly made and promises of keeping in touch doled out liberally. It has been great to make new colleagues. Learn the lesson, people, as networking is probably half of our careers, and this has been indeed a good chance to gain potential contacts, project-givers, co-workers, clients, customers, employers, or employees even. Who knows? Everyone knows someone. But beyond that, the familiar emptiness in the gut of saying "so long" to new friends was a gnawing sensation, to those brave enough to admit it. But admit it anway. Be a sniveling fool. My thanks personally, as i'm sure everyone else's, to enviu and AIDA. To Wouter and Josine and to the lovely people at the enviu office. We'll certainly see you all again. And to my colleagues, it's been brilliant to meet you all. Facebook'n!

A day of crafting, modifying and perfecting

What a day we had… It almost seems like every day is more intense than the one before but at the same time we all share the feeling that we are building up towards the ideal momentum to launch all our wonderful innovative plans.

From trying to bring the nostalgia feeling to the 21st century to coming up with ideas to attract young and innovative entrepreneurs to the ship; all the ideas are discussed, presented and where needed modified and perfected. It sometimes almost feels like we are all together on a rollercoaster of which the end is not yet defined. But maybe the weirdest thing of this is the fact that every individual on this ride is infected by the passion and creativity. All the stakeholders and experts involved are sucked into the momentum which is being created by our group and it is truly wonderful to be a part of this.

This afternoon we will present all our ideas and inspirations to a jury which consist of several of the stakeholders. Every one with an interest in this process and its outcomes is more than welcome to come and join us tomorrow at 13:30 in the room Guadeloupe at ‘de Rotterdam’. Hope to meet you there!

Inspiration, ideas and perspiration

During the first few days of our Masterclass we received information through presentations, workshops and brainstorm sessions with all sorts of people. Stakeholders of ‘de Rotterdam’, partners of Enviu and others with an interesting background in for instance entrepreneurship or architecture. Besides the fact all the sessions were very interesting; our load of ideas to make ‘de Rotterdam’ more sustainable was increasing by the hour.
Therefore, the only sensible next step was to structure our ideas and come up with concepts which can take the ship into the future, and oh boy, the concepts we have come up with! The four subgroups all have their own angle on how ‘de Rotterdam’ can become more sustainable and financially viable in the upcoming years. Did we make you curious? Make sure to keep following us and surely you will be inspired too!

Turn it on!

And we have lifted off. No rain or storm has kept us this Monday morning from going to ‘De Rotterdam’; a truly inspirational location for eleven young, eager minds to come together to help ‘De Rotterdam’ become more sustainable. Every single person has a uniqueness to bring to the floor, in educational as well as in cultural background and all with an interest in the topic of sustainability. This spark of passion within all of us has been the motor behind the brainstorm sessions on Monday. Perhaps even too many ideas for the moment, but loads of inspiration have created a sort of open space of creativity which was only increased by several presentations of the various stakeholders in the process.

The first days can best be described by this statement made by one of the organizers: It’s much more appealing to turn it on than to turn it off. And we surely turned it on! The standard has been set for the rest of the week! Stay tuned for much more of our experiences and ideas which will come up this week!

Questions for interviews tomorrow

Today our final output after another somewhat long day are a set of questions we should ask employees and volunteers of the ship tomorrow. High's: Tobias and Wouter about thinking outside the box. Q&A with Bart. Another round of brainstorming. Dinner at Enviu. Question's-formulation for tomorrow.

Monday

Was early at the Rotterdam today, despite the depressingly rainy weather, everybody was upbeat. Anne Marie, Jessica, Anneke, Alina, Emma, Alissa Jeroen, Bram, Byron, Miguel as well as myself. Wouter and Josine. After the vigorous shaking of hands all around, there was the introduction, had a tour of the ship on and below deck to have a look around, and meet some employees and volunteers.

In between, lunch and then an energising exercise to prevent any after-meal dips. Free association exercises to start the creative juices flowing. A lecture about HEMS and behavioural adjustment by Sonja. Further another energiser exercise, a discussion about Sustainability led by Wouter, and then a brain-storm session about the ship, its core services and the sustainable ideas that could possibly improve those core services. Quite a fruitful exercise. Further separated into four groups, and admittedly a long day for everyone but I believe everyone is quite excited about tomorrow again. I'm sure Anne-Marie has more text for the blog as well, and of course those brilliant photos by Jess. Please feel free to react on any post, and treat this space as additional space for brain storm ideas and doodles/scribblets/what-have-you's. Cheers.

AIDA Master Class lift off

The Master class started this morning with all students enthusiastically arriving at the Ship.

The introductions have been completed, and a tour of the ship is now taking place.

Inspiration in progress...

Full steam ahead!

If De Rotterdam would still move, it would be moving full steam! Towards the starting line of voyage that is called AIDA Master Class, which starts next week (23 August).
Everyone is very excited and eager to start Creating: students (from many different countries and study backgrounds), the stakeholders and many people from the Enviu/AIDA network who will provide a contribution to the week.
Now the only thing that can go wrong is if a meteorite hits the harbour (knock on wood?).

Keep watching the blog for actual updates during the week itself by the students.

Keep an eye on this blog during the week of 23 and 27 August 2010!
Students will inform you of and perhaps even involve you in their experiences during the AIDA Master Class 2010: "Creative ideas to make De Rotterdam more sustainable!".

Current status (5 August) is that:
* All students have been recruited, the participants have all confirmed
* The 12 participants have 8 different nationalities and come from 8 different institutes
* Preparation is well underway, with several network members contributing.

We'll post more information the coming weeks.

New Sustainable Masterclass Week!

Beyond the boat – on the boat: We are looking for 12 students to provide creative input to make 'De Rotterdam' more sustainable. Apply now!


Period: 1 week, fulltime, 23-27 August 2010
Location: De Rotterdam (on board the ship!)
Sponsors: De Rotterdam and Woonbron
For whom: 3rd and 4th year students, all backgrounds welcome to apply (both different nationalities and studies ranging from technical, business, communication, arts and social sciences)
NOTE: we have by now received more gooed applications than we have spaces, so application is closed

This summer we organise again a week full of creativity . So if you have a week to spare this summer come and create good creative ideas to make De Rotterdam more sustainable, together with other students, employees and clients of De Rotterdam and facilitated by AIDA.
Sustainability is not about reduction, it is about opportunities. And people; happy people. AIDA – powered by Enviu strives to inspire people to think positively and creatively about linking a sustainability vision to the core business of an organisation. In a way that the people within and outside that organisation are inspired as well. Students are the perfect people to help organisations develop new ideas, as they do not have and vested interests yet and can bring in their very diverse perspectives. Therefore we organise a Master Class each summer.

This year the lucky topic is De Rotterdam – former line service and cruise ship, which currently is a hotel, leisure location and conference center, permanently docked in the Rotterdam harbour. Together we will develop new concepts on how to make this ship more sustainable, both from an environmental and social perspective. We will look at technical and business solutions, but also at ideas on behavioral change and how these could reinforce each other or can be combined effectively.
CSR is already an important pillar, for now mostly from a social perspective (e.g. re-inforcing the economic situation of Katendrecht, the area where the ship is docked). It is formally owned by Woonbron, a social housing cooperative. One of their programmes, Energy+ has a strong link with sustainability; energy reduction. They focus on which methods are most effective to change the behaviour of people, in support of sustainability, next to technological innovations. This theme will therefore be included as well.
This is YOUR chance to be inspired, get applied knowledge about sustainability, learn to convince others about your ideas, learn how diverse disciplines can reinforce each other, and how to mobilise your creative mind to improve a true icon of Rotterdam. The best idea/group will be awarded with a prize and you will receive a personal Certificate of Participation.
If you want to participate please register on the Enviu website, and send in your short letter of interest and CV to wouter@enviu.org. Selection will be based on motivation, timing of your application and specific backgrounds. We will strive for a good mix of expertise that can complement each other well.

For more general information about AIDA, including opportunities for research assignments, have a look at: www.aidarotterdam.nl
And if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us, you can call our office: +31-10-2887970 or send an email to wouter@enviu.org, contactperson is Wouter Kersten.
For an impression of our 2-week Masterclass on Sustainable Urban development last year, take a look at the blog the students made themselves.