Disney Institute -- Service Excellence -- The First Step

Disney Institute -- Service Excellence -- The First Step, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Please click on the pic for a much bigger, downloadable version of it on my Flickr gallery.

This pic is the first in a set of six covering the first day of an intensive seminar series on customer service.

Paul and Sharon are in South Africa from the Disney Institute, offering their insights into how Disney creates customer delight.

This pic shows Brian Khumalo of Service Quality Solutions kicking off the event. The slinky gal with the mini-skirt is one of several babes acting as ushers and assistants to the speakers.

Because the first day was about Disney, Mickey Mouse was all over the place. Mostly in the form of helium-filled balloons.

I was sent to this R10 000 workshop by one of my clients -- Blue Moon. They're a corporate communications company, and I'm doing some high-level work for them on one of their key clients. So that's what brings me to these hallowed halls deep in the heart of the Indaba Hotel in Fourways.

I've decided to bring my tablet pc to the event. And to do a visual facilitation of everything. I'm doing this for many reasons.

First reason is that I've agreed to share my learnings with the Blue Moon staff. So what better way than through my own visual interpretation?

I also want to get more practice in the field of visual facilitation. Louise, the person who introduced me to the concept, has asked me to quote her on how much I would charge to do this sort of thing for her clients. Doing it in an ad hoc way like this allows me to do a time and motion study.

I also get to improve my Visual Facilitation portfolio.

Networking is another reason. Instead of TELLING people I'm a visual facilitator, I'm demonstrating it in action. If they like what they see, they'll be better equipped to imagine how I could help them in their companies.

But most importantly, I'm honouring my own learning style. I retain information better when I draw.

A final reason for doing this is that I'm sharing these pics with everyone who came to the seminar. There were a couple of hundred people. And I've told them that they're free to download these pics and use them as they see fit. Because they were there, they'll know what some of the more obscure captions mean. And it'll jolt their memories and help their retention of the overwhelming amount of material we've received.

Thanks for taking a look at them. I hope they make at least SOME sense to you. And the bits that don't make sense... hmmm... I hope they intrigue you and challenge your thinking in some way.

This painting was made live during the Disney Institute day of the Service Excellence Emporium 2007 seminar. I'm using ArtRage 2.5 on a Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc. No mice were mutilated in the making of this painting.