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The Invisible Mentor Weekly Newsletter: Brain Food Wednesdays Number 103: Imagineer Like Disney – Learn How
Hello there, Reader,
Someone has told me a few times that I’m her secret weapon. When I probed more deeply to find out what she meant by that. She told me that because I provide so many book summaries, she didn’t have to read many of those books. I must add that she reads a lot, and has often participated in nearly all the reading challenges that I host and participate in. These challenges take place in the Facebook group. Many of you joined this email list because of a reading challenge I hosted in the past. You’re welcome to join my Facebook group.
For the last two weeks, I’ve been sharing problem-solving and creativity models. And we’ll continue doing that this week, introducing you to the Imagineering Process. It’s important to have many tools in your toolbox, so that you can always find one that works for you. And that you’re comfortable using. The model is from the book, The Imagineering Process by Louis J. Prosperi.
When I’m reading a book, I often do the exercises in them. I used the steps in The Imagineering Process to create a course. So what is imagineering?
Imagineering is the blending of two words. It is the blending of expertise from several fields. Imagineering adopted techniques and practices from animation and movie making to develop the craft of Imagineering. The Imagineering Process: Using the Disney Theme Park Design Process to Bring Your Creative Ideas to Life by Louis J. Prosperi is a close look at the principles behind the process Imagineering used in designing and constructing Disney. And it applies the same process to other fields. It is taking a concept from one field and transporting it to another.
In the ASK Avil section, I’ll present you with additional information on the imagineering process, so that you can use it.
For a few weeks now, I’ve been talking about looking for ideas to increase the number of subscribers to my membership site, the Art of Learning. Reading books on subscriptions and membership sites has been a very humbling experience for me because you don’t know what you don’t know. I’m still reading books, but I’m putting key information in a spreadsheet to better analyze the information.
The membership fee for the Art of Learning is low right now as I build out the content, and as I identify more benefits to add to support your success.
On another note, I’m creating a daily sequence for my readers to effortlessly read more books. If that’s one of your goals for next year, the tips will help you. I’ll share the tips and strategies on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. At the end of this newsletter, you’ll find the links to connect with me on the various social media platforms.
I’ll be taking two weeks off, but I’ll be scheduling this newsletter and a few updates for social media. I feel the need to recharge. I love reading, so I’ll be doing a lot of that. And I’ll be adding a lot of content to the membership site. I wish you all the best for 2022.
Join my Facebook group Reading Rocks: Read a Book, Discover Solutions, Change the World.
In the News
Here are some podcasts I appeared on. They’re packed with a lot of information.
Ellevate Network: http://ow.ly/s8pR50GCBTy
Envision2BWell: https://blog.envision2bwell.io/post/1157/envisionwell-podcast-invisible-mentors
313 Challenge with Ryan Foland: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/avil-beckford-read-and-get-new-ideas/id1484382840?i=1000523572323
I would appreciate your support in growing my YouTube channel.
✅✅Subscribe to my YouTube channel ✅✅
This Friday, I’ll be a guest on another podcast.
Ask Avil
Imagineer Like Disney – Learn How
The model below is from The Imagineering Process: Using the Disney Theme Park Design Process to Bring Your Creative Ideas to Life by Louis J. Prosperi. I’ve pulled the information from the Imagineering Bookish Note. I’ve given you a lot of information, so that you can try the process for yourself. What I’d like you to do is to read through the information presented here and from the last two newsletters. Pick out the important bits and add them to a spreadsheet, so you get a good look. What do you see?
The book is a close look at the principles behind the process Imagineering used in designing and constructing Disney. And it applies the same process to other fields. It is taking a concept from one field and transporting it to another.
“The Imagineering Process is a simplified version of the process Walt Disney Imagineering uses when it designs and builds theme park attractions, resorts, and other venues.”
Alcoa Corp used the word in an ad in the 1940s and promoted what they considered to be imaginative approaches to engineering. However, Walt Disney popularized the word. It is technical and scientific expertise in addition to creative and artistic expertise.
Imagineering = Engineering + Imagination
According to Walt Disney,
“Imagineering is the blending of creative imagination and technical know-how.”
The Imagineering Process
The Imagineering Process Louis Prosperi created is a simplified version of the process Disney uses to design and build theme park attractions, resorts, and other venues. Here are the stages of the process.
- Prologue: Needs, Requirements, and Constraints
- Blue Sky
- Concept Development
- Design
- Construction
- Models
- Epilogue: Openings, Evaluations, and Show Quality Standards
Prologue: Needs, Requirements, and Constraints
Before you start the project, identify needs, requirements, and constraints. Define the overall scope and out of scope work. It is in this stage that you identify the problem you are trying to solve. Now when put this way, you can see how the Imagineering Process compares to other creativity and ideation models. Although it is part of the Imagineering Process, the Prologue actually starts before the actual process begins. It is also similar to the Prologue section in a book.
Blue Sky
The initial ideas and concepts created through brainstorming and concept design create the vision with enough detail to sell to others. In this step, you not only create the vision, but you identify what you are going to create. Your story, creative intent, and other important elements are needed.
This is the first main step of the Imagineering Process. In this step, you dream up ideas and initial plans to address the needs that triggered this process. Blue Sky consists of brainstorming and concept design.
Concept Development
When the concept born from the Blue Sky stage is selected for development, it is fleshed out. This means you flesh out the vision, developing initial ideas during the Blue Sky stage. The initial concept created in Blue Sky is developed further and fleshed out, so you can start a more detailed design. It is now time to focus on the practical aspects. Do whatever research is necessary to bring the project to life.
Project planning starts to play a part. You determine the feasibility of the project in this stage.
Design
This stage is also known as the Schematic stage. Detailed design and specifications to guide physical construction of the project. The vision starts to move toward reality, and you create detailed design documents. The vision is translated into detailed plans to use in construction. The output in this stage are blueprints, story treatments, and models.
The design stage is to develop plans and documents that describe and explain how your vision will be brought to life.
Construction
Physical construction and implementation of the project. Your vision becomes a reality. This stage is also known as the implementation phase. This is the stage where all the concept and design work from the previous stages comes together, and the project takes the last step from concept to reality. Test and Adjust is a part of the construction stage because it takes place at the end of the construction effort.
The author uses the example of a new training course to demonstrate the construction phase. I will use the example of creating Creativity, Innovation, and the Art of Getting Ideas as a demonstration. Here are the activities that I did to create the course.
- Conduct research to identify what went into book study guides. I used to read books then create a book study guide for the United Church of Canada’s Mandate magazine, so I had a sense of what would go in one. But I wanted it to be much more encompassing because I did not have the constraint of 675 words.
- Decide on what I would include in a book study guide.
- Decide which books to include in this course that would give the student an excellent knowledge of ideas and how to get them.
- Build each lesson of the course, including an action plan at the end. I am big on implementing ideas.
- Ask my niece to review each lesson to get objective feedback.
- Update lesson to incorporate the feedback.
- Change the name from Book Study Guides to Bookish Notes, which was my original name.
- Create a presentation and a short video.
- Choose images to include.
- Upload the course to the learning management system.
Recognize that, depending on the specifics of your project, this can involve building unique and custom parts and components. As you put your project together, you have to come up with your own test and adjust it. For me, this step involved asking my niece to look at what I had done. And although we are related, I knew that she would give me objective feedback.
Models
Models integrate the various aspects of design. Build models of various sizes. At this step in the process, the objective is to validate the design at every stage. You create mock-ups and prototypes at each step in the process. The goal of creating models is to test and validate your design at each stage to help solve or prevent problems that may arise.
The Imagineering Checklist
The goal of creating models and prototypes is to test and validate your design at each stage to help solve and/or prevent problems that may arise during the design and construction process. Any tool or process that helps you evaluate and refine your design can be considered a model.
Epilogue: Openings, Evaluations, and Show Quality Standards
When construction finishes, Disney opens the attraction for guests. This translates to sharing what you created and inviting audiences to experience it. How well did you meet your goals? In this stage, customers get to experience your product and services. Evaluate if the solution works. Show Quality Standards. Have specific proposed updates or changes made to the product.
The goal of the Epilogue is to present your project to your audience, allowing them to experience and evaluate its success and effectiveness over time.
Reading List
- The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave by Robbie Kellman Baxter
- The Subscription Boom: Why an Old Business Model is the Future of Commerce by Adam Levinter
- Gym Membership Sales: Triple your growth, develop your team, change your life by Ryan Moore
- Retention Point: The Single Biggest Secret to Membership and Subscription Growth for Associations, SAAS, Publishers, Digital Access, Subscription Boxes and all Membership and Subscription Businesses by Robert Skrob
- Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days by Joey Coleman
- Membership Recruitment: How to Grow Recurring Revenue, Reach New Markets, and Advance Your Mission by Tony Rossell
- Subscription Marketing: Strategies for Nurturing Customers in a World of Churn by Anne Janzer.
- The Leadership Gap by Lolly Daskal
- Brave Leadership, Kimberly Davis
- How Women Rise, Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith
- Business Model Shifts by Patrick van der Pijl, Justin Lokitz
- The Invincible Company by Alexander Osterwalder , Yves Pigneur
- Love-Based Business Models by Shawn Driscoll
- Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith, Book 1
- Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith, Book 2
- Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
- The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions . . . and Created Plenty of Controversy by Leigh Gallagher
- Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal by Nick Bilton
- Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business by Amos Schwartzfarb
- Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great by Carmine Gallo
- I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream by JT McCormick
- One Big Thing: Discovering What You Were Born to Do by Phil Howard Cooke
The Invisible Mentor Blog
Blog Posts
Power of Broke by Daymond John, Book Review
The Imagineering Process by Louis J. Prosperi, Summary
How to Educate Yourself and Change Your Worldview by Reading Books
The One Problem
I’ve published 42 podcast episodes already. How time flies. You can also find these on my YouTube channel.
- Benita Lee, Trade Consultant, Founder, Benita Lee Professional Corporation
- Jenny Siede, Chief Design Thinker, Green Neurons
- Pamela Jeffery, Founder, The Prosperity Project & Women’s Executive Network
- Alta Odendaal, Financial Coach and Consultant
- Larissa Russell, Founder and CEO Queer Voicez and Creative U Business
- Glain Roberts-McCabe, Founder, the Roundtable, Group Coach Academy
- Dr Marsha Carr, Professor, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
- Gabriella O’Rourke, Business Consultant, Borden Ladner Gervais
- Stefanie Booker Atchison, Wisdom Coach & Motivational Speaker
- Michelle Griffin, Founder Brandthority, Building Your Personal Brand
- Donna Knutson, Founder of Write Journeys
- Sophie Gray, Founder of DiveThru: Being Disconnected from Yourself
✅✅Subscribe to my YouTube channel ✅✅
Product Alert
7 Day Reading Makeover Challenge
This is an affordable program to get started on leadership reading. Leaders read to learn what they need to know. You’ll also learn how to synthesize information.
Art of Learning Membership Site
How would you like to access the best, most useful information I have, that’s better than book summaries? Buy monthly access to the Bookish Note that’s behind my paywall. I group Bookish Notes together by a common theme, turning them into a course. Imagine reading themed Bookish Notes and starting to lay the foundation for a new skill.
Until Next Week,
Avil Beckford, Founder, The Invisible Mentor!