At this year’s Circles Conference, Michele Evans and I returned with our workshop Give Your Ideas a Chance — built around one central concept: You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust your sails.
In a creative industry that’s always evolving—faster timelines, new tools, shifting expectations—our workshop focused on what teams can control: how we use our systems and how we share our ideas.
How We Use Our Systems
Great creative work needs more than great ideas—it needs a structure that supports them. We walked through practical ways to create clarity through:
- Organized folders and consistent naming
- Clear briefs that define the goal, audience, and deliverables
- Tools and habits that help teams “slow down to go fast”
Because if your best ideas are buried in chaos, they don’t stand a chance.
How We Share Our Ideas
We’re always sharing ideas—whether it’s a brainstorm, an internal review, or a client pitch. But how we share them can make or break the process.
We offered five questions to guide every creative through the process of sharing your ideas:
- Am I prepared?
- What are we delivering?
- Who’s doing this?
- How do I sell this?
- What does success look like?
These questions help align teams, build trust, and move ideas forward with clarity and confidence.
Why We Keep Showing Up
We do this workshop each year to pour into the creative community. Not because we have it all figured out—but because we know what’s worked for us, and we believe in sharing it. In a room full of creatives from across the country, one thing is always clear: community matters.
When we show up for each other—open-handed, honest, and willing to learn—everyone gets better.
