Book Melissa as Your Speaker

Melissa will charm and delight your audience, while inspiring and empowering them to take action. Here’s a little taste:

Speaking Topics

“Creating the Impossible™: Unleashing Innovation Through Play, Imperfection, and Rapid Learning”

In today’s fast-paced tech world, the pressure to innovate is relentless. But what if the key to breakthrough innovation isn’t more pressure, but more play? In this engaging and interactive keynote, Melissa Dinwiddie, innovation strategist and former professional artist, reveals how embracing your inner four-year-old can lead to extraordinary breakthroughs.

Drawing from her unique background in art, improvisation, and music, Melissa demonstrates how the principles that drive creativity in the arts can revolutionize innovation in tech. Through storytelling, live demonstrations, and audience participation, she’ll challenge your assumptions about creativity and equip you with practical tools to Create the Impossible™.

This keynote is perfect for:

• Tech organizations looking to foster a culture of innovation
• Teams struggling to think outside the box and generate fresh ideas
• Leaders seeking to unlock their team’s full creative potential
• Individuals who believe they’re “not creative” but want to be

Your audience will leave with:

1. A renewed sense of creative confidence and permission to play
2. Practical techniques to overcome the fear of imperfection and generate more innovative ideas
3. Strategies to turn “failures” into valuable learning experiences that accelerate innovation
4. Tools to create psychological safety within teams, encouraging the free flow of ideas
5. A fresh perspective on how to break through expertise-induced blindness and see new possibilities

Melissa’s Create the Impossible™ framework – Play Hard, Make Crap, Learn Fast – provides a simple yet powerful approach to innovation that anyone can apply, regardless of their role or industry. This keynote can be customized for different time slots (20-90 minutes) and tailored to specific tech sectors, ensuring your audience receives maximum value.

Prepare to be entertained, challenged, and transformed. Get ready to Create the Impossible™!

“The AI-Human Creative Alliance: Amplifying Innovation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”

In an era where AI is rapidly transforming every industry, many fear it will replace human creativity. But what if AI could actually amplify our creative potential? In this groundbreaking keynote, Melissa Dinwiddie, innovation strategist and former professional artist, reveals how the synergy between human ingenuity and artificial intelligence can lead to unprecedented breakthroughs.

Drawing from her unique background in arts, improvisation, and tech innovation, Melissa demonstrates how we can harness AI to enhance our creative processes, not replace them. Through engaging stories, live demonstrations, and interactive exercises, she’ll challenge your perceptions about AI and creativity, equipping you with practical strategies to Create the Impossible™ in the AI age.

This keynote is perfect for:

• Tech leaders navigating the integration of AI into their innovation processes
• Creative professionals concerned about AI’s impact on their field
• Organizations seeking to balance human creativity with AI capabilities
• Teams looking to leverage AI for enhanced innovation and problem-solving

Your audience will leave with:

1. A new perspective on AI as a collaborator in the creative process, not a competitor
2. Practical techniques for using AI to amplify human creativity and innovation
3. Strategies to overcome “AI anxiety” and embrace AI as a tool for creative empowerment
4. Insights on maintaining the irreplaceable human touch in an AI-driven world
5. A framework for integrating AI into Melissa’s Create the Impossible™ methodology (Play Hard, Make Crap, Learn Fast)

Key topics covered:

• The Irreplaceable Human Touch: Why human creativity remains crucial in the AI era
• AI as a Creativity Amplifier: Harnessing AI to enhance ideation and problem-solving
• Embracing Imperfection in the Age of Algorithms: The continued importance of human willingness to create imperfect prototypes
• Rapid Learning with AI Assistance: Accelerating the innovation cycle with AI-powered insights
• The New Creative Process: A fresh approach that integrates AI tools with human intuition and expertise
• Cross-Pollination of Ideas: Using AI to connect seemingly unrelated concepts for breakthrough innovations

Melissa’s unique approach combines her Create the Impossible™ framework with cutting-edge insights on AI, providing a powerful roadmap for innovation in the 21st century. This keynote can be customized for different time slots (30-90 minutes) and tailored to specific industries, ensuring your audience receives maximum value.

Prepare to be inspired, challenged, and equipped to lead in the new frontier of human-AI creative collaboration. It’s time to Create the Impossible™ with your new AI ally!

“The Art of Impossible Leadership: Unlocking Innovation Through Creativity”

In a world where AI can crunch numbers faster than we can say “spreadsheet,” what’s a leader to do? The answer might surprise you: it’s time to pick up a paintbrush (or a ukulele, or a lump of clay). In this engaging and interactive keynote, Melissa Dinwiddie, innovation strategist and recovering “serious artist,” reveals how artistic practices can transform you into the kind of leader who thrives in our rapidly changing world.

Drawing from her unique background as a professional artist turned innovation consultant, Melissa demonstrates how the principles that drive creativity in the arts can revolutionize leadership and innovation in any field. Through humorous storytelling, live demonstrations, and audience participation, she’ll challenge your assumptions about leadership and equip you with practical tools to Create the Impossible™ in your organization.

This keynote is perfect for:

• Leaders seeking to foster innovation and creativity in their teams
• Organizations struggling with employee engagement and burnout
• Professionals looking to develop uniquely human skills that AI can’t replicate
• Anyone who’s ever said, “I’m not creative” (spoiler alert: you are!)

Your audience will leave with:

1. A new understanding of how artistic practices enhance leadership skills and drive innovation
2. Practical techniques to boost creativity, reduce stress, and improve problem-solving abilities
3. Strategies to cultivate emotional intelligence and improve team dynamics through artistic approaches
4. Tools to create a culture that embraces “productive failure” and fosters a growth mindset
5. A renewed sense of play and possibility in their professional lives

Melissa’s Create the Impossible™ framework – Play Hard, Make Crap, Learn Fast – provides a simple yet powerful approach to leadership that anyone can apply, regardless of their artistic ability. This keynote can be customized for different time slots (45-90 minutes) and tailored to specific industries, ensuring your audience receives maximum value.

Get ready to doodle your way to better leadership, compose a symphony of innovation, and paint a masterpiece of organizational success. It’s time to Create the Impossible™!

After experiencing Melissa’s keynotes, organizations can expect:

• Increased innovation and creative problem-solving
• Enhanced team collaboration and communication
• A more engaged and energized workforce
• Improved ability to adapt to change and overcome challenges
• A cultural shift towards embracing creativity and play in the workplace

Downloadables

Speaker One-Sheet | Speaker Bio | AV Needs

Melissa’s Bio

Melissa Dinwiddie, M.Soc.Sci., is a Creativity & Innovation Speaker and Consultant who helps leaders blast through creative roadblocks and build thriving cultures of innovation…all through her proprietary F.U.N. Method™. She draws on her 27 years of creative expertise, including her background as a professional artist and trained improviser and jazz singer, to design interactive, playful programs that clients rave about because they acquire new skills and behaviors and build connections while having a blast. She’s had the pleasure of transforming teams at organizations such as Google, Facebook, Uber, Stanford Children’s Hospital, Stanford University, Intuit, Salesforce, and more. 

Melissa is author of The Creative Sandbox Way™, an acclaimed book on creativity that has been called “essential for the bookshelf,” “the owner’s guide for the caring and feeding of the creative spirit,” and “an adventure packaged as a book.” Founder of Creative Sandbox Solutions™, Melissa holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley, a Masters in Social Science from the University of Birmingham, England, and multiple certifications in LEGO® Serious Play®. She lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and their two rambunctious cats.

Contact Melissa today to bring her unique style of transformation to your event.

Testimonials:

“Melissa Dinwiddie speaks (and sings) with a charisma that is instantaneously inclusive, bringing her audience together in community and lighting them up. Her charm is irresistible and it is also deep.“

David Roche
International speaker and performer, author, actor, storytelling coach

“This workshop inspired me to allow myself more time to create for me, and balance that with what my customers want. The knowledge I’ve gained from this presentation is a lesson I’ll take with me wherever I go. Thank you for speaking at our school!”

Eden C.
11th Grader

“It was fantastic!“

Seshu Badrinath
VP Programming, CTPPA
tiffinbox.org

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