Design Thinking training in The Netherlands

Yes, this time I’m trying to sell you something. If you don’t like it, just skip this blog post.

So what’s up?

Well, maybe you still remember: last year at sapteched_2012 in Madrid there was a strike! And consequently the evening session about empathy, organized by Marilyn Pratt , was canceled. But that didn’t stop us active scn community members at all of course, so several of us gathered in Marilyn’s hotel on Wednesday evening, and we still had a great time.

Among those present were a few folks from D-Labs in Potsdam, most notably Julia Dorbic . They do consulting and training around Design Thinking, something most of us were interested in. I mean, at innojam you also get to experience Design Thinking, but there’s of course more to it. And it’s an important skill, considering the space on SCN I’m writing this blog in 🙂 .

So afterwards we stayed in touch with Julia, and came up with the idea of organizing a more extensive training on Design Thinking. Last month we had a conference call and decided to do the training in the Netherlands, in Eindhoven (because of the Belgium people involved), on Aug 6th till Aug 9th.

Now, there are 2 options: you can do a 1-day introduction (Awareness Workshop), or a deep dive 4-day training (which also starts with the Awareness Workshop). Both are offered at an attractive one time only(!) price because of the sapteched_2012  connection.

Note that this whole training is a grass roots initiative: as community members we will arrange the location ourselves (actually Twan van den Broek has already taken care of the location, thx Twan!), we will make sure there is enough food and drinks, etcetera.

What’s the problem?

So far so good, you’d think. The only catch is: there’s a minimum number of attendees required (it still is a ‘commercial training offering’), and at the moment we don’t have enough submissions yet. That’s why we’ve decided to go public with this initiative, and try to attract more people who are interested in learning about (and experiencing) Design Thinking.

What’s in it for me?

By completing the 4-day training you will become “junior Design Thinking coach” (yes, with a certificate from D-Labs). This will for instance enable you to coach/train your colleagues, or organize Design Thinking workshops with your customers (if you’re a consultant).

So if you’re interested…

Then ping me here on SCN or on twitter (I’m @fredverheul ), and I’m happy to provide you with all the details. But you’d better be quick, as the deadline for submitting is on July 18th (yes, that’s less than 2 weeks).

Let’s make this happen and get some Design Thinking going in The Netherlands!

UPDATE 25-07-2013:

I’m not sure that it’s because of this blog post, but the training is really going to happen! In less than 2 weeks we’ll gather in Eindhoven (NL). And the best news: it’s still possible to register: just contact myself or Julia Dorbic and join us for this intensive but absolutely fun week!