Category Archives: Learning and Development

Challenge of the Week: Use Your Imagination

Our challenge this week comes from Greg Holliday, maker, programmer, and IT2PI instructor

Quote: “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”- Thomas Edison

Challenge: This week, using what you have, create something that meets a personal or community need. Learn more about the endless possibilities of personal creativity and innovation at Greenville’s ImagineUpstate April 4th

Bonus: Name the type of circuit in our Napkin Doodle on our Facebook Page. 1st one gets a New Raspberry Pi 2

Greg Holliday is a native of Upstate South Carolina and currently lives in Easley with his wife Lisa and his son Grayson. He is a 1986 graduate of Wren High School and earn his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Clemson University in 1990. He also earned his Master of Arts in Computer Resource and Information Management in 1999 from Webster University.

Professionally, Greg has worked in the computer/IT industry for over 20 years. The majority of his professional career has been in the software development. He is currently working as a Senior Software Developer at AssetPoint in Greenville. When not working, he enjoys fly fishing and biking. He also enjoys working on various electronics and robotics projects using Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and other devices.

Greg also serves on the Board of Directors for iT2Pi and Beer and Napkins. He will be speaking at our Beer and Napkins Meetup Tuesday, March 31st at 6:00pm visit our Meetup Page http://www.meetup.com/Greenville-Beer-and-Napkins-Community-of-Growth/events/218704077/

Beer and Napkins Ideas Session: Telling Your Story Across Platforms

Are you getting your story out?

Social media, pictures, video, print, and word of mouth, we are inundated with so many choices and techniques to share our personal and business stories. Join us for an interactive idea session on February 24th 6:00 pm at The Community Tap, Greenville SC.

For tickets visit Eventbrite Beer and Napkins: Storytelling Across Platforms

For those who cannot attend. We will be using #BandN_Storytelling for the event.

The expert panel representing education and media outlets will share their experiences in various mediums and will facilitate a fun interactive discussion with participants.

Jordana Megonigal– Publisher Business Black Box

Jay Spivey- Publisher Fete Greenville

Jeremy Boeh– Business Advisor and Storyteller at Jeremy Boeh

Tickets will include choice of craft beer and pizza

For more information contact Phil McCreight or Tony Miller

Challenge of the Week: Melinda Hoffman-Afghan Book Collection

Our Beer and Napkins Challenge and Sketch Art comes from local artist and social entrepreneur Melinda Hoffman. Melinda Hoffman, artist and lifelong learner, was inspired by her beautiful granddaughter and her own Afghan art project to create Afghan Book Collection. Melinda “stumbled” upon this need of the Afghan people. We believe it was a calling and thankfully she listened. ABC has become her passion.

The Director of Public Libraries in Afghanistan communicated to Melinda Hoffman that there are no children’s books in Afghan libraries. The idea of a children’s book collection is a new concept to the Afghan people. To make matters more difficult, in Afghanistan the print industry is basically nonexistent. ABC knows that there is a need for children’s literature in Afghanistan, so they are starting at the very beginning. ABC has been offered library space in the Kabul Public Library with a librarian to oversee the books that are sent. ABC will begin with this first collection of books as their initial project. The collection will comprise 100 books for the first shipment. Additional funds will allow even more titles and more translations. ABC is a lean, mean machine with every dollar going into books and their translations.

To learn more about Melinda’s art, passion, and story visit the following sites :

http://www.melindahoffman.com
http://www.afghanbookcollection.com

Challenge: Keep your eyes, ears, and mind open to “stumble” upon needs your talents can fulfill!

4 Steps to Making Your Ideas Happen Like Clockwork

Listening to How to be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life I ran across a story about how the animators of Disney’s Pinocchio undertook a challenge to build a clock like the one’s in Geppeto’s workshop. Originally spurred on by Walt’s comment on seeing the cartoon for the first time “It’s a good thing this is only a cartoon. It would be impossible to build a real clock that works the way they do,” they wanted to show Walt it could
be done! The next steps were buying and disassembling two real clocks and seeing how they worked. Then they asked a diverse group of clock makers and electrical engineers if it’s possible. After all that time invested they couldn’t admit defeat and begin making the intricate parts and assembled them the way they thought it would work…and It worked. Walt’s final comments on seeing the clock “ I knew you could do it all along…I just wanted to see how long it would take you.”

This little story illustrates the following points:

Make things visual. Without the cartoon the inception to build something creative would have never took place.
Break things apart and explore. Dissembling the clock was educational and gave the animators insight on how the clocks work.
Seek help; fill in the gaps with a diverse team of experts. The Disney team brought in several experts to assist their understanding of their designs.
Make it. Based on their best understanding they began building and assembling.

Challenge: Think of an idea or dream you want to make a reality use these steps and share with us how you accomplished it.