Courageous Creativity 26

After a 1-year hiatus, I returned to the Courageous Creativity Conference hosted by TCAP at the Disneyland Resort this summer. Last year, I had life stuff to think about (welcoming my first nephew to the world!) and it was hard to justify the high cost of the conference after the previous year hadn't been the best.

I was ready to try again and am so very glad I did. I can safely say the show is back to it's very best and I'm already thinking about next summer's!

This conference is designed to help teachers prepare their students for careers in the arts. More specifically, it is about the role of teachers in preparing future Disney Imagineers. What better topic could there possibly be?!

Here's my report.

Day 1 Keynote: Daniel Joseph, Executive of Illusions and Effects at Disney Imagineering

After a delicious dinner (the food services team at the Grand Californian is incredible) we heard the opening keynote by Imagineer Joseph SOMETHING. He  had a tremendous story of his journey to Imagineering - overcoming dyslexia and repeated challenges in school. He, like most of the speakers, identified one specfic teacher who saw talent in him and gave him hope. It was very inspirational and a reminder how important our words to our students can be. Also, he has one of the coolest jobs (and job titles) I've ever heard. His team is responsible for all the cool tricks you see in Disney attractions such as the green lasers streaking through the air on Rise of the Resistance.

He talked about the importance of baby steps and constant iteration in their process. They build a model. Play with it. Tweak it. Show it around. Put it on a shelf for awhile and then come back to it when new materials come around or a team asks for something for which it would apply. Even when an effect is "done" they're always looking to make it better. Very little at Disneyland today looks like it did in 1955 and there's a good reason for that. 

I have a similar philosophy in my lesson design. I have tons of half-done Docs in my google Drive with a [NOT DONE] tag in the title. That's my note to myself that I had this idea at some point and something just wasn't quite there. Whether it was needing some as-yet-unavailable technology or just an idea I could quite round out in time to use it in a given year - they are just waiting. Some I come back to. Some I completely forget I did, like the one I found this summer (tease for a really cool lesson coming soon!) And beyond that, I'm always iterating. About 5 years ago I started keeping a Lesson Log where I make notes to myself after completing a lesson. I give it a rating and then recommend any changes for the next go around. It's a weird situation we are in as teachers where a lesson, once done, isn't really seen for another year. It's too easy to forget our thoughts from year to year, so I highly recommend keeping a log.

Daniel, like many of the speakers to come, noted a few times the role story plays the art of design, at least when it comes to Disney. This is a topic I've been focused on deeply for a few years. I've even written a draft of a second book specifically about it. Maybe you've noticed my lessons have been more narrative-focused lately. Well, that's why!

One off-hand comment of his struck me. Someone asked him how he feels that his ideas and creations go to Disney and are not his to own. Daniel noted that he's paid well enough for those ideas, but that ultimately, he just didn't care. He wants his cool stuff out in the world. He's an artist and wants people to see his art. 

Validation for my dislike of TPT! I've long shared this same thought. I want my work out there. I want students to benefit from my work, whether they are "mine" or not. Could I make a few bucks off my colleagues by selling them instead? Sure. But, who cares? If that paywall prevents one teacher or one student from benefiting from my work, it isn't worth it. Share people. Share!

Another thing that stood out to me was that some of the story connections he noted in his designs are things that I imagine 99% of guests never notice. It left me wondering how the imagineers decide when to be explicit with story beats (like with flight attendant Patrick on Soarin' for example) or implicit (like with say the horseshoe prints in the paths of Frontierland.) I wanted to ask him, but felt like it would be an awkward question. So...

Day 2: When Can We Do This Again?

Our opening session of day was an Imagineering panel focused specifically on the greatest parade ever made - Paint the Night. I took away lots of great bits of inside information. Admittedly, I didn't get a whole lot in regards to education, but I sure didn't care. It was really cool to hear about the incredible focus they put on the smallest things. One of the costume designers, for example, showed us the way they attached the LEDs to the snowflake costumes for some of the dancers. They didn't just stick some light blue lights on them. They very deliberately attached those lights in a star pattern to help emphasize the snowflake look. I'd never even noticed that before, which means I assume few others have as well, which led me back to the question of implicit vs. explicit design.

Next, we were taken backstage to go see the parade floats up close. Though we were a bit rushed due to some security challenges, it was incredible. (We also happened to see the massive stockpile of fireworks being prepared for the July 3rd and 4th shows!) We got to get close up with a couple of the costumes and then the floats. It was awesome and made more so by the fact that our guide was the head lighting designer. Definitely left me with many thoughts of how I use lighting in my classroom. That is something I've been constantly tweaking over the last 5 years, adding pieces here and there, but I'd like to go in with a much clearer plan for lighting this year. It matters a ton.

Side note: It was some years ago at this very conference when I asked the head of Disneyland live entertainment when Paint the Night would return. So, I'm pretty sure I am the reason why it did. You're all welcome.

After our busy morning we had another speaker. She told us her story and we got a copy of her book, Women in Imagineering, one of the very few Imagineering books I hadn't bought yet - cool!

Next up was a panel on AI as a creative partner - something I've definitely been talking about for the last couple years. Unfortunately, a brief trip back to my hotel room turned into a nap and I didn't make it. Whoops.

We then had a nice 2 hour break for dinner (and the US World Cup game) then special seating for World of Color at DCA. This version of World of Color is my favorite. Of course, being Inside Out themed goes a long way, but the musical choices are also excellent. I particularly love the remixed version of Surface Pressure. Great show, but if you could only choose one, I'd recommend Paint the Night over it.

Day 3: Skimmers, Swimmers and Divers

On the 3rd day of the conference, the attendees get a very special opportunity. We are taken into the park about an hour before opening and get to go on a ride. It is usually whatever the newest ride is. There was chatter on day 1 and 2 about it hopefully being the brand new Soarin' Over America which literally was opening this day. We were told at the end of day 2 that it would be Radiator Springs Racers. Hard to be upset about that given that it is the best ride in DCA and always the longest wait. However, I wanted Soarin'. So, I skipped the morning session and went into the park myself. I lined up just after 7 AM and was about 20th in line. We were let in early and bee-lined straight to Soarin'. So did everyone else. By the time I was in line I was about 50th. 

Still great!

They opened the attraction well before the 8 am park opening. We were in line and moving into the attraction by 7:40. We heard a welcome from Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald and saw many of the other responsible Imagineers welcoming us (and then asking our thoughts as we left.) I got a front, middle seat on the very first run of theater 2. I'll save saying anything about the attraction itself for another time, but I made the right choice in skipping RCR.

We then had another wonderful breakfast buffet and prepared for the closing event of the conference - the Imagineering "How did we get here?" panel.

Each of the 7 panelists gave their journey to Imagineering and talked about a few projects they've worked on. It was, as usual, highly inspirational and they dropped some great nuggets to think about.

"Storytelling is not about what you say. It's about how they feel." Alfredo Ayala, R&D Executive

Something to think about in lesson design for sure.

"Problems don't always have solutions, but puzzles do." -Kendall Elliot, Sr. Creative Director

Love this idea of reframing challenges for students. In a world where problems are worn as a badge of honor and shared for attention, realizing that things maybe aren't so bad, but solvable, is huge.

"There may be bad ideas, but there are no useless ones." -Kendall Elliot

Those [NOT DONE] lessons have many times led to other lessons that did get used. Teaching students to realize that learning is a process where failed attempts may have been misguided but still led forward is also huge.

There were many other great discussions during the panel of things like how changing lighting can improve a story being told and how plants are chosen around Disneyland. (One fun exercise for a creative: When you see a new object, like a plant, ask yourself which unit you teach it would best fit in.)

It ran long, but they still gave us time for questions. I'm no coward so I jumped right in. I asked my question I'd been pondering since Daniel's opening keynote. 

"As teachers, we often create lessons and activities with a goal in mind that our students miss completely. Many of you mentioned specific decisions you made and projects you've done that many guests will never notice. How do you decide when the story elements are to be explicit versus implicit?"

I find myself thinking this often. Does it really matter that I spent 15 minutes in Photoshop getting an image sized just right for my slide? Couldn't I have just stretched it like nearly everyone else does? Then I'm reminded of Matt Conover's keynote at this very conference nearly 10 years ago (https://www.mrroughton.com/blog/theartofteachingliveentertainment) where he said, "No experience is too small to be excellent." I was very interested to hear how these imagineers saw the issue.

First, they all accepted my premise. They agreed that most guests don't notice things like the types of plants in a particular area or the important of various numbers used throughout the parks. (If you see an address number on a building in a Disney park, you can be sure it is a reference to something!)

One said, they divide their guests into 3 groups; skimmers, swimmers and divers. Skimmers just see the surface. They are at the parks to go on rides and just have a good time. Swimmers get a bit more into it. They may notice the stories of attractions and things like the architecture. The divers are the ones who will see something then go home and spend hours researching it.

So, yeah, I'm a diver.

They have no problem, and in fact, greatly enjoy, creating things that only the divers will notice. 

That wasn't all though. One of them made a final thought comment. She said, "Beyond that, though many of our guests don't know they are noticing our work, they would absolutely notice if it wasn't there or wasn't done right."

BINGO! 

And, for the final amazing hour of the conference, I got to be a deep diver. Imagineer Sam Carter joined my table for lunch. He was so gracious with us and indulging our fandom. We talked until they started turning lights off on us. I think he would have talked all afternoon - and we would have certainly sat and listened. Hearing from a creative, artistic mind who is talking about something I understand so personally is such a treat. I can wait a hundred art historian lectures about great paintings and only get so much out of it, because I really just don't care all that much. The paintings don't really do anything to or for me. Disneyland sure does though. So, hearing about how he planned things and had to learn to work within budgets, was awesome. 

I want my classroom to feel like Disneyland. I know I'll never hit those levels of immersion, but every little bit of information that I can pick up gets me just a little bit closer. This year's conference was a lot of big ideas and inspiration, not so much immediate, specific stuff - which is great for me. I've needed a reset for about 5 years now. I'm ready to shake off the cobwebs of COVID and my sojourn to high school and really push myself and my students this year.

Once again, I'm probably just Charlie Brown charging headlong at a football that Lucy will yank away at the last second once again, but I'm glad I'm eager to try again!

And well, at the very least, I got to do some diving!