Hi everyone! How's your long weekend? We hope that your company's environment is refreshed after this long weekend, because if not, there's something wrong.

Imagine one day you enter your office and you see your colleagues and your bosses struggling, trying to solve problems. Even if you are the creative guy in the company, it's either you get sucked into the environment or struggle to balance everything. Your company's spirit of innovation may be dying.

There is one option your company can take: Know Design Thinking. Solving problems by design is common these days, as it justifies the purpose of the solution to the general public. Implementing design thinking to create better solutions is key for your company's survival.

If you feel that your company's spirit of innovation is dying, talk to your boss and suggest implementing design thinking to your company's decision-making process. Better yet, ask if you and your boss can go to workshops and learn more about it.

A lot of new innovations are decided through design thinking before it gets unleashed to the public - and it has various applications in finance, product design, food, architecture, multimedia, so on and so forth; so get your company's mindset into design thinking now!

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If you ask us what would be the first workshop on design thinking you can go to, we suggest the Innovation Master Class this Friday, June 23 at Tower Club Makati. This is a one-day workshop on design thinking to help your company take a different approach in decision-making.

Refresh your business mindset by calling (+63 2) 535 1150, (+63 2) 643 3887; by texting +63 920 981 4376 or +63 920 924 2532 or emailing info@exlinkevents.com. Seats are running fast so hurry and call now!

Problems are never-ending in this cruel, cruel world - whether if that's a company problem or a personal problem; or maybe we're just thinking that it's a problem when it's not a problem at all, we hope?

One does not simply mope around when problems come - especially if you are creative. By knowing how to think out of the box, you are able to think of different ways and be somehow funny at the same time. The more workarounds you have to make things flow, the better. It's OK if they laugh at your idea, especially if it will be effective in the long run. In the end, the success of the organization may depend on everyone's creativity in solving problems fast.

To help you and your business move forward, learn design thinking at the Innovation Master Class which will tell how it benefits everyone.

The Innovation Master Class will be held at the Tower Club in Makati City this Friday, June 23, 2017. Take the opportunity to help you and your organization set trends by calling Ex-Link at (+632) 643-3887, 633-0153, text +63 920 981 4376, +63 920 924 2532 or email info@exlinkevents.com.

There's a ton of opportunities abound for those who will go beyond and above what they do now. The question is this: Are we ready to do it?

In the 2016 Global Innovation Index report, the country is the 74th most innovative nation among 128 economies surveyed, leveling up by 9 notches from its 2015 report. This means that we are on the good track already in innovating what we do. We've been always told to think out of the box and set the trend for something, but how can we do that if we don't have the way of thinking to make it possible?

Enter Innovation Training sessions which will help us shape our minds to the desired track. Whether they are in the form of conferences, workshops or one-on-one sessions, the main goal of these sessions is to open one's mind to think of new ways which lead to new opportunities.

Innovation Training sessions serve as springboards for future development, and with the current status of the country, it's already the ripe time for companies to do so.

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At the moment, only a few offer these, and among them is the Innovation Masterclass which will happen this June. So how will this Masterclass stand out from the rest?

The Innovation Master Class will introduce us to User-Centered Innovation in a Business Context, wherein we will:

• Learn how businesses can use design thinking to build and scale a process around innovation; 
• Understand what leading companies do to foster innovative ideas; 
• Incorporate user-centered design into your innovation initiatives;​ and 
• Learn how to build internal engagement through a design thinking culture; Learn how to awaken creativity and transform it into business advantage.

Its fame arose when design thinking made a way into business circles, to the point that it is a global movement for human focused innovation, and a standard component of innovation activities in large and small organizations.

Design thinking, applied in the right way, can unlock tremendous innovation potentials. While Singapore has embraced its methodology with open arms there remain many questions around its impactful application.

This module is an 8-hour innovation deep dive explaining the nature of design thinking and its practical application. It aims to provide a solid foundation for creating better products, services, and experiences and maximizing new value creation through innovation.

The workshop is an intensive course incorporating best practices on conducting real-world customer interviews, interpreting primary and secondary sources and research, framing an innovation challenge in ways that maximize its potential, achieving a high quality of ideas, and rapidly testing concepts with actual users.

• Learn how businesses can use design thinking to build and scale a process around innovation;
• Understand what leading companies do to foster innovative ideas;
• Incorporating user-centered design into your innovation initiatives;​
• Learn how to build internal engagement through a design thinking culture;
• Learn how to awaken creativity and transform it into business advantage.

Participants learn about design thinking and experience the key elements of the method first-hand. The session concludes with practical tips for how to use design thinking to enrich one’s day job and innovate more effectively.

The Innovation Masterclass will be held at the Tower Club Makati this June 23. The seats are up and ready to be filled with teams who are eager to integrate design thinking to their decision-making process, so don't miss out.

Call Ex-Link at +63 (2) 633-0153 or 643-3887; SMS +63 920 924 2532 or +63 920 981 4376; email info@exlinkevents.com or message us at @exlinkevents on your Facebook Messenger for more inquiries.

An average telco launched its mobile division and offered unlimited calls and SMS to its network of users for a decent price - in the world's SMS capital we call the Philippines, this is a big deal - and so its user base expanded.

An airline company offered low-cost fares, which includes the basic flight fare and nothing else. While there's less features in it, those who are on a shoestring still hopped on to the offer.

An inventor has learned the way to flash-fry noodles for later consumption, and the by-product of the said method is everywhere, saving hungry stomachs from starvation.

Why are we telling these brief stories? These are the ones who has set the trend in their respective industries. They innovated through sheer thinking, and they succeeded in getting the attention they need. Your company can also experience this.

Now, if you are struggling to think of innovative concepts, now's the time to check out the Innovation Master Class which will share to us the ropes of design thinking.

The Innovation Masterclass will be held at the Tower Club Makati this June 23. The seats are up and ready to be filled with teams who are eager to integrate design thinking to their decision-making process, so don't miss out.

Call Ex-Link at +63 (2) 633-0153 or 643-3887; SMS +63 920 924 2532 or +63 920 981 4376; email info@exlinkevents.com or message us at @exlinkevents on your Facebook Messenger for more inquiries.

Common vision refers to the shared mindset of an organization. Especially in decision-making, having the common vision will make things more understandable for everyone. The question is this - is your organization's common vision an innovative one?

Let us tell you a story: One day, a client asked a team to help them think of new concepts for activation. All the team did is to ask questions and guide the client to the direction they wanted to do. A week after, they already had the proposal and the samples gathered for presentation. How did it went?

Putting the concept of design thinking in perspective, the team maintained a system in which they will gather the necessary things to formulate a concept while leaving a window to new (and even odd) ideas.

According to Creativity at Work, "When design principles are applied to strategy and innovation the success rate for innovation dramatically improves. Design-led companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola, IBM, Nike, Procter & Gamble and Whirlpool have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past 10 years by an extraordinary 219%, according to a 2014 assessment by the Design Management Institute."

Yes, having a common vision - a common idea of how things shall go - is crucial in decision-making, so make sure your organization is innovative. If not, how about going to a one-day workshop to help you make the search easier?

We are talking about the Innovation Master Class that will share to us how we can innovate our companies to think ahead of the rest.

• Learn how businesses can use design thinking to build and scale a process around innovation;
• Understand what leading companies do to foster innovative ideas;
• Incorporating user-centered design into your innovation initiatives;​
• Learn how to build internal engagement through a design thinking culture;
• Learn how to awaken creativity and transform it into business advantage.

The seats are up and ready to be filled with teams who are eager to integrate design thinking to their decision-making process, so don't miss out.

Call Ex-Link at +63 (2) 633-0153 or 643-3887; SMS +63 920 924 2532 or +63 920 981 4376; email info@exlinkevents.com or message us at @exlinkevents on your Facebook Messenger for more inquiries.

There are stories of people who work on events for three days and even up to a week, but does that make them event professionals? In a way, yes, but if you think about it further, maybe not. Why so?

Each event are not the same, and each event don't have the same approach.

Event professionals encounter different clients with different tastes. One client's preference may not apply over the other, and more often they need out-of-the-box ideas, which will then require event managers to think, think and think over the concept the clients wish to realize.

One misconception about event management is that they're doing the same thing all over again every year. As stated above, clients ask for out-of-the-box ideas to make their events more vibrant and not dull.

Event professionals take years - years - to learn their work; and yet they're still prone to mistakes.

Even the best of the best event managers make miscalculations on what to do, and if they are the only one in a team with the know-how and they made a mistake, that mistake will be like a domino effect that will fall over the team to troubleshoot within a specified deadline.

Trends do change for better or for worse.

As with the economy, trends in event management change - the preference of the customers and clients change. One day, they will pick the newest pop song in the market, the next day they will revert back to a retro hit. In this regard, history does repeat itself, and it's up to the event pros to ride the waves to keep themselves afloat.

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Above all else, one does not simply become an event pro. Moreover, event pros still need to face challenges; but this time, they have the know-how and the possible outcomes and strategies to make things move faster. There's more to event management than just pre-prod, prod and post-prod, you know?

The City of Pasig held its first Women's Summit last Tuesday, March 21, 2017. Organized by the Pasigueña Organization for Women Empowerment and Recognition (POWER Foundation, Inc), the Bahay Kalinga ng Pasigueña, and the Gender and Development Office of the City of Pasig (Tanggapan para sa Pantay na Pagkakataon ng Tao), the said event gathered hundreds of members from different women's groups at the Pasig City Sports Complex.

Among the activities done inside the Summit are Livelihood Exhibits, Free Make-up, Free Massage, and Free Bone Scanning, aside from the valuable talks from resource speakers National Chairperson Ms. Elizabeth Angsioco of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, Chairperson of the National Implementation Team for Reproductive Health Bill Dr. Esperanza Cabral from the Department of Health, and Local Government Operations Officer IV Mr. Alvaro Fabon Jr. of the Department of Interior and Local Government - NCR that aim to empower the women in the city.

The main highlight of the Summit is to give recognition to the city's former mayor and now the head of the city's Gender and Development Office Maribel Andaya Eusebio as a champion of Gender and Development, as witnessed by her loved ones and the ones who have worked with her. During her term, Pasig City has been recognized as a child-friendly city and among the world's most livable cities, but prior to her position as Mayor, she has been with the POWER Foundation in the 1990's.

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Ex-Link Events has provided support to the City Government of Pasig by assisting in the event's audio-visual requirements, making it an event management partner for the said Summit. For partnerships, call Ex-Link at (+63 2) 643-3887 or 633-0153, SMS +63 920 924 2532 or +63 920 981 4376, or email info@exlinkevents.com.