“You have no attachment”

I’m sitting in the Blast Theory office and John (staff member) has commented on how USEFUL it would be to have a function in your email that pops a reminder up saying

“You have no attachment”
Not constantly of course – but if your email text mentions the word ‘attachment’ or ‘find attached’ etc (any key words that you nominate) then if you write the email but forget to attach it the program can automatically remind you before you send an email with NOTHING ATTACHED

Genius.

If this is invented already please inform me! If not – feel free to make it happen!

Filed under: Ideas, Blast Theory, business, email, good, good idea, Ideas, internet, new, programming, technology

Idea #5 Cash Cards

It’s slightly surprising to me this hasn’t happened already.

Who has time to ferret around for cash and coins these days…?

It’s time for (pardon the pun) CHANGE

The idea

A card that can have up to $50 (only) loaded on it for spending anywhere there is EFTPOS accepted (most places now). No signature. No PIN.

Why

* Most people don’t take out cash that often anymore and there are EFTPOS machines pretty much everywhere

* Less change, less time, more customers, more profit, less waiting and less awkward silences while you fumble with receipts and coins

* If you lost the card it wouldn’t matter – it would be the same as losing cash in your wallet or dropping a note somewhere

* It doesn’t even have to be linked to your name/details. You could simply deposit against the number written on the card by BPAY or bank transfer so even if someone does get a hold of it – they can’t even trace it back to you.

* You may even be able to use the card for small credit card payments when you would rather not put your normal credit card online (for small one off purchases)

* You could upload payments from your phone if you have 3G – so it’s not hard to reload.

* It could be used on public transport etc too – less time waiting for people to get the right change or scrambling around your house for coins for the bus…

How

If a bank did this they could charge

* a fee for the card e.g. $5 AUD

* a minimal fee every time the card is loaded e.g. 0.5 percent

Filed under: Ideas, business, cards, cash, money, profit, promotion, public

Idea #4 A Chalk Walk

At it’s simplest: a sidewalk of chalk messages that people can walk on and is covered in notes about upcoming events in a public place.

It doesn’t have to be pretty, professional or highly visual. It could just be simple like this, but with loads and loads of messages – I imagine events would feature most.

To get more complicated there could be guidelines over what is permitted and what isn’t e.g. no commercial advertisements permitted in chalk (it should be a community/cultural initiative not a cheap way to get people to buy things) or additional features could be pursued by Council etc like chalk-commissions or 3D chalk pictures (all temporary) around special events to attract attention to the area and celebrate the Chalk Walk and the City or a particular theme. e.g. Christmas, Chinese New Year etc.

But really the more you restrict or guide people the less inviting or surprising the Chalk Walk would be. The more people that visit and leave their message on the Chalk Walk the more of an attraction it will be, so I wouldn’t recommend people are given guidelines. The most important thing is public permission for the Chalk Walk and then see where it goes…

Chalking of pavements already happens quite often, but never altogether in one space.

I think it would become a tourist attraction, an unofficial noticeboard of what’s happening in the city.
Plus you could always be sure the news on the Chalk Walk was up to date, as it would fade away in a matter of days and be re-written.

Filed under: Ideas, art, culture, entertainment, event, promotion, public

Idea #3 A free tickets website in Perth

THE IDEA

A free ticket/discount ticket website for theatre/comedy/arts in Perth.

WHY

There are a lot of great shows that are written and performed in Perth that

* don’t get sell-out or get enough audience

* only get seen by repeat audience or a narrow demographic

If FREE tickets could be distributed on a regular basis it would create a focus site for performance in Perth with high traffic (especially if high profile shows participate in giveaways for promotional purposes). It would also be a great way for general public to take a relatively low ‘risk’ on seeing a show and possibly encourage them to see live performance in Perth more often.

HOW

There are a few ways this could be done.
General public could register with a website and discount or FREE ticket offers made.

To register with the site a show/performance would have to give away a minimum number of free tickets and could then release a limited number of half price/discount tickets each day at their discretion.

If shows are selling well they would release less tickets – but still receive promotion.

If shows are not selling well they would release more tickets and spread word of mouth promotion.

Audiences/punters would not know how many tickets were released.

How tickets are released would be a the discretion of the website owner e.g. offered to people on a queue system or through random selection or a combination of.

Because of the high traffic through the website the web-operator could charge premium rates to advertisers and larger shows that make a profit – while sending audiences to all shows, especially those with smaller audience exposure.

Filed under: Ideas, art, business, culture, entertainment, event, Ideas, performance, promotion

Idea #2 Breakdancing Competitions with Live Screens

THE IDEA

Create a live dance/breakdancing/contemporary dance event with giant screen projections of what’s happening on stage/in the middle of the dance floor and project onto building walls or large screens.

WHY

For EVERY  breakdancing or ‘dance off’ type of event that I have attended only a limited number of audience have been able to see what’s happening (usually the inner ring of the dance circle OR people closest to the stage).  This is usually because affordable venues are not designed with stages high enough to view OR the ‘dance’ element at events don’t get the same budget (screens etc) as the rest of the show, live broadcasting can be expensive and dedicated dance events may have smaller budgets.

The idea is to create a comfortable (digital) viewing platform without having to have a ‘seated’ audience.

HOW

TV or LCD or LED screens are hugely expensive but projection equipment is going down in price rapidly. Projectors cover large areas visually without the infrastructure or hire costs of screens. Arts events can hire projectors from http://www.vjzoo.com at a reasonable price.

I’m sure this must have been done already, but please do more! We love dance

Filed under: Ideas, art, culture, entertainment, performance

Idea #1 – Walls for Adoption – Urban Art

THE IDEA

Create a way for members of the public to nominate the walls of their businesses, homes and institutions to have graffiti / urban art painted on it.

HOW

A moderated website could allow general public to nominate their addresses and walls to the administrator who then

* verifies the request as authentic

* posts a picture of the wall (without address details) on the site

Then a community of graffiti artists (registered with the site) can nominate to ‘adopt’ that wall and paint it within 14 days. If the wall remains blank it is passed to the next artist.

THE OUTCOME

General public that value and appreciate urban art are empowered to connect to the artists in their community and support public artwork.

Graffiti artists receive more exposure and are able to experiment publicly and legally.

General public are not permitted to ‘request’ designs unless they are paying or commissioning artists. If artists ‘adopt’ a wall they have complete creative freedom (unless it’s openly offensive).

This may encourage public to commission artworks if they have preference to what’s put on their wall.

Everything is moderated by the site administrator to ensure any problems can be resolved quickly to avoid negative publicity.

This idea came from visiting Condor Tower Carpark.

www.ololo.info/adventures/condor-tower-carpark/

Filed under: Ideas, art, business, council, graffiti, promotion, public, urban art

Good ideas

Hey there.
So often people have good ideas but don’t have the time, resources or the will to actually make them happen.

I’ve started this blog so that there might be a way of collecting some of them, and perhaps people acting on them. If you’d like to submit an idea contact me through this blog or email bonniedavies (at) iinet dot net dot au you’ll receive full credit for your idea on this blog and maybe even see it become a reality when someone else reads it..

If you would like to make one of these ideas a reality go right ahead – but if you could send through feedback, photos and outcomes (or estimated $$$ you have made and the location of the party you will throw us ) that would be ace! And will encourage more people to share ideas.

Here are some quotes about ideas courtesy of http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/07/45-unforgettable-quotes-about-ideas/

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.
- Oscar Wilde

Good ideas are common – what’s uncommon are people who’ll work hard enough to bring them about.
- Ashleigh Brilliant

My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.
- Anais Nin

Every really new idea looks crazy at first.
- Alfred North Whitehead

We think good ideas to death, when we should be acting them to life.
- Brian G. Jett

I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.
- Albert Einstein

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
- John Steinbeck

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!
- Arthur C. Clarke

Filed under: General, good, Ideas, new, quotes