This document describes a LEGO SERIOUSPLAY workshop held at the Joomla World Conference 2015 to discuss the future of the Joomla community. Participants were led through exercises using LEGO bricks to build models representing themselves, the Joomla content management system, and their visions for the Joomla community in 10 years. They then shared their individual models and collaborated in groups to build a joint representation and commit to actions to make their shared vision a reality. The goal was to engage participants and facilitate creative thinking about the future of the Joomla community through symbolic play and model building.

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LEGO® SERIOUSPLAY®
And the future of Joomla Community
Marko Rillo & Ramesh Srinivasan
@markorillo @rameshie
Keynote hashtags:
#JWC15 #LSP

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Be prepared for some
SERIOUSPLAY®
• Be prepared to respond to tasks *it’ll be fun*!
• *Everybody* participates, builds and tells
• This session does not have wrong answers *just go
with the flow*!
• If you do not have the answer - be prepared to
*think with your hands*!
• Are there at least 5 people at your table?
#JWC15 #LSP

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This session is about
Building SharingPlaying
#JWC15 #LSP

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Practice building! 
GO!
Open your plastic bags and
use 4 bricks to build a
dog
#JWC15 #LSP

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Your Dogs were Unique?
You may combine six
2x4 LEGO bricks in
nearly 915,000,000+
ways
#JWC15 #LSP

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Practice play! 
Find a
Minifigure
#JWC15 #LSP

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Build and introduce yourself!
Add a few additional bricks to
minifigure and introduce
yourself to others in your
table
Who are you and why at
Joomla Annual
Conference?
Building: 1 minute
Introducing: 5 minutes
#JWC15 #LSP

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1 Minute for Building “You” 
#JWC15 #LSP

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Time for Introductions in Your Group
5 Minutes
#JWC15 #LSP

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Practice sharing! 
Take a photo and share it via twitter using hashtags:
#JWC15 #LSP
A great start of
#LegoSeriousPlay session
here at #JWC15 #LSP :)

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Hand-mind connection
• Body parts of homunculi
are proportionate to
respective cortex areas in
brain
• Using your hands serves
like a "search engine" of
your mind
• Fiddling with objects gets
your thoughts flowing
Homunculi of Natural History Museum
of London
#JWC15 #LSP

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Practice Building Together! 
Build the
highest freely
standing tower!
Minifig at the
top!
#JWC15 #LSP

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Build the highest tower within 2
minutes!
#JWC15 #LSP

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It was fun! 
Yes, you may share your towers via
twitter! 
What did you notice?
#JWC15 #LSP

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LEGO® SERIOUSPLAY® engages
Usual meeting – that’s nice! 100% “Lean In” meeting!
#JWC15 #LSP

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You Become the Co-owner of Your
Team’s Work
#JWC15 #LSP

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Recycle your tower material
Choose individually 5 bricks and
connect them in a random way!
#JWC15 #LSP

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Recycle your tower material
Choose just 5 bricks and connect
them in a completely random way!
Seconds
#JWC15 #LSP

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We use Symbols to Understand and
Remember Better and Tell Stories
#JWC15 #LSP

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Next Task - Explain this!
• Bricks can mean *anything we want!*
• Lets practice some *creative thinking!*
• Lets use *symbolic language!*
Starting clockwise from the person who sits the
closest to the stage you will each have just 30
seconds
to explain that your creature means …
#JWC15 #LSP

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1st person in your table explains …
My creature means
My Home
because …
Seconds
#JWC15 #LSP

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2nd person in your table explains …
My creature means
Content Management System
because …
Seconds
#JWC15 #LSP

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3rd person in your table explains …
My creature means
The Coolest Computer Ever
because …
Seconds
#JWC15 #LSP

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4th person in your table explains …
My creature means
Interesting Experiment
because …
Seconds
#JWC15 #LSP

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5th person in your table explains …
My creature means
My Dream Software
because …
Seconds
#JWC15 #LSP

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6th person in your table explains …
My creature means
Joomla
because …
Seconds
#JWC15 #LSP

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Done Practicing! 
We know now:
Hand mind connection
Using bricks to express ourselves
Creating metaphors
Thinking creatively about future
Story matters more than building
#JWC15 #LSP

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Our challenge!
Where will Joomla community
be in 10 years from now?
#JWC15 #LSP

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The rules
• When you don’t know what to build, *just start
building* - let your hands do thinking for you!
• Introduce only your model, speak only about the
models, ask questions only about the models,
discuss only the models
• Divide the tasks at your table
Where will Joomla community be
in 10 years from now?
#JWC15 #LSP

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Assign roles at your table!
• Facilitator
leads the
discussion,
makes sure that
everybody
participates and
gets to say
• Time-keeper
keeps close eye
at clock and
paces the team
members during
building and
explaining
• Reporter
makes the
photo(s) of your
models and
posts them to
twitter with
#JWC15 #LSP
Where will Joomla community be
in 10 years from now?
#JWC15 #LSP

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2 steps
1st step
Build a model individually
Using bricks and imagination
2nd step
Explain to your table
Using metaphors
Where will Joomla community be
in 10 years from now?
#JWC15 #LSP

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Your Individual Task
Where will Joomla
community be in 10 years
from now?
• Use 1-3 keywords as
metaphors that describe
your future model!
• Explain to the rest of your
group members
Building: 3 minutes
Explaining: 10 minutes
#JWC15 #LSP

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When Done, Write Keywords and
Share your Photos
Joomla in 10 years: goal-focused and
fun #JWC15 #LSP
#JWC15 #LSP

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Individually: Where will Joomla
community be in 10 years from now?
#JWC15 #LSP

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Your Table has 10 Minutes
Everybody Explain your Vision!
#JWC15 #LSP

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Rules
• Consider different perspectives of individuals
• Place the individual models together, connecting
related issues
• Come up with the joint story of your table and
reporter should tell the joint story of your team!
• Decide upon the most important action steps to
take. Be precise: “We shall …” (maximum 3!!!)
#JWC15 #LSP

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Finally: once you are finished – take a photo of
your joint building with a visible list of keywords
and share: #JWC15 #LSP
#JWC15 #LSP

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Creating Joint Vision and Action Plan
3rd step
Building a Joint Vision
To understand different perspectives
Come up with your story
4th step
Taking a commitment
What is it that our team will do?
“We shall …”
#JWC15 #LSP

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20 minutes for Joint Vision of the
Community Future!
#JWC15 #LSP

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Reporting Back …
• Take a photo of your joint building with a
visible list of keywords and share: #JWC15
#LSP
• And summary:
–Lets see and hear our stories “This is how we
see the community in 10 years …”
–“To make our vision happen in 10 years we
shall do …”
#JWC15 #LSP

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LEGO® SERIOUSPLAY®
via SeriousPlayPro.com
twitter.com/SeriousPlayPro
facebook.com/SeriousPlayPro
linkedin.com/company/seriousplaypro.com
plus.google.com/+Seriousplaypro/
@markorillo @rameshie
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