EDWARD DE BONO'S MESSAGE
21st September 1997

Northern Ireland Design Conference & New Project

The Design Conference on Northern Ireland is proceding smoothly while the official negotiating conference is somewhat bogged down, as expected, in negotiations about negotiations. As usual you can never blame people for behaving intelligently in the structures in which they find themselves (this is what logic bubbles are all about).

I am conscious that this ring will be dominated by the design Conference. There may be visitors who are not especially interested in this matter. So other matters will be introduced from time to time - and other projects.

Meantime I want to start a new project. This will be "The Smallest Ideas" project. Visitors are invited to contribute, under their own name, tiny ideas that they have found that make life easier. There are not major technical inventions. These would be simple things that anyone can do once they thought of it or read about it: like putting two pieces of crisp bread together before buttering the top piece. The emphasis is on simple, small ideas. These ideas should be obviously beneficial. This is as much a creative challenge as big idea creativity. As before, I may or may not give prizes to ideas which are especially good. The same applies to eventual puiblication which would not happen without the express permission of contributors.

Looking for small ideas can be fun. I always use a piece of bent piece of a safety pin to hang my jacket on airlines.

Edward de Bono
21st September 1997