Introduce Design Jamming

Get everyone revved up and thank them for attending. Introduce the organisers and facilitators. For Jams of fewer than 20 participants, do a quick round of introductions.

Talk about the situation your organisation is hoping to address and why it is important. Try sharing this through a story to motivate participants and to enable them to empathise.

Familiarise participants with the design process that they will go through in the Jam. Mention the following points:

• Jams are collaborative: It brings people from different backgrounds together so they can learn from one another and build solutions they might not be able to in their day-to-day life. Developers, designers, user-interface specialists, industry experts and data policymakers are just a few of the profiles that participants will likely meet, collaborate with and learn from during the Jam.
• Jams bring out people's creativity: It's a playground that enables participants to get into animated conversations and to experiment with new ways of doing things. This open environment is established through a mix of exercises that help participants get rid of their preconceptions, share their ideas, sketch their thoughts and build prototypes of digital solutions.
• Design is a process: This Jam will take participants through a structured and proven journey involving three phases: Discover (i.e. understanding the current context), Ideate (i.e. brainstorming what's possible) and Prototype (i.e. building solutions). Emphasise how ending with a prototype is an excellent jumping off point for further experimentation and development.
• Design can improve digital solutions: Explain that we're still in the early stages of designing digital solutions with privacy in mind and that this evolution is gradual. Use the analogy of the development of temporal interface features, from the blinking cursor of MS-DOS to the spinning wheel and pre-loading content outlines of today.

Show an overview schedule of the Jam to participants. As you go through it, explain how each exercise will help them design and produce more powerful solutions.

Make the following announcements:

• Point out the location of the toilets, fire exits and smoking areas
• Share the Wi-fi network name and password
• Inform participants of what food and snacks are available and where they can be found
• Suggest nearby cafes, restaurants and convenience stores if catering for meals will not be provided
• Inform participants of when to expect breaks and how long they will be. Commit to those times so people will be less likely to veer onto their phones during the sessions
• If you are recording the Jam, state how you will use the images and videos, and ensure that participants agree to this

Before you start the exercises, leave a little time for any questions participants might have. Once they've been addressed, start Jamming!