I tweeted the simple question without any context: “What should I do?” and three people returned great answers:

Kevin said:

 He’s right, without saying much more. But fun is what you make of it. Everything can be fun. I worked in a butcher shop once, it was great fun. I co-organized a videoclip film festival once, it was fabulous fun. I co-founded a telco. Oh boy, amazingly exciting times! I worked in tv and advertising, oh boy – did we have fun… And every once in a while, I work in/with startups- Brilliant!
But it was always people who made it fun. I’ve been fortunate by doing things with ambitious, passionate people all my life. They made it fun, not the work as such.

Fabian said:

 ”Go” can mean anything. It doesn’t make much sense but it’s like going to a future predicting medium. “Go” can be interpreted as ‘go home, sleep on it and continue what you’re doing’. Or ‘go, advance, do things, make it happen and don’t look back’. Or ‘go, quit what you’re doing. Do something else.’ All three interpretations were sensible options at that particular moment in time.

Last answer came from José:

Music to my ears, although I don’t really like the B52s… It is a great quote however because it holds great motivation, it shows appreciation. That is what makes work fun, these small rewarding quotes. It got nothing to do with money. But it is so important when you’re working and have a hard time.

I can continue doing things right but shouldn’t it be all about doing the right things, even though they are wrong in the perception of others? This dealing with insecurity and doubts happens on a daily basis. I think it’s human. If you’re not familiar with it, than I suppose you’re not a real person. This morning I got the best reminder in a friction’ newsletter.

Hugh’s right again. And I try to live up to this. Because it’s all about touching people is the most meaningful way by doing the right things right and being passionate about it. I will continue to do so and hope you’ll do the same. Never loose your drive.

Martin Heylen said in “God en klein pierke” yesterday: “Dreams weigh lighter when you’re young, heavier when you’re coming to age.” But keep on following those dreams. Fight for them. Make them happen.

I didn’t think I use Facebook that often. Mostly I reject any invitation I get from friends and relatives but apparently, 103 (!) products, services and networks have access to my identity via Facebook. And what’s more disturbing is what they can do in MY name…

I checked what applications were connected via Twitter and have read/write access: 83. Furthermore…

• Via Google; 10 services
• Via Yahoo: 5 services
• Via LinkedIn: 5 applications & 19 external websites
• Via Dropbox: 1 application
• Via Instagram: 8 applications
• Via Flicker: 8 applications (3 with writing permission)

Convenience is not so cool as you might think it is. Who’s in control? You or the networks and services you are connected too?

TheWriteID can put you in control. Support it.

First of all, thank you TheInsiders for selecting us, and ClubMed for the setup of this wonderful action. I was delighted and pretty happy when I’ve heard that we could go skiing for a couple of days in Valmorel to enjoy the full Club Med experience. I do however feel sorry for my wife who had some pregnancy pains and decided not to come. Pieter was more than willing to join me in this skitrip. And what an experience it has been…

Firstly, arriving on a sunday is so much more relaxed than on a saturday. Almost no traffic on the way over, and luckily for us, the weather was looking very promising. When arrived, we immediately handed over our luggage to some youngsters and got a drink while getting seated in the lobby. We had a bit of a setback as they let us wait for 2 hours straight. But than the Club Med Disneyland experience started… We were escorted to our ‘suite’. (comments in Dutch)

The personal suite service was called “the Lodge’, a hangout lobby in which tranquil music played, drinks were offered and you had people who would do everything to fulfill any of your questions immediately. We weren’t completely used to this concept yet as we went down and queued to get our ski equipment. Apparently, we could have a shorttrack there, After we were handed over amazingly good equipment, we reserved a table in La Laiterie, the restaurant with gastronomic ambitions and three specialities – stone grill, cheese box and cheese fondue.

After a nice meal, we went back to the Lodge and got ourselves a whisky to match it with our new lifestyle. Not having to worry about money makes you relax really easy.

The next morning, we went for breakfast and hit the slopes. In the end, that’s why we were here, right? Valmorel is a not so big ski resort. The slopes aren’t really hard and that’s why really nice for families and there is more than enough opportunity for hors-piste skiing. The weather on this trip was brilliant. Sun, sun, sun!

From the moment, we were back in the Club Med resort, we went straight in the Lodge, a five trident area. The atmosphere was so great and relaxing and as it turned out, as from 18u30 you could get champagne. Really good champagne (Jean Pernet) until the closing hereof at midnight. No need to say that of this moment we decided all we would do is what we love most when on holidays – drink, eat, chat, lounge and relax.

The bed was awesome but as Pieter isn’t the most pleasant person in the morning, I decided to let him sleep while i got down for a visit to the swimming pool area. I was the first visitor of the day, which meant I got the place all for myself. I enjoyed an outside jacuzzi in the snow, floated on my back while watching the changing color lightning [gebinten] of the impossant wooden ceiling, I finished, still solo, in the hamman. I was a little surprised that it wasn’t such successful, as I heard someone complain that the hamman tended to be very crowded – up to 40 people in the evening. Well, a tip for you all – go in the morning

I’m not much of a people’s person who want to hang out in big groups, I want to be left alone or triggered for a nice conversation. I didn’t think that Club Med would be able to offer me this, but the arrangement we got definitely made it possible. I won’t engage as such in the magical world Club Med offers as most people do and love but I certainly came to see some major benefits. The ability to leave your child(ren) in the capable hands of the personel in the different kinder gardens, and to get most out of  your holidays yourself really appealed to me. The cosiness and relaxing atmosphere of the restaurant and it’s personal approach towards the guest, made you feel really special. We went down to the buffet restaurant a couple of times but never really entered it.  But that one night,  we were uncertain of getting a table at La Laiterie, we went down into the buffet restaurants. For the first time, we felt unease and unpleasantly treated. We were friendly welcomed and diverted to a hall, which can best be described as a lunch garden plus but with less behaving people. I tried to queue but someone was pushing me in the back and for me that was it. I went to another queue and got some food there. For the first time, my perfect holiday got a scratch. Also I felt people staring at me while eating and the atmosphere, despite the nice interior, made me think of the school mess. We decided to go back up to La Laiterie, got a place and calmed down again. After the stone grill food – which is really, really great!! – we went back up for a glass of champagne and the relaxing feel of the Lodge.

That got us talking about this Club Med experience. Every night, we checked out briefly the spectacles.

Erm… not really our thing… But the enthusiasm of participants and guests all participating in some kind of mass choreo makes Club Med a Disneyland for adults. And I’m sure a lot of them love it just because of this.

The next morning I already got my routine, got up, showered, went in the lodge for a coffee, orange juice and croissant, I picked up Pieter, went skiing, did some lounging and then took a shower before hitting the champagne and dining in La Laiterie. But that day, we found a card that we were invited in the Lodge for an evening with a singer. For the first time, we had contact with some other insiders. As most of the people we met, were over the moon with the whole experience, one duo wasn’t. I’d like to know that you have all kinds of people but really, how the f*** got this duo selected?! I’m pretty sure that most – if not, all – people who came across these people understand and shared my feeling. Despite this small encouter, we also met some other truly nice people. A happily married couple, and another nice couple through our ‘womming’ (apparently a verb created by the insiders) activities. A common friend had seen independently from us that we had shared almost the same picture (mine vs theirs)

I love skiing. It makes me happy. The combination of sun on my face, snowy mountains and the tjirping sound of skiing on snow make me forget everything. I literally think of nothing. For me personally, it’s the best possible vacation one can get. But I have to admit, I was perfectly casted for the Lodge Experience. It redefines the ski vacation experience. I wouldn’t have complained when I should have stayed in a standard or luxury room (i saw this one – very nice too!), but it’s all about the expectations you have for a holiday. Just like I want the ‘living as a God in France” experience, some comfort, a lot of good food and off course, meeting some people to talk to, rather than to dance with. If you want some basic luxury, or you want your kids to have the time of their life, or you want to indulge yourself with some spa treatments, Club Med Valmorel certainly has propositions you should consider. Apparently you can also have your own chalet with private butler. All this happiness comes with a price and you choose how you spend your money. I would love to go back with my family. But only when I can afford the Lodge experience.

As this is the story of what we’ve experienced in only four days (but still much more happened), we are also supposed to review the resort, Well, I have some direct points of improvement, I’d like to mention to the people of Club Med;

• Please, fix your internet. It was unacceptably slow. I’ve heard that people need to pay 80 EUR for this. Well, that’s definitely not worth it! I also tend to believe at internet access is a basic right and necessity nowadays. With cell phone data quicker than the provided wifi, and also the limited network reception in a lot (if not, most) areas at the resort, this is something that should get a solution quickly.
• The other thing is a small advice – When having oysters downstair once a week, and champagne part as the daily routine, why not combining those for the Lodge guests? It can’t be hard to bring some oysters up. Everyone in lobby loves oysters…

Voila, for the rest – Thanks again for this wonderful trip. It couldn’t come at a better moment. And yes, Pieter does agree. For me, he was great company. Almost always

I had a look at the names of the winning participants and one looked very familiar. I double checked and indeed, it was one of the co-founders of the EYIF I’ve come across over the weekend when researching what the EYIF was. I was surprised that a member of the EYIF could win a place in the InnotourUSA 2012… Apparently I wasn’t the only one with that feeling…

I decided to ask for some transparency (J’accuse!) and basically had 1 simple question: How ethical had the judging of InnotourUSA been?

I still haven’t got an answer to the questions raised but they did at least change the list of winners/participants to the Innotour USA as you can see below.

Anyway, I hope they still have the courtesy to send me an e-mail or, at least, leave me a comment in which they clarify their way of working.

I do believe there should be more of this initiatives. And in fact, there are. But I also believe that they shouldn’t raise as much confusion as this poor example did. One last piece of advice to the EYIF: Please do communicate more efficiently. Choose your channels. If you don’t know how to use them, don’t use them. If you can’t manage them, suppress them.

Have a great innovation tour! Make it happen. For all of us. Thanks.

Arno doesn’t believe in the future, nor the past, only in living the carpe diem motto. The most remarkable thing you notice about Arno, is that after 40 years of performing on stage, he still has enormous stage fear. He needs to be left alone, some time before the concert starts – whether it is in a big or small venue. His fear sprung from the fact that as he rightfully said: “I don’t play for a venue. I play for an audience.” Afraid to let the audience down, angry when he has done so. Pumped up when he delivered. Arno, the artist is always full of doubt. And the documentary was all about the artist Arno. Martin tried to get more out of the personal Arno but Arno refused. You have to respect that. You just get a sneak preview of who he really is.
The real Arno is to be found in Brussels. When living there, I regularly saw Arno, walking around, hanging out in bars in Brussels. That’s his real habitat. I particularly remember a snowy day where Sofie and I were throwing snowballs at each other when a kid joined us in doing so. It was real fun until suddenly his dad appeared. That dad was Arno. So we threw some ball towards him too. He didn’t like it and summoned his son to go home. We yelled at him to join in, but I guess his hangover was too painful. His kid however didn’t stop, and we saw a smile of his face when he got fully hit.

Arno is always full of funny citations, filled with lots of wisdom. The one that stroke me hardest was the one he got from his father, who got it from Shakespeare: “Life is like a tale, told by an idiot.” In the documentary, Arno is the idiot telling a tale. The documentary in itself was great, a brilliant piece of storytelling. But it only shed light on a part of the subject’s personality. If you wish to see Martin’s conclusion of Arno, watch it here.

After seeing previous edition with Rudi Vranckx (war journalist), Jeanne Vos (nun with a mission) and Piet Huysentruyt (chef), I can’t wait to see the remaining episodes.

TheWriteID will help all people online that have (too) many profiles and contexts to manage, by giving them a place where they can control their online identity and all its facets, anywhere.

While I was writing for the millionth time what the essence of TheWriteID is, I changed it again. It’s weird how a one sentence pitch is evolving all the time, and very much depends on the mood of the day. Small differences, sometimes I use another perspective. Perhaps that is why it’s so difficult to simply explain what it’s all about. The idea is so little and so simple, but the concept is so big in my head. Not to mention the consequences when done right. The approach to this project is an accumulation of all the things I’ve done before, with a couple of differences. The two most important ones are listed here:

• It’s not in stealth mode – it is to be found online and I try to talk about it as much as I can. I can’t stop thinking about it and as people in my neighborhood have noticed – I do talk a lot about it, if not, all the time. I guess some people find that annoying but i don’t mind. Once you understand what TheWriteID is all about, and you will be able to use it, you will not stop talking about it for at least a week or two.
  The other advantage is that some people ask me questions I haven’t anticipated. They are rare and getting more seldom as time moves on but it happens. But it’s great because every time it happens, I need to know why I didn’t have an answer to that specific question yet. It makes me think about an unforeseen angle to the business model we haven’t seen yet. Mostly, I keep to the core of the project. That enables me to return most of the featuritis questions such as “Can it also do…” directly. Saying “no, that’s not a core functionality” has never been easier.
• It’s also the first time I invest more than just time in a project. I’ve invested my own money to create a website, the movie pitch and most importantly the prototype. It’s great to have an online home for the concept, and it was great to be able to show off a working prototype (I said ‘was’ because it worked fine until Facebook decided to change their API, again…).

Until now, I always worked as entrepreneur in residence, thus not risking any of my own money. Investing my own money makes it real. And I’m damn proud about it. I’m finally going for it. I’m finally doing it.

And you can support it; sign the petition, spread the word and support us by donating via our crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.

I will be talking in favor of the democratization, and thus lowering the threshold, to participate in innovation to close the innovation gap. I am a strong believer of people who take responsibility and a government who facilitates a context in which ‘things’ are happening.

Innovation is the successful commercial exploitation of new ideas. I always thought that innovation was doing things differently, and better. Innovation comes from simple ideas and great executions, accidental or planned. It creates endless opportunities when ‘new’ becomes ‘normal’ but mostly we don’t have to be that revolutionary. It’s a given that a poor strategy greatly executed is worth so much more than a great strategy poorly executed. Everybody has potentially innovative ideas. I believe they are omnipresent. But I believe even more that realizing ideas makes the real difference. It shouldn’t however be as tough as it is today to get to that point. I hereby suggest 3 practical things the EYIF and the European Union could organize that would actually make a difference.

Democratize access to innovation!

People with no or little experience could participate the Quirky way (collaborative model) to see an engineering execution of their ideas. It’s fun and it lowers the threshold of being able to participate in innovation tremendously.

Starting entrepreneurs should get access to a network of knowledge, people and money to support them in realizing innovations and building businesses for it (from building prototypes to legal advice on patenting and export formalities).

And lastly, why not give entrepreneurs the choice to use their profit (and experience) to invest in innovative startups. The EU could manage a super angel fund in which innovation is structurally supported.

Innovation Army Duty!

Create an alternative army of soldiers that want to be indulged in a world of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit with theoretical lessons and practical courses. It could be a one-year program in which mind and soul are prepared and stimulated to create new things and start up innovative companies. This Innovation Army is a preparation to the school of (innovation for) life.

European Centers of Innovation!

Create locations for innovation. These innovation hubs should be co-creation business spaces available for free and for limited time only. In the margin hereof, stimulate network events for creative and business men. Create at least one hub in each European Country and facilitate innovation exchanges.

Focus on what matters – turning ideas in great propositions that actually work by facilitating innovation for the masses, initiated from the individual desire to participate. I strongly believe that acting is the way forward. We should create a context in which we bring the best practices of Innotour USA home. Under the motto “Would-be’s imitate, innovators steal“ we watch, learn, and implement what we’ve learned from them with our own special sauce and ideas as fast as we can, only better.

And while doing so, we continuously tell everyone how great it is, both on as offline.