Learn Creativity over Lunch at the ODU Innovation Center

March 13, 2017

Linden Tree Learning and the ODU Innovation Center have teamed up to offer lunchtime courses to busy downtown executives and employees in March. The first series of four lunchtime sessions at the downtown Norfolk facility will focus on creativity techniques.

Karen Lindquist, owner of Linden Tree Learning, wanted to offer the courses as a convenience to Norfolk businesses. "It's hard for people to fit in training with tight work schedules and tight budgets. Besides, there is not a lot of choice in the area for employees to sharpen their professional skills. I wanted to create something a little different from the standard offer, and very accessible."

Lindquist has worked in management training for more than 25 years while living abroad. Since moving to Norfolk in 2014, she has led training sessions across the East Coast. She said she is happy to have a local partner in the ODU Innovation Center.

Opened last summer at 501B Boush St. in Norfolk, the center is designed to be a community hub for entrepreneurial activity, supported by Old Dominion University and the City of Norfolk.

Chris Shelton, director of the ODU Innovation Center, said the lunch sessions will be valuable to neighboring businesses, but also to the startup firms working at the Center.

"We're super-excited to be providing higher-order content to our entrepreneurial and business ecosystem. And this series in particular has a unique flavor we don't see very often. It really showcases the kind of stuff we want the ODU Innovation Center to be known for," Shelton said.

The first session, set for Tuesday, March 21, focuses on organizing the creative process. Subsequent sessions include:

-- Pull Ideas out of Thin Air, Thursday, March 23

-- Ask Your Inner Genius, Tuesday, March 28

-- Play Seriously, Thursday, March 30

Courses are $25 each or $85 for the series. For more information and to register, visit www.lindentreelearning.com/learnatlunch

Linden Tree is backed by more than 25 years of experience working with business managers at all levels, on key skills such as training and management development, coaching, keynote speaking, organization development consulting and instructional design.

The ODU Innovation Center, which was created through the University's Center for Enterprise Innovation, provides space and programming to startups and service providers within the Hampton Roads business community.

The center seeks to engage with scalable, innovation-driven startups, as well as freelancers and service providers engaged in entrepreneurship locally. For more information, see the ODU Innovation Center website.