National Swap Ideas Day
Don’t keep your ideas to yourself. Get together with friends or family and swap ideas on anything and everything, and see what small and big changes you can make.
Position your brand as a facilitator of collaborative innovation by hosting or promoting idea-sharing workshops, webinars, or community brainstorming events in September.
- Host a virtual brainstorming session or workshop and invite your audience to share solutions to industry challenges
- Create a 'Ideas Worth Sharing' content series featuring customer success stories or expert insights
- Partner with thought leaders to host a TED Talk-style event or discussion panel around your industry
- Launch a social campaign encouraging teams to swap ideas internally and share their best outcomes
While the exact details are a bit sketchy, the origins ofNational Swap Ideas Day can likely be traced back to the creator of this day, Robert Birch of Puns Corp. In fact, this was not Mr. Birch’s only unusual idea as he is also thought to have invented several other strange celebration events including Lumpy Rug Day, Trivia Day and the bizarrely named Nothing Day.
The idea behind National Swap Ideas Day is that everybody gets together to do just what the day says: exchange ideas. People celebrate this occasion by connecting with other people to share thoughts and concepts, whether at work, in the political realm, in friend groups or other places where think tanks are welcomed!
There don’t seem to be any rules outlining the nature of the ideas to be shared, thus makingNational Swap Ideas Day an ideal opportunity for people to be as creative and wacky as they like with their ideas as well as learning from the ideas of others.
Organize Some Brainstorming Sessions
The true essence of National Swap Ideas Day is to get in the room with folks who think a little differently, and use the time to brainstorm. Perhaps the idea swapping would be in answer to some local problems that might need to be solved and improvements that need to be made. Or it could be centered around a dreaming session for a new organization or company that is just forming. No matter what the context, at work or in a community situation, this is the time to schedule a meeting where everyone can be heard and ideas can be safely exchanged!
Watch TED Talks
One super way to get involved with the ideas of others, even if a person finds themselves alone on National Swap Ideas Day, is to dig into various topics that people share on the internet. TED Talks are a fascinating place where folks from all walks of life offer their information and expertise in a format that is easy to understand. It might be fun to watch one, ask a friend to watch it too, then get together to talk about it and swap ideas!
Watch Some Movies About Swaps
National Swap Ideas Day is a great time to get interested in the fun of swapping by watching some entertainment that embodies the idea! One theme that has been covered time and again in books and movies is the identity swap, which is an extremely inconvenient (but also effective) way for characters to get in the heads of different people and learn to share their ideas. Try out one of these movies for fun on National Swap Ideas Day: Face/Off (1997) starring John Travolta and Nicholas Cage17 Again (2009) featuring Matthew Perry and Zac EffronThe Change Up (2011) with Ryan Reynolds and Jason BatemanAll of Me (1984) starring Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin