brainstorming best practice

The good brainstorm guide

By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic

http://www.joweston.com/

“You can’t solve a problem with the thinking that created the

problem”

- Albert Einstein



The set up

• Go steady on numbers – 6 is ideal and go for a good mix of people (people involved and not involved, creative types and others)

• Make people feel selected and valued – they have been chosen for a reason and are expected to work.

• Freedom from distraction – put Blackberry’s away and schedule plenty of time.

• Think about timings – if scheduled just before lunch, bring some food. If scheduled mid afternoon – think of ways to re-energise the group.

• Think about the problem upfront – what issues does it bring up? Is this the real problem? How will you structure the brainstorm to resolve these issues?



Homework tasks

• Give people some homework before the session, people have prep time individually which gets them thinking and they bring ideas for others to build on.

• Task suggestions:• Bring in some magazine cuttings about the

subject• Think of some good examples of related

advertising• Bring in a prop that makes you think of

something to do with the subject• Think of a story about something that has

happened to• Or, just come with some of your own

ideas/responses to the brief



Roles

• Problem owner – power to act on outcome and contribute ideas. Can help steer the course of the brainstorm and provide helpful information about constraints - likely to be a suit.

• Facilitator – records what is happening, sticks to the process and keeps things on track, remains objective and does not contribute ideas of their own (unless ideas have really run dry!) – likely to be a planner.

• Resource – everyone else, should bring different perspectives, don’t know much about the problem, there to contribute ideas and help decide which ones are best – likely to be creatives.



Running the session

• Set a time limit allow people to continue after the time is up if they want to

• Get your equipment ready – blu tac, pens, flipchart, props

• No alcohol!• Run a quick warm up• Introduce everyone, fill them in on the background

and set clear, simple objectives• Get the balance between too much and too little

briefing, consider phasing in information through prompts



Brainstorming rules!

1. No criticism of ideas – an idea is a seed that needs nurturing

2. Quantity, not quality – bad ideas will be rooted out later

3. Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas – can be shaped into something more practical later on if necessary

4. Build on each other’s ideas – help don’t hinder

5. Equal status for all – everyone is creative and capable of having good ideas



Top tips for facilitators

• Seize control – make the space your own, set the agenda, use and enforce the rules and promise time for criticism later if people persist with breaking them

• Start broad and then narrow down the discussion to more specific thoughts and ideas

• Aim for quick fire ideas not in-depth analysis• Catch any asides, even silly comments – they may

spark other ideas• Record all ideas so people don’t feel left out• Keep ownership of ideas broad, avoid names and

draw everyone in• Manage under/over talkative people – encourage

contributions from everyone, get everyone to write down an idea and stick it up/discuss (moderating skills)

• Manage the energy – pick people up and introduce a new game or say something outrageous to provoke a response if people are flagging

• Edit, join up, group, link, highlight earlier ideas as you go



Warm up ideas

• Tell us about the happiest day in your life

• What did you do on your last birthday?

• What is the best/worst present you have ever received?

• What would be your super power?• Draw a picture of what you looked

like as a child



Techniques to spark quick fire ideas

• Word associations e.g. 118 118 – numbers – runners

• Picture associations/collages– images, quotes, mood videos etc.

• Random words/pictures/songs – what thoughts do these provoke?

• Borrow and steal – bring in plenty of other influences, “it’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to”.

• Alphabet game – hang up letters of the alphabet, you have 2 minutes to come up with as many ideas starting with one of these letters as possible

• Escapism – what would you do if there were no rules?



Techniques to explore brands and ideas

• Brand parties/brand planets – how would X brand behave at a party? Describe their personality. What other brands would there and what would they be like?

• Gestalt room – close your eyes and imagine you open the door to a room that represents X. What can you see, hear, touch, taste, feel

• Brand epitaphs – what would this brand have on their grave? What do we want it to say?



Techniques for when ideas are drying up

• Imagine you were granted three wishes by a genie. What would you do with them? How would we make these happen?

• What would [insert famous person or fictional character] do?

• Opposite thinking – e.g. the brand is all about young people so let’s do something with old people

• Break the rules/ going against convention e.g. Dirt is good

• Analogies – what was a similar problem in another field? How was it solved?

• Challenge facts - what do people take for granted?



• Distortion – change spatial/numerical/time dimensions, make things bigger and smaller

• Passion piece – apply rules and principles of your personal passion – e.g. what would I do if this was a rugby game?

• Small solutions – what is a more modest way of achieving the same effect?

• News headlines – if it were a news headline, what would it be? How would we make it interesting?

• Time travel - How would you deal with this if you were in a different time period?

• Teleportation - What if you were facing this problem in a different place? Different country? Different geographic region? Different universe? Different plane of existence? How would you handle it?

More techniques for when ideas are drying up



Wrapping up and moving on

• Separate analysis from idea generation• Summarise and combine ideas – use a

different coloured pen• Ask the following:

• Do we like it?• What is good about it?• What is bad about it?

• List pros and cons on the same sheet• Go back to the brief and check against

objectives• Organise into – excellent/interesting/extra

reserves• Give everything a score out of 10• Capture and record all ideas to type up

later



Finishing Off

• Thanks for coming• Post-meeting ideas/

brainstorm part 2?• Bath time challenge?• Refreshment



brainstorming best practice

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jo weston

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