Brainstorm Supplies

“Be prepared” is a mantra that stretches from Plato to Madame Curie to the Boy Scouts. It’s also relevant for brainstorm supplies. There’s nothing worse when your participants are ready to brainstorm and you only have a dried-out marker.

I keep a large box of brainstorm supplies in my office where I always have the tools I need at hand. Here’s what’s inside.

• Whiteboard markers or textas  Whiteboard markers are a must. My preference is for large sized (2mm) blade-edged markers. (Blade edges gives you the option to write precise and broadly where Bullet-nosed markers only allow broad marks.) I like different colours for different purposes or themes: black, blue, red and green. Avoid bright colours like yellow and orange (hard to read from across the room) unless you only use them as highlighters to other colours. For what it’s worth, my favourites are the six-packs of Lumocolors from Staedtler, although I also like Artline and DuraMark. A tip: avoid scented markers, either ones heavily chemical in scent or food-/fruit-flavoured.
• Pens  You need writing tools for exercises, so I have plenty of coloured pens, crayons and pencils. The absolute best are the well-loved Connector Pens from Faber-Castell with the added benefit of doubling as toys.
• Flip-chart paper  Everyone loves 3M self-adhesive pages. They’re good for quickly sticking to walls, but they’re very expensive, and more so, I hate that they stick together and rip when removed from the wall. My preference are plain butcher’s paper or craft paper.
• Tape  Regardless of whether you use self-sticking flip-chart paper or not, tape is handy to help post, re-stick or smooth down pages on walls. I prefer cheap masking tape, but cellophane tape works too. Blue-Tac is good re-usable options. I avoid booking rooms with upholstered walls (like hotels), but if you’ve no other option, keep handy a box of push-pins.
• Highlighters  Again, get lots of different colours. They’re also handy to differentiate ideas on flip-charts from the regular markers.
• Paper  Blank pages are great for drawing, doing mini-exercises or games, or allowing participants to write their own notes. There’s some options here, such as …
  • Blank paper  Whether you use A4 or 8.5 x 11 in your printer, I like to re-use by gathering cast-off pages printed only on one side.
  • Blank index cards  They’re good to use for creative exercises.
  • Construction paper  Also known as sugar paper, this slightly rough paper is perfect for exercises and drawing.
  • Post-its  I like them in every sizes and colours.
  • Rolled paper  IKEA also has cheap rolls of paper (30m/98 feet) under its Mala brand for AU$8/US$7.
• Dots  Known as adhesive labels, they’re small circular sticky dots to give people five votes on the best ideas.  I usually pre-cut the dots into short strips of 5.
• Postcards  I pick them up in coffee shops and restaurants as visual stimuli for marketing ideas.
• Clay  Play-Doh is the brand name everyone recognises, although there’s plenty of non-brand clays which are equally effective and often far cheaper.  (You’re probably getting the idea about now that I’m a penny-pincher, alas.)
• Magazines  I have a big stack in my office when I need to grab them for visual stimuli. I tell clients to get a laundry basket or similar for everyone to throw old magazines.
• Toys, games and exercises  Lots of options, limited only to your budget. I have the traditional LEGOs of simple blocks. IKEA also makes some good, cheap simple building blocks out of foam. Many are available as playing cards. That’s great, but you can also .
• Office supplies  You’ll often need some basic office supplies, so I keep extra ink pens, pencils, erasers, staplers and scissors. I also have several decks of playing cards when I need something neutral to group people into teams.

A final tip. The best time of year to buy or replenish your supplies box is during back-to-school month. Office supplies are a natural place to shop, but think about the school supply aisles at grocery stores. I also like $1 shops for cheap kids toys, markers and games.

Any other tools or items you often find helpful to keep on hand for brainstorms?Please leave your comments below.