Category: Facilitation

I love a good brainstorm – properly conducted, of course – but at the same time, there are definitely times when you should not have a brainstorm. Like any business

Brainwriting is a variation on traditional brainstorm techniques. It begins with people writing their ideas down on paper in front of them before sharing them aloud. Even better, it can

Like a good party, it’s important to create the right brainstorm atmosphere. It’s more than just the room itself. In his book Creative Thinking in the Decision and Management Sciences, James

A fast and popular brainstorm technique, word stimulus is a simple variation of free association. If you’re not sure what it is, free association is a mental game where a

Sometimes you don’t have time to have a brainstorm. Sometimes you need ideas quickly without the research, icebreakers and party games. If this type of rapid brainstorming is what you

There’s lots of tasks when the ‘do it yourself’ approach works a treat, and other times, not so much. For example, performing your own dental surgery isn’t a great idea.

One way to instantly improve the quality of your creativity is to invite the right people to the brainstorm. A brainstorm should not be a cattle call (“let’s invite everybody!”),

A brainstorm is a meeting like any other, which means an agenda can be extremely helpful to keep order and focus. Give yourself a few minutes in advance of the

Are brainstorms dead?  They probably are, if this describes your brainstorms. They’re held in a featureless conference room. Very likely there’s not enough oxygen. No beverages or food. Zero brainstorm supplies,

You and I may simply call them field trips. Researchers often call them learning journeys. Scientists give it the formal name of anthropology. Whatever you want to call them, research,