Know-How Exchange : Branding

Hi!

In addition to Jim's good points and suggestions, here are more from me.

Everyone participating in a brainstorming session should be told from the start what it means -- creating a storm of ideas.

Sometimes you'll have people clam up or say very little during the process. Each person must be encouraged to present ideas and no ideas are to be scoffed or discouraged if they are ethical, legal and moral.

Instead of poking fun at someone's honest attempt to submit a helpful idea, the moderator should ask the individual to clarify. Have the person describe her/his train of thought. Her possibly perceived "silly" idea to address the challenge being focused on could have a link that others don't immediately see, but that doesn't mean it should be discarded. All ideas should be logged, entered on the board, written on the easel sheet for expansion.

Re session length, the most productive sessions I've attended lasted about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The creative juices really flowed freely with useable solutions and fresh approaches more than halfway into the process. Sometimes, more time is scheduled for regrouping so the brainstorming session can continue.

Everyone must contribute from the perspective of her/his area of expertise. While I don't recommend putting anyone on the spot, try to find out why someone isn't offering any ideas. Does the person understand the challenge? Can the person realize the connection between his job and the goal that you want to accomplish.

Let me know if this is helpful.

It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you need one great idea for a new product, then you need to have as many sessions as it takes to come up with that winning idea.

How will you know when you have the idea? You need to set some criteria and define what success looks like BEFORE you start your brainstorming sessions.

If this is more for team-building -- a fishing expedition to see what comes up -- then try two sessions, with about a month between them. If there's a lot of energy and value for the process, you can always schedule two more. But keep them at least 4-6 weeks apart or they stop being "special" occasions.

Brainstorming or ideation sessions are tools, not objectives themselves. Once you know what it is you are trying to accomplish, it will be much easier to determine what the frequency needs to be. As it is, it's like asking a carpenter how often he needs to use a hammer: "It depends on what I'm building or fixing."