Brainstorming Meeting

Big Bang Creativity! Brainstorming Collaboration for Systemic Change

“The best way to get a good idea is to have a lot of ideas” - Linus Pauling, Nobel Prize recipient for chemistry and for peace

People in corporate culture think that brainstorming is a mysterious event. Brainstorming sessions often have long silences, and only few people continue to dominate the discussion, making for a boring meeting or turning meetings into inept discussions filled with irrelevant chit-chat. That leads to a waste of valuable time. The actual reason is due to misconception between the two fundamental terms “meeting” and “brainstorming”. Meeting refers to the gathering of people to discuss a topic with a clear objective and process details aimed at generating efficient and effective outputs. On the other hand, brainstorming is functionally the same as meetings, however the substance is totally different.

Typical meetings have precise topics. The “objective” of the meeting emphasizes analysis and logic more than imagination, while brainstorming allows various thoughts to skyrocket the free flow of “creative ideas”, unbounded by rigid analysis or logic, often deviating from the initial limited intent of the meeting.

Ogilvy and Mather: the world’s premier creativity meeting

Let’s see how advertising corporations include “creativity” as the core value in brainstorming. Ogilvy and Mather, the world’s leading ad company, treats brainstorming as a natural part of its environment. The convener, also known as the “problem owner”, sends an invitation with related documents and references to attendees in preparation for the meeting. This is to start-up ideas even before the meeting begins. In contrast with coming into the meeting without any idea and forcing everybody to come into an agreement, which is very counterproductive and wastes a lot of time.

At the start of the meeting, the problem owner needs to come up with a “Creative Brief Paper”, showing the outline of the meeting to set primary objectives. Another member of the team will be assigned as the “Facilitator”. The facilitator needs to gauge which participants are contributing and not contributing, hence the total number of team members must be kept to 5-10 participants to make sessions manageable. The role of facilitator is very important and not usually done by the problem owner, due to potential loaded comments from the owner’s preconceived ideas. A participant can raise potential solutions to the problem which can be declined by the problem owner because of foreseen loopholes and/or failures of similar approaches. All ideas should be collated and written down on the whiteboard, recognizing commonalities and promoting a consensus of ideas. When the team feels stuck and unable to progress, the facilitator can propose options to keep the discussion moving. The facilitator is also responsible to stop talkative or simply loud people from dominating the discussion. A humorous method used at some Ogilvy and Mather meetings has the facilitator give a lollipop to loud people to make them quiet down.

3 steps to brainstorm like Googlers

Google warrant study, as the company that helped revolutionize the internet and help lead technology in the 21 st century. . Let’s see how Google employees brainstorm in a meeting. Google doesn’t have a secret formula for innovation, but that doesn’t mean Googlers’ best ideas are ineffable mysteries. They can be systematically coaxed into being and steadily improved upon. Google uses a linear process for brainstorming new ideas: Know the user, Think 10 times, and Create a Prototype. These steps can be used for both business and industry.

First know the user. To solve a big problem, you must focus on the user, understand the target, define, and understand the problem, then ideas will follow. Conduct user-oriented research before starting a conference. Second is the notion of “Think 10 Times”. Everyone needs to systematically write down ideas and build on each other’s ideas, the more the better. Quantity is more important than quality at this stage.

How does the process work in Google? They write “Headlines” and describe the idea in less than six words to clarify it. Use of illustrations abounds, as pictures are usually louder than words. Combine and refine the ideas generated, neither kill an idea nor defer judgment. Systematically follow up on wild and wacky ideas, as it can be the foundation of big ideas that actually work.

Last is Create a Prototype. Google builds a quick prototype right after brainstorming. Strike while the iron is hot. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just a physical manifestation of an idea that’s designed strictly to answer the most immediate questions. Additionally, test the idea, collect feedback, and constantly improve the idea by learning from successes and failures.

8 rules of brilliant brainstorming

Google as a leading company that invests in technology has a creative workspace known as the “Google Garage”, showcasing the latest and most high end technologies. For example, collaborative conference systems, interactive digital whiteboards, Virtual Reality (VR) tools, 3D printers, etc. These enable workers to broaden their perspectives and ignite their creativity, especially via collaborative conference systems such as interactive digital whiteboards.

Integrating the two methods, we can arrange 8 rules for brilliant brainstorming with the use of the newest meeting tools:

1. Limit to a maximum of 10 people：5 to 10 is the ideal number of people for an effective meeting. Each represents their discipline and it is also better to start with at least 2 people who can be considered quick thinkers. A Collaborative conference system enables multiple annotations at the same time and collaboration thru video meetings.

2. The facilitator should prepare a meeting agenda ：this needs everyone’s help to solve the problem, to clearly define it, and lay out criteria through illustrations that underpin the meeting. Sketch ideas on a single device using interactive digital whiteboards where presentations, documents, images, videos, and websites can be pulled in while collaborating with team members.

3. The facilitator ensures a high level of active response： one member will be assigned as the facilitator. The facilitator is responsible to keep the group focused, activities lively, and encourage everyone to develop and to contribute ideas using the whiteboard to create a dynamic, interesting atmosphere during brainstorming sessions.

4. Quantity is more important：the more ideas the better. Do not judge other people’s ideas as worthless even if they sound extreme or weird.. The interactive whiteboard has no space limitations compared to traditional writing spaces with their many constraints. There’s always room for more ideas.

5. Idea visualization：each idea from participants is sequentially written in the “Headline” format and recorded so that it’s visible to all participants. Encourage everyone to write their most outlandish ideas, and use interactive whiteboard annotation to shorten the time needed for the revision and compilation of converged ideas.

6. Communicate using illustrations: pictures are usually louder than words. Annotate images with labels, draw cause and effect relationships, make great impressions, and unleash creativity with user-friendly interactive whiteboards. They’re easy to access, so you can drop images directly from the web while collaborating on ideas.

7. Make a Prototype : Converge ideas in a simple executable prototype and learn from it. The collaborative meeting system allows all participants to annotate presentations in real time.

8. Meeting Records : Before the end of the meeting, the person assigned to record the ideas will give the record to all participants to work on further. The collaborative meeting system can record and export idea boards as images while cooperating with team members.

Brainstorming is a religion that is practiced every day

IDEO is one of Silicon Valley’s most influential design and innovation companies, having helped design Apple’s first mouse, the Palm V, Polaroid’s I- Zone instant Camera, the first pediatric toothbrush, and other landmark products. These products and services reveal brainstorming as the core of their work. Tom Kelly, the general manager of IDEO, claims that a lot of companies want innovation but do not make good use of brainstorming to allow more valuable power and creativity to be integrated into the workplace. He believes that a good idea comes from frequent brainstorming, which can foster a culture that supports continuous innovation.

Whether for new product development, business planning, financial analysis, software startup, industrial design, logistics, or even human resource projects, everything needs creativity, and brainstorming is the best tool to generate new ideas. Tom Kelly says “brainstorming is the best place to jumpstart innovation and is a religion at IDEO, which we practice every day”. It includes participating in regular brainstorming using collaborative meeting systems in real time, improving convenience and work productivity. That way, imaginative minds burst with full potential for the benefit of employees, customers, and the business at large.

Strictly necessary cookies

Functional cookies

Performance cookies