I’ve had the privilege of participating in various brainstorming sessions throughout my career, each offering valuable lessons and insights into the art of brainstorming. In this blog post, I’m excited to share tips for effective brainstorming sessions, based on the collective wisdom I’ve gained from these experiences and influenced by the Great Courses audiobook by Gerard Puccio. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a newcomer to brainstorming, I hope these insights will help you unlock the full potential of your creative endeavors.

1. Define Your Objective

The first step in any successful brainstorming session is to establish a clear and compelling objective. Over the years, I was ambitious yet actionable: to unleash the collective creative force of our marketing teams and generate innovative concepts ready for market testing. Your objective should be visionary, motivating participants to think outside the box and contribute their best ideas.

2. Structured Agenda

A well-structured agenda is the backbone of any effective brainstorming session. Here’s a breakdown of the key elements that contributed to the success of a Creative Think Tank or design sprint:

• Kick-Off Meeting: Commence with a brief meeting to unveil the session’s structure and objectives. Setting the stage effectively ensures that everyone is aligned and focused.
• Team Formation: Divide participants into groups with specific tasks. This fosters collaboration and diversity of thought, leading to richer ideas.
• Creative Sprints: Implement rapid ideation sessions, akin to sprint cycles. Time constraints can be surprisingly effective in stimulating creativity and keeping discussions focused.
• Concept Showcase: Allow teams to present their ideas and receive constructive feedback. This step encourages transparency and a willingness to refine concepts.
• Celebratory Voting: Celebrate and acknowledge the most innovative ideas through voting. Recognition and celebration of success inspire participants to excel.

3. High-Level Goals

To drive an effective brainstorming session, it’s essential to establish high-level goals that guide your team’s efforts:

• Foster Innovation: Create an environment that encourages creativity, enthusiasm, and an open mind. Innovation thrives in a culture that values fresh ideas.
• Campus Challenge: Promote collaboration among participants to enhance campus-specific marketing efforts. Cross-functional teamwork often leads to groundbreaking concepts.
• Narrative Building: Emphasize the importance of storytelling and strategy. A compelling narrative can make the difference between an idea and a successful campaign.
• Friendly Competition: Inject an element of friendly competition through voting. A bit of rivalry can inspire participants to present their best ideas and raise the bar.

4. Brainstorming Guidelines

In my most effective brainstorming sessions, we leveraged the principles of Design Thinking to guide our brainstorming process. Here are the guidelines that served us well:

• Start with Ideation: Begin with ideation sessions, empathizing with your target audience. Use techniques like brainstorming or mind mapping to generate a wide range of ideas.
• Divergent Thinking: Prioritize expansive thinking over narrow focus. Encourage participants to explore a multitude of possibilities without premature judgment.
• Novelty Pursuit: Strive for originality and uniqueness in your concepts. The best ideas often emerge when you dare to be different.
• Idea Abundance: Prioritize the generation of a multitude of ideas. Quantity often precedes quality in the ideation phase.
• Selective Refinement: Dedicate time post-ideation to weed out less viable ideas. Not every concept will make the cut, and that’s perfectly normal.
• Rapid Prototyping: Embrace quick cycles of concept development and improvement. Prototyping allows you to test ideas and make informed decisions.
• Progress Over Perfection: View each idea as a stepping stone to further innovation. Perfectionism can be a creativity killer—focus on making progress.

5. Fuel for Thought: Inspiration & Moodboarding

To ignite creativity, encourage your team to immerse themselves in inspiration. Here’s how we approached it:

• Encourage your team to research and bring examples of existing campaigns, competitor ads, or other inspiring materials to the discussion.
• Utilize digital tools like Pinterest, Notion, Miro, or Figma to compile these inspirations and create mood boards when necessary.
• Don’t hesitate to harness the power of AI tools to assist in brainstorming and content creation. Technology can be a valuable ally in the creative process.

In conclusion, the lessons learned from various brainstorming sessions I’ve been a part of stand as a testament to the transformative power of a well-structured creative collaboration. I wholeheartedly encourage you to adapt these tips for effective brainstorming sessions. By doing so, you’ll have the opportunity to witness innovation flourish and inspire others in your professional journey. Let’s celebrate our collective creativity and share success stories that ignite inspiration! 💡🌟

Over the weekend, I thought I was taking an ordinary trip to Ace Hardware to buy a new grill. As I walked into the store, I was thinking about work and how to overcome a certain obstacle. What happened next was an extraordinary moment that certainly put those obstacles in perspective. 

I had been considering buying a green egg grill, so I asked the employee in the grill aisle his opinion.

“I wouldn’t buy a green egg,” he said. “Not worth it.”

I guessed he was about 72, and he had shoulder-length gray hair, tattoos on his forearm, and a goatee that looked almost as faded as the ink on his arms.

He pointed to a red Weber and convinced me to save the money. He stooped down and removed the price tag, and that’s when I noticed something was wrong.

He began to stumble, and it almost seemed like the computer program that helped him walk had been full of bugs. He lost consciousness and couldn’t stand.

That’s when I held him up, struggling under his weight. The grill hit the ground and sounded like a cymbal crashing. After a few moments of fighting to keep him from hitting the ground, his legs began to operate again. 

As if nothing had just happened, he started talking about the grill. I stopped him and asked him if he was all right, and he said he was fine, but I implored him to take a break.

He was about to respond, but he stopped abruptly. His eye contact became intense, and he was standing taller than I remembered. That’s when his eyes rolled into the back of his head, his body went rigid, and he began to fall backward. It was like watching a Jenga tower fall. I wanted to try and stop him, but there was just too much momentum.

I ended up grabbing him just enough to slow down the impact, but when shoulders hit the ground, his head whipped against the floor, and all I could think about was someone trying to crack an egg against a bowl. 

Now I was holding him in my arms, and I was sure that I had just watched a man die.

Everyone in the store was watching. I pointed at someone and yelled: “You, in the red shirt, call 911.”

I was considering whether or not to conduct CPR. Other employees were rushing over. It was a grim moment. 

Then the man just woke up.

The next few moments went by quickly, and other Ace employees rushed over to carry him into a seat. Later the paramedics burst into the store. Ace employees began to check on me. I watched all of this in slow motion.

As I was about to leave, the man thanked me and said: “I can’t help but go out of the way to get you a discount on the grill.”

Everyone laughed. And he was right. They gave me $75 dollars off. 

But the lesson was priceless. 

It’s funny how the universe can take the most ordinary moments and make them unforgettable, teaching us lessons at the precise time we need to see it. It was a great reminder that marketing is marketing. Business is business. An obstacle is just an obstacle. But being alive and healthy, well, that is everything.