- When do the best ideas come within a brainstorm?
At the beginning, or at the end?
Usually the more time you have to build on
one another's ideas, and talk through the problem,
the better the ideas become.
This is because you're all becoming more entrenched
in the world of the problem.
Think of it like a story.
Someone can tell you the synopsis of a movie
in two or three sentences, and you have an idea
what it's about.
But you immerse yourself in that story
when you go to the theater and watch it for yourself.
You get to know the characters and what drives them.
You bond with the plot and the locations.
In short, you surround yourself with the nuance
of the story.
Ideation can work the same way.
Typically, a brainstorm session starts
with someone reading the problem,
and then asking for ideas.
Instead, try this.
Start with an input exercise before you get
to the output exercise of ideation.
Put the participants in the world of the problem.
Focus on the audience, or the industry,
and ask for characteristics, or descriptions.
Fill a whiteboard with periphery information,
like what the audience likes, or where they go.
Ask how they feel about the problem
you are trying to solve.
Let's say you're developing an ad campaign
for a dog product.
Instead of starting with the obvious question of,
does anyone have any campaign ideas?
A good input exercise might be to start
with a target audience and ask,
"What do these people do with their dogs?
"Or where do these people go with their dogs?"
Or even, "How do these people feel
"about their relationships with their dogs?"
This puts everyone in the audience's frame of mind.
Now when you ask, "Does anyone have any campaign ideas?"
You've already had a rich discussion
about who that campaign is meant to serve,
and the participants have something tangible to react to.
What you're doing is putting your participants
in the movie theater, rather than just telling them
what the movie is about.
Spend the first third of your brainstorm
setting the stage with an input exercise,
and the last two thirds reacting to that stage.
You'll have something deeper to start with,
and the ideas that are produced will be anchored
in something stronger than just the brief.