Intro:
Running a productive in-person brainstorming session involves getting a few crucial steps right, along with a healthy dose of minimizing problems and increasing creativity to the maximum level.
So in this blog post, you’re going to learn 7 steps to run the best in-person brainstorming sessions—sessions that’ll actually encourage creativity and eliminate barriers.
This is exactly what you want.
You want to facilitate and encourage creativity and inspiration, and you want to cut down on distraction and nonsense.
Let’s dive into it.
1. Plan The Meeting
Obviously, planning the meeting is the first and most crucial step. Make sure that everyone can make it at the same time, and that they can physically get to the location.
If your team is remote, this may be a more complicated process—but it’s still required for an in-person brainstorming session.
If your team consists of long-haul truckers who need some great hotel options that are truck friendly and convenient, you may need a bit of help finding the perfect spots.
For that, you can consult this post by Hotel Engine for some of the very best truck friendly-hotels available on the road.
2. Get Everyone In The Same Place
This may involve giving specific directions and itineraries to your team to get them to the same location.
If you all work in the same office, this will probably be a lot easier.
But once you get everyone in the same place at the same time, you’ll be ready to start.
3. State The Problem And Objective
Defining the problem and stating what you hope the solution will achieve is really where the brainstorming session begins.
Everyone needs to understand exactly what problem they’re trying to solve, to get those creative juices flowing in the right direction.
So don’t be afraid to be specific and clear about what you hope to achieve with this meeting.
In fact—the more specific you can be, the better.
This step is best achieved with a bit of your own brainstorming prep work, just to make sure that everyone has high-quality directions to follow.
4. Define The Parameters
If there are creative parameters, make sure to lay them out at the beginning of the session.
This is especially important if you need the solution to fall within a certain spectrum or framework.
Some people see rules and parameters as confining—but the truth is that they give you the freedom to exercise your creative power, because without parameters there is no order.
5. Encourage All Creative Idea Threads
In most creative in-person brainstorming sessions, 95% of the ideas thrown around aren’t going to directly make it into the final product/production.
But this doesn’t mean that you need to have a negative attitude about those ideas.
Make sure to be encouraging, and to be a positive force for creative energy generation.
When engaging in such brainstorming sessions, you want people to speak up—even if the majority of the ideas aren’t going to make it to the final drawing board.
6. Be Honest
Some people get really bogged down with the problem of not being able to be honest about ideas that aren’t going to work.
This leads to wasted time and inefficiency.
Instead, get really comfortable with stating exactly when an idea isn’t going to work—so that it can be removed from the framework, allowing you to continue onward with different ideas that might do the trick.
7. Stay Positive And Communicate Effectively
Always stay positive during these brainstorming sessions.
You want to make sure that people are encouraged to speak up, and you want to make sure that they understand that their input is valuable—even if it doesn’t directly produce a winning idea.
In a brainstorming session, everyone is contributing to the final piece of the puzzle.
And it’s important for everyone to understand that their contribution was important and that you were glad that they were involved.
This will help them to feel a greater sense of fulfillment and engagement with the process.
Conclusion
Now you know how to run a productive in-person brainstorming session, utilizing all the tools at your disposal.
All that’s left, at this point, is to get your team together and get the ball rolling.
You’ve got this. Now get out there and create some amazing ideas!
