guide to brainstorming(public)

GUIDE TO BRAINSTORMING

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GUIDE TO BRAINSTORMING ALEXANDRA KARUL SPRING INTERN 2016


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TABLE OF CONTENTS What do to Before the Meeting 3 Create an Agenda 4 What to do After the Meeting 4 Types of Structure 5 Tips for Facilitator 6 Tips for Scribe 6 Employee Evaluations 7 Information for Evaluators 8 Sample Creative Brief 10 Sample Agenda Structures 11 Sample Agenda 12 Creative Exercises 13

**For this public version of Guide to Brainstorming certain sections have been removed

for confidentiality**

PURPOSE This project serves as a comprehensive guide to lead employees through

the entire brainstorm experience. The purpose of this guide is to improve G7 Entertainment Marketing’s brainstorming process by:

• Adding a structure to improve focus and idea organization • Ensuring employees are prepared & creative briefs are efficient • Increasing idea variety • Sparking creativity • Increasing diversity among personalities & seniority • Keeping participants updated on events post-‐brainstorm


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What to Do Before the Meeting 1. Set meeting goals

• Portray client objectives without being too specific that it limits creativity • Include broad client focus such as awareness, sales, reputation, sustaining loyalty,

data collection • Include make or break qualities such as stunts, 1-‐1 meaningful interactions, a lot

of quantity in a short time • Include length and season • Do not include: budget, example ideas, how simple or complex it should be,

number of staff, personal opinions 2. Create and Send Creative Brief

• See page 10 for sample brief • Highlight client objectives without specificity that reduces creativity • Keep brief concise • Typically, brief does not need: budget, exact scope (national, international,

southeast, etc. are fine), deliverables and deadlines, previous events, challenges (such as timing, staffing, client biases) **this information can be brought up throughout the brainstorm

• Send out at least 24 hours before meeting 3. Determine participants

• Invite employees to the meeting with different perspectives • Individuals who have previously worked on this account or have a certain specialty

will have a different perspective than an individual in a different department. • People not part of the G7 team, such as those who are part of the target market

4. Set the agenda

• See page 4 • Bring a variety of ideas to give people new inspiration if they have focused on the

same type of topic for too long 5. Prep the room

• Write categories on paper, whiteboards, post its, or computer • Optional: bring snacks, drinks, candy


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Create an Agenda See page 12 for sample agenda Step 1: Creative exercise

• Starting the session with a creative exercise helps participants step out of their everyday tasks and approach problem solving in new, out-‐of-‐the-‐box ways. These enjoyable, five minute activities energize participants and boost creativity.

• Keep it short • See page 13 for examples

Step 2: State the goal

• See page 3 for guidelines to develop goals • Do not review the entire creative brief or brand deck

Step 3: Ideation

• The bulk of the session should be devoted to developing ideas. It is important to balance structure with free-‐flowing creativity

• Choose a structure: Individual ideas, categories, shotgun and laser beam • See page 5 for structure details

Step 4: Refine

• Use this time to review all ideas pitched • People might have new ideas once they go back the second time • Scale down extravagant ideas, make ideas more realistic • SCAMPER: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate,

Reverse • Allot more time if you want participants to vote on favorite ideas or choose which

ideas to pitch. While this tactic removes individual biases, some participants may not have enough knowledge to choose.

• Discuss next steps in the process

What to Do After the Meeting 1. Submit employee evaluations

• See page 7 2. Send participants the client proposal 3. Keep participants up-‐to-‐date on client opinions

• Help employees learn what went well and better understand clients


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Types of Structure Individual ideas

• Ask participants to develop ideas individually to share at the meeting • Allot an equal amount of time for each participant to voice his/her ideas • The remainder of the time is spent building upon all ideas

Categories

• Predetermined categories increase variety by preventing participants from spending too much time on one topic

• Category types include (but are not limited to): o Objectives of client goal

§ **If organizing agenda by client objectives, spend time in the beginning determining themes to center ideas around

o Client values o Different demographics o Inspirations:

§ View the challenge from multiple perspectives such as: pop-‐culture trends, music, statistics, psychology principles, fashion, television, travel, history, food, different cultures, etc.

Shotgun and laser beam

• Participants shout out any idea, or partial idea, that comes to mind. The scribe writes them down and participants uncover themes. These themes turn into categories that become the focal points of the session.


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Tips for Facilitator • Consider all ideas: Those that originally seem unreasonable can be scaled down • Enforce categories and time limits: Allow for free flow of ideas but know

when to cut it off and move on. Do not spend too much time on one topic. • Challenge participants/play devil’s advocate: Ask difficult questions to

encourage people to view different perspectives • Encourage equality among:

o Personality types: if someone has been quiet, ask if he has anything to contribute. Often it is the loudest personalities, not the best ideas, that dominate conversations.

o Seniority: do not let participants with more seniority control conversations o Ideas: make sure all ideas are written down and possibly built upon, do not

let ideas fall through the cracks • Have participants improve and build upon one another's ideas • Keep an eye on the scribe: Make sure his task is not detracting from his

contribution • Remind participants of the goal throughout the session • Prep before the meeting:

o Send out creative briefs o Invite participants with different perspectives o Set up the room

• Keep participants up-‐to-‐date: o Let them know the next steps o Inform them of client opinions: this is important for them to better

understand client needs and prepare for the next brainstorm • Do not dominate the conversation • Do not judge any ideas

Tips for Scribe • Capture every idea: including different variations of same idea, unrealistic

ideas o You do not need to capture client goals or objectives

• Organize: group similar ideas/general themes together • Set and enforce the timer • Try to not let this task distract you from contributing • Idea location: can be written on whiteboards, post-‐its, computer, etc.

o If the idea is written on your computer, make sure to put it on a screen


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Employee Evaluations After the session, fill out an employee evaluation based on employee preparedness, present in the moment, and critical thinking. Rate on effort, not on how great an employee’s ideas were. The last box has a section for additional comments.


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Information for Evaluators Andre and Peter have access to edit form & view responses.

View responses: Go to the form in your Google Drive (if you click the link on the previous page you can only fill it out) and click Responses above the title to the right. Add an employee: Click the + option on the right side. Write the employee’s name as the question, make the type of question “Checkboxes”, and make the three options 1= Below Average, 2= Average, 3= Above Average Delete an employee: Click the garbage can on the lower right side.

Grant access for people to see responses: Press the vertical three dots in the right corner and click “Add collaborators…”


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Understand responses: **These scores do not illustrate real responses and were created as examples.** To view a summary of all brainstorms: click summary on the top left. The graphs show an average of all brainstorms that employee participated in. For example, Adam participated in 3 brainstorms and was ranked above average for all. Andre participated in three brainstorms and was ranked average for 2 and above average for 1. To view individual brainstorms: press individual on the top right.

Delete responses: To delete responses from one brainstorm, press the garbage can on the right. To delete

all responses (to start a new year of evaluations) press the three vertical dots on the right and then “Delete all responses.”


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SAMPLE MATERIALS

Sample Creative Brief

Copy and paste brief and add your own information Potential Client: Goal: Scope: Timing: Target: **Please begin brainstorming ideas to bring to the session** (Sample information removed for confidentiality)


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Sample Agenda Structures

Individual Ideas Example

11:00-11:05: Creative Exercise 11:05-11:20: Individual Ideas (5 people, 3 minutes each) 11:20-11:45: Build Upon Individual Ideas 11:45-12:00: Refine, Sum Up, Next Steps

Categories Example: Company Values

11:00-11:05: Creative Exercise 11:05-11:45: Core Values (10 minutes each)

Family, Nostalgia, Comfort Food, Diversity 11:45-12:00: Refine, Sum Up, Next Steps

Categories Example: Inspirations 11:00-11:05: Creative Exercise 11:05-11:50: Inspirations (15 minutes each) 1. trend: conferences attendants view the entire city as the venue 2. psychology of persuasion: people more likely to be persuaded by authority, people they know and like, or if they already agreed to something 3. pop-culture trends 11:50-12:00: Refine, Sum Up, Next Steps

Shotgun and Laser Beam 11:00-11:05: Creative Exercise 11:05-11:15: Any ideas or partial ideas 11:15-11:20: Determine theme 11:20-11:50: Speak about each theme

(ex. 3 themes, 10 min each) 11:50-12:00: Refine, Sum Up, Next Steps


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G7 BRAINSTORMING SAMPLE AGENDA Creating one-‐of-‐a-‐kind solutions for clients

Meeting Date: Time: Facilitator: Scribe: Subject:

Goal:

11:00-‐11:05: Creative Exercise 11:05-‐11:15: Determine themes to discuss 11:15-‐11:25: Brainstorm potential events or event types to sponsor and activate 11:25-‐11:35: Brainstorm potential footprints A. More substantial event footprints 11:35-‐11:45: Brainstorm potential footprints B. Nimble event footprints 11:45-‐11:55: Brainstorm potential fun activities that can occur at footprint other than sampling 11:55-‐12:00: Open discussion, refine ideas, next steps


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Creative Exercises Unrelated to the topic

• Write down an activity and an object on two separate pieces of paper. Pass the activity to the person on your right, and the object to the left. Each person needs to explain how he/she could use this new combination.

• How would you draw/describe your perfect car? o Would it have a golf course? Would it run on chocolate milk?

• Create a sandwich that describes your personality? o Would it include a beer? Sour patch kids? Thanksgiving turkey?

• Describe a new type of watch o Cute puppies that bark every time 15 minutes go by? Would it have only two

times: coffee and wine? • Groups of participants receive a person, two locations, and an object and tell a story

about their day. • Create a retreat on the top of a mountain with all the features you would want in

your utopia? o A tree with chocolate and money leaves? A treadmill that burned calories

without having to use it? • How would you solve a huge topic (such as world hunger) with a random object in

the office? • Make as many sentences as you can with a 4 letter word such as SCAM, HATS, BALL • What would an activity (ex. getting dressed, driving to work, cooking dinner) be like

in the year 2095? • Participants write down an object that begins with the first letter of their last name,

they hold it up for everyone to see, and need to pair with another word to create a new invention or solve a problem.

o Ex. Google Pens: Pens that look up information and write it onto a paper. Kangaroo Hammock: a hammock for the fatigued kangaroos at the zoo.

• Think of a new name for common objects o Ex. Rainbow= painted sky, mountain: pointed plains

• Draw or describe if an object in the office came to life o Recycling bin that yells when you don’t recycle, coffee pot that gives pep talks

• If you could have a superpower that fixed an everyday problem what would it be? o Ex. Always Makes the Green Light Woman, Never Run Out of Milk Man

• Pass a mundane object around the room and have each person try to creatively sell it in only a few sentences

• Divide into teams and build a tower with paper and tape Related to the topic

• Describe the product if it were a person. Where would it live? Shop? Work? Eat? What would it wear? What would it do in its free time?

• Partnership: if the two companies were going on a dream date, what would they do? Wear? Talk about?


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• Just by reading the goal, what is the weirdest idea you can come up with. o Ex. Take every Ram dealer to the moon to play baseball and have a live band

perform while puppies serve everyone freeze dried ice cream • Write down every word that comes to mind when you think of the client • One person gives a solution to a problem and each person in the circle adds on to it

in order of how they are sitting. Once you get to the first person again, another person gives a solution and everyone adds on.

• If this client/product was a person or trend in pop culture, what would it be? • Plan the perfect party for the target audience, do not restrict yourself to reality • If the client/challenge/product/target audience was a fruit, vegetable, Italian dish,

dessert, breakfast food what would it be? **To find additional creative exercises, simply Google “creative exercises or ice breakers for brainstorms”

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