July, 2015
CREATIVE STORYTELLING: QUICK BRAINSTORMING TIPS TO BREATH LIFE INTO YOUR BIG IDEAS.

Does money grow on trees? Grow that myth into the concept that all your great ideas will simply “happen” and actualize out of the clear blue sky. Great ideation (from start to actualization) does not happen on its own with one individual. That flash of brilliant insight, the light bulb going off, that “aha moment”, is actually only the beginning. The “light bulb” needs to be fed by current, turned on, seen by others, and finally shining light onto new paths. That is where brainstorming “aha moments” as a process is priceless.

Brainstorming as a growth process.
“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” says Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Small “beginnings” can create huge growth when nurtured to follow to a unique growth pattern. Any process you are going to benefit from or share with others does need a plan of action. Brainstorming is no exception. To grow your ideas actually grows all who participate in the ideation session…gets folks and new things going and growing!

Brainstorming 101 tips.
From many years of leading small to large ideation and discovery sessions for branding, new business, events, authentic purpose hunts…here is my take on what it takes to give a great brainstorming session:

1. Brainstorming needs to become part of your business culture.
Create and provide recurrent collaboration opportunities for your business. Single entrepreneurs can form mastermind ideation groups. C-Suites can meet with like minded business associates to form exchange of niche needs. Companies can form teams internally to focus on new ideas, knowledge, and company opportunities for product or service growth. Use your “people resources” to gain new ways of seeing an idea as well as sparking new thoughts.

2. Set down some brainstorming “rules”.
Folks are more used to “commenting” rather than ideating. Here are some 101 rules to follow as you begin your “storming”.
……A. Criticizing and judgments have NO place in quick and fun communications when putting all sorts of creativity to use when brainstorming. There is no such thing as a “bad idea” or a “best idea”. You are collecting ideas! Sessions are for thinking both inside and outside of the box. Every person is unique and has a unique way of seeing and feeling into solutions. A quick fire attitude of “next, next, next” works!
       B. Hire or appoint an official “timer” and “note taker” for your session. Set “time” for responses as well as stick to your promised timeline for the meeting. Put all those thoughts on the wall as folks speak their ideas, get some excitement going, give “sharing” opportunity, and show that all  ideas are appreciated.
       C. There is power in collaboration. If an idea is thrown out by someone, build on it, welcome ideas mingling with other ideas. Nothing is new you know…it is just how you look at something, how you combine, build, and  implement the idea that makes it “new”.
       D. Blue Sky thinking is welcome here! Ideas need not be “proven”, analyzed, restricted. Anything goes. The bigger, the more unusual, the better…just keep on offering “more”.
       E. The more the merrier! Brainstorming is used to come up with as many as possible ideas, comments, thoughts. Rapid fire first thing that comes into one’s thoughts are key to growing and finding brilliant and “gut” formed ideas that lead to new products, solutions.
       F. Set a time for the next brainstorm session, and follow up the current session with visuals and notes to all who have contributed.

3. Follow up is key…connect the dots of your brainstorming.
Take look at your post session notes, find the similarities, the things that repeat themselves. These are your key “dots”…clues to your direction, the benefits or direction your idea is beginning to form. Connect the dots and you will start to “see” your idea’s foundations, architecture, meaning and form.

4. Find your idea “core” along with some pretty neat future thoughts to put in your idea file.
Connecting the dots finds most likely more than one thought. Decide on your main path, then put all the other new repeated ideas into a file you can call “potential” brilliance. Ideas to help you out at a later date are  brainstorming bonus points.

5. Presenting your ideas to others…this means “selling” your idea.
Get teams of folks to jump on board to actualize your great idea. This takes YOU being able to communicate your vision to others!

Brainstorming success: How can you communicate your vision to others?
Plain and simple…share your vision with visuals (along with brief copy of course!). Keep your ideas fresh, simple, focused. A 20 page plus written report will quickly go into the trash…poof, your idea is not seen. From brainstorming meeting visual quick sketch “notes” to sketches of idea conclusions, you can share with all via quick visual sketch storytelling. You can also send out visual sketch “invitations” to your group before the session to flag the positive fun to be had. Pictures communicate quicker than copy blocks…and brainstorming is a quick process. Compare idea “notes” with each other via visuals! Help your team find focus, get everyone on the same “page” and continue the fun exchange of ideas into the future.

Give me a call to begin “picture storming” just about anything you can ideate!

Reach beyond a conclusion.
Brainstorming is infinite, goes beyond what you dream your “aha moments” were meant to go…has no conclusion. The concepts that work best, create greater following, spawn repeated ideation and innovation, are the ideas that reach beyond the norm and outside “the box”. Keep limiting judgments out of your process and follow the genius way of breaking free of convention that Albert Einstein mentions in his quote: “If at first the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it.”

Thanks for your sharing your valuable time and sharing some of my “aha moments”!

I’m Paula Brown; Visual Scribe / Feng Shui practitioner / Author / Animal Communicator. I am a visual storyteller showing you how to IGNITE YOUR STORY, YOUR ENERGY, YOUR WELL-BEING for both business and home. My site is: www.chilightful.com Connect on:  LinkedIn, Twitter. and you can “like” my facebook page at: www.facebook.com/ChiLightful