{"id":569,"date":"2015-10-08T17:24:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T17:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staff.ncsy.org\/education\/?p=569"},"modified":"2015-11-02T16:53:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T16:53:06","slug":"how-to-brainstorm-techniques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staff.ncsy.org\/education\/how-to-brainstorm-techniques\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Run an Effective and Engaging Brainstorming Session"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-584\" src=\"http:\/\/staff.ncsy.org\/content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/brain-300x154.jpg\" alt=\"brain\" width=\"300\" height=\"154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staff.ncsy.org\/content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/brain-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/staff.ncsy.org\/content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/brain.jpg 780w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Brainstorming can effectively generate new ideas from your teens for projects for the year or new solutions to problems. Traditional brainstorming, however, plays to the strengths of extroverts (those willing to speak up during a meeting), only engages one person at a time, and leads to groupthink. This happens because only one idea is proposed at a time, and participants will create new ideas in response to that idea rather than come up with their own ideas or something radically different. Sometimes, ideas also get shot down right after they are proposed, with no time to breathe or consider them in depth.<\/p>\n<h2>Quick-as-a-Storm Brainstorming<\/h2>\n<p>In this post, you will learn a 3-step methodology for brainstorming that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Guarantees <strong>100% participation<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Creates a culture of <strong>optimism<\/strong> and <strong>\u201cHow do we make this work?\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Generates more specific ideas in <strong>less time<\/strong> than traditional brainstorming does<\/li>\n<li>Works in <strong>all types of groups<\/strong> &#8211; whether\u00a0large or small<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Step 1: Setting the stage<\/h2>\n<p><strong>What essential question is your team trying\u00a0to answer?<\/strong> (For example: <em>How can we improve our JSU Clubs? How can we recruit more teens from public high school? How can we make our chapter more welcoming, or more\u00a0exciting?)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Write that question on a posterboard and place it in front of the room. For a larger group, you can choose several brainstorming questions, then\u00a0break up the room into smaller groups\u00a0and allow each group\u00a0to select which question they are most passionate about. You can even ask them in advance to generate the pool of\u00a0questions. For example, the room can be divided into 6 sections including <em>Israel Advocacy<\/em>, <em>Life After High School<\/em>, <em>Education<\/em>, <em>Student Leadership<\/em>, <em>Social Action<\/em>, and <em>Personal Growth<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PRO TIP:<\/strong> The more <strong>focused<\/strong> your\u00a0question is, the more focused the responses will be. <em>\u201cHow can we make our organization better?\u201d<\/em> will generate much more bland and vague responses than, \u201c<em>How can we improve our educational events?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Step 2: Writing it Down<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Give each\u00a0participant\u00a0an\u00a0index card<\/strong> on which they can\u00a0write an idea to answer your\u00a0question (e.g.\u00a0<em>\u201cWe need more relevant educational topics\u201d<\/em> or <em>\u201cWe need more exciting events\u201d<\/em>). Answers\u00a0should be as specific and detailed as possible.<\/p>\n<p>After they are done writing, <strong>each person will pass\u00a0their index card to the person on their left, <\/strong>who has 30 seconds to contribute a<strong> <em>clarifying question<\/em><\/strong> (e.g.\u00a0<em>How do we find out what is relevant?<\/em>) and\/or a <strong><em>constructive comment<\/em><\/strong> (e.g.\u00a0<em>Here are the topics I would enjoy hearing<\/em>). At the end of the round, everyone will review their index cards with all the other participants&#8217; feedback and questions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PRO TIP:<\/strong>\u00a0Before you begin this activity, emphasize the role that\u00a0constructive feedback plays in moving ideas forward. Encourage participants to maintain\u00a0the mindset of \u201cWhy <strong>can<\/strong> this work?\u201d and the need to let\u00a0ideas breathe, before coming up with reasons why an idea might fail.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PRO TIP:<\/strong> Since everyone is writing to themselves, people who are usually less comfortable speaking up will still have the\u00a0opportunity to share their thoughts and feedback.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PRO TIP:<\/strong> This activity also builds a positive group dynamic of collaboration and constructive feedback. Make this point explicit to all participants.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Step 3: Revise and Discuss<\/h2>\n<p>Participants\u00a0should receive their original cards back and read the group&#8217;s comments. They should then <strong>present their idea to the group along with the relevant feedback<\/strong>. Now, when you have a group discussion about these ideas, every participant has contributed an idea\u00a0as well as given\u00a0feedback on everyone else\u2019s ideas.\u00a0An environment of collaboration and building upon ideas has already been created.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PRO TIP:<\/strong> This also creates a space for participants\u00a0to practice their public speaking skills.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Alternative Program: Gallery Walk<\/h2>\n<p>If you want to keep the essence of this activity the same, but generate even more ideas, then give the participants\u00a0a pile of index cards\u00a0(or write on a\u00a0posterboard) and ask them to <strong>generate as many ideas as possible in 2 minutes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Afterwards, <strong>post the results around the room<\/strong> and give everyone <strong>post-it notes<\/strong> (<em>green<\/em> for constructive comments and <em>yellow<\/em> for clarifying questions) and let them walk around the room commenting on every proposal. This provides more physical activity and a visual element to the program. As a variation, participants can even use stickers\u00a0to vote for their preferred proposals.<\/p>\n<p>After the time is up, continue from Step 3 above.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PRO TIP:<\/strong> A \u201cgallery walk\u201d just means that you post items around the room (like an art gallery) and allow the participants to view and interact with them. As a methodology, it gets people out of their seats, tends to be visually oriented, and can vary the energy of your program.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>If you have any new ideas, comments, or suggestions, let me know at <a href=\"mailto:marc.fein@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\">marc.fein@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Marc Fein<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Follow this simple, easy-to-implement 3-step process to maximize your brainstorming sessions and generative innovative ideas to improve your programming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marc-feins-programmatic-diary","tag-brainstorming"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - 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