Light Bulb Man! The Superhero of Rapid Fire Ideas

GETTING STARTED CAN BE THE HARDEST PART of a brainstorm. And while I’m normally not much for icebreakers, team-builders, or gimmicky exercises, there is one technique that I’ve found is consistently both fun and productive. More important, it’s a perfect way to build momentum when you need it the most.

Here’s the the simple two-step process: 

Short and Solo Ideation

Give your brainstorm participants one or more specific, probing questions designed to get at key aspects of your brainstorm topic. Give them one to two minutes to jot down as many ideas, insights, or associations in response to the question(s) as they can — individually and silently. You should prepare your questions in advance and avoid the overly broad, obvious or clichéd. (“How can we get more media attention?” is essentially useless, for example. “What surprised you the first time you tried Product X?” is far more productive.) 

Toss and Tell Rapid Fire Sharing

Call time after no more than two minutes. Explain that you’re going to toss out an object at random. (I use a rubber squeeze ball in the form of a faceless light bulb character with arms and legs, simply because he — I suppose I should say “it” — was handy the first time I tried this and people have asked for him ever since. Not surprisingly, we call him “Light Bulb Man.”) Whoever catches it quickly tells the group at least one of the things they wrote down. If they feel like it, they can share several or all of them. When the talker is done with his or her turn, he or she then tosses Light Bulb Man to someone else at random, and the process continues until everyone has gone and all ideas have been shared.

Important …

• No Builds. Absolutely key — and this is counterintuitive — is that no one is to comment or build on the ideas as they’re shared. I state up front that the only person who gets to talk is the person holding Light Bulb Man. Your objective with this technique is to get as many thoughts up on the flip chart as quickly as possible. Typically, with six to 10 participants, you should end up with 25 or so ideas in about 10 minutes — as many as 40 on a good day. Only after a rapid fire round of Light Bulb Man should you go into more traditional building, combining and extended brainstorming. Remember, this is about building traction quickly at the start of a session. There will be a sort of pent-up energy of additional ideas that will pour forth as soon as you’re done with the rapid fire round and go into builds, which will drive even more momentum.
• Anything Throws. Obviously, you don’t have to use Light Bulb Man. Use anything you prefer or have handy as long as it won’t wound or shatter glass. (I’ve found most people can’t throw or catch worth a damn around a conference table. That’s part of what makes this fun.) If possible, use something related to the brainstorm topic.
• Keep it Moving. Your job is to keep the talker-of-the-moment focused on stating the core idea and then moving on. This isn’t the time for details and depth. Get the idea out then get on with it. You also want to make sure everyone gets a turn. If you have participants on a speaker phone, make sure someone tosses Light Bulb Man to them too.

The Rapid Fire Light Bulb Man approach is not only a great way to kick off a session, but also can be useful in longer think-tanks to change up the pace of things and refresh the energy in the room. I use it frequently to start any new line of exploration in longer brainstorms, perhaps two or three times throughout the session.

This technique is especially effective to jump-start a session if you’ve done a pre-storm, as I outlined in a recent post. The assignment you give participants at the end of your pre-storm will drive an opening Light Bulb Man round.

Don’t underestimate the need to carefully plan the questions you use to start the exercise. More about the power of questions in a future post. For now, a good thought-starter is my list of question-framing techniques.

It’s easy to ignore this idea, but give it a try. People like the simple physical activity of it. They make fun of bad throws and bungled catches, and that laughing and joking relaxes bodies and minds, which creates an environment much more conducive to creativity than a somber discussion of “what can we do?”

If you do give it a try, let me know how it goes. Until then …

What other techniques do you use to get a good brainstorm started?
 

 
© 2009 John Armato

Comments

[cheap uggs]

red bottom shoes
cheap ugg boots
cheap ugg boots
cheap ugg boots
UGG Adirondack
UGG Bailey Button
UGG Classic Short Aqua
UGG Classic Short Aqua Sea

[Shop Cheap Moncler Jackets]

With the development of technology moncler jackets outlet at that time, cable car appeared. Skiing traditions are completely changed moncler jackets men. Slide past each skier must be on foot before climbing to the mountains, women moncler coats such activities is that they will not feel cold.