Contrary to popular belief, there is much more to brainstorming than just sitting around and waiting for a creative idea to hit you. There are steps that can be followed to help ensure the most productive brainstorming sessions. This tutorial will come in handy to all students in creative fields, but students working in group projects will gain the most benefits.

There is one really big rule to brainstorming that seems to go unnoticed the most. That rule is: During the course of a brainstorming session, ANYTHING GOES! That means that no ideas are discarded, or thought of as ridiculous. All ideas, plans, schemes and even pure fantasies have equal merit. All suggestions should be recorded or written down, and none of the participants should be allowed to negate suggestions.

Getting Started
Brainstorming sessions need to be planned in advance. You should arrange a private place, with as little outside disturbance as possible, keeping in mind how many people will be there. The more people in the group, the more difficult it can be to manage the session, and get the best out of the group. The inexperienced should try to limit the number of participants to twelve or less. Appoint one person as a moderator. While this person can still contribute ideas, his main job is to keep the creative juices flowing. If things stop rolling, he will ask questions, or use techniques to draw participation from the group. There also should be a second person set up to take notes and write down ideas. We will discuss techniques for both of these jobs later.

The Creative Process
Researchers have studied the steps of creativity for decades. While there are several “models” for effective creative idea generation, their similarity can make reviewing all of them a bit tedious. Graham Wallas came up with one of the first Creative Process models, and his ideas still apply well today. He said there were four steps to the Creative Process:

Preparation (definition of issue, observation, and study)

Incubation (laying the issue aside for a time)

Illumination (the moment when a new idea finally emerges)

Verification (checking it out)

Preparation involves specifically defining the reason why a creative solution is needed. This provides focus by eliminating distractions. This phase also includes studying new ideas. Incubation may seem illogical when trying to focus your thinking on the resolution of a problem. But just like ideas coming to you in dreams, or realizing a solution when your thoughts have moved on to a new topic, the incubation stage allows you to open your mind to ideas that you might have discarded or ignored while focused on the issue. Illumination is not exactly the light bulb in your head going off. Ideas don’t always come out of the blue. Illumination can be sorting through the many possible answers you have come up with, and gradually finding the ones that will work. And finally, verification means making sure your creative idea is going to succeed in what you want it to do. If it does not fulfill the task, you may have to go back to other ideas you came up with, or even begin the process all over again.

Where does Brainstorming fit in to all this?
During the preparation phase, when you have identified the problem, it’s time to start coming up with answers. Brainstorming, believed to be first developed by Alex F. Osborne, is the method used to get you thinking outside of “normal” solutions. When you allow yourself to think outrageously, and come up with as many ideas as possible, soon new ideas and connections start to emerge. Even the ridiculous ideas should be considered because they can lead to a new idea that works.

Brainstorming Steps
As mentioned before, it’s important that you plan ahead for a brainstorming session.

• Pick an appropriate place – There should be minimal interruptions, adequate room, something to write with/on, and sometimes the best ideas are found when you get out of your normal environment.
• Appoint a leader – This is not someone to boss the others around. His job is to keep the ideas moving. When there is a lull, he will ask questions or have a prepared activity to get everyone thinking again.
• Have a note taker – This person documents ideas as they are shared. Since there is no judgment at this stage, every idea is written down or recorded. It’s also good to have paper and pens available to everyone. If someone is too shy to speak up, their ideas will not be lost because they can write them down and turn them in to the moderator.
• Explain the rules before you start – Make sure that everyone knows to speak up about the silliest, wildest, craziest ideas. No one should say no to the ideas of others. Be sure your moderator knows to enforce this rule. Judgment is reserved for later in the creative process, and that judgment is reserved only for ideas, not for the person who suggested it.
• Know how much time you want to spend – Set a timer if you need to, but keep brainstorming sessions short. You want to draw the best out of everyone, not mentally exhaust them.
• Wrap up the session – Thank everyone for their help and make sure they know who to contact if they come up with other ideas later.
• Let the ideas incubate – Before making a decision, give your ideas a while to sink in. You may find solutions in one of the crazy ideas that you thought was impossible before.
• Don’t decide yet - Use your notes to help you complete the creative process only after the session is over and you have given the ideas some incubation time.  

The Moderator
This person can still contribute to the brainstorming session, but his primary job is to get people talking. There are many suggestions for this task. Sometimes a moderator will prepare exercises in advance, just to get the participants in the right frame of mind. Make the exercise something fun that has nothing to do with the session at hand. It can involve problem-solving, or simply be a group game to get the participants familiar with each other and started talking.

The moderator is also there to make sure that the group is thinking of ideas without distractions. He needs to understand that silence is not a bad thing, that it can mean that people are formulating ideas. But if people are talking about the ballgame last Saturday, the moderator should encourage them to either rejoin the session, or bring ideas from their conversation to the table to tie in to the brainstorming session. If the whole group seems distracted or disinterested, the moderator should decide if they should take a break, or try an exercise to refocus the participants’ attention.

The Note Taker
This person works with the moderator, writing down ideas that are presented and making connections between them. While linear notes will work, a better way to illustrate ideas from a brainstorming session is presented below. Idea bubbles attach to other idea bubbles to form a chain of thought that is easy to follow at a glance. This can also make it easier to visualize where the strongest and most frequent points are coming from. You can do this on a piece of paper, but it’s best to do it on a whiteboard or giant easel pad, because all participants can see ideas, come back to them, or expand on them later. The note taker also collects any notes or suggestions written down on paper, and after the session is over, will organize them and give a copy to each participant to refer to when it’s time to review and decide which ideas to use.

Tips and Hints for Success

1. Consider NOT inviting teachers, bosses or other supervisors. Participants are more likely to contribute among their peers, without the fear of judgment or intimidation from those with authority over them.
2. Let one idea lead to the next. Association takes you off the beaten path to where fresh ideas can be found.
3. Have small rewards (like fun size candy bars) available to toss to people who come up with outrageous or exciting ideas. Sometimes just a small incentive is enough to get people talking.
4. Keep the session short and light-hearted. Too much brainstorming can take a toll on the group, and actually work against the goal.
5. Think about what time is best. Don’t schedule a session right before lunch or dinner, because hunger can be a big distraction.

All ideas presented are credited to Ben Rosendahl’s research and class presentations, and the following web sites:

www.brainstorming.co.uk

www.mindtools.com