Facilitating a brainstorm - managing the event

A skilled facilitator can make a huge difference to the success (or otherwise) of a brainstorm or creative thinking session - and this starts with how the event is set up. 

Once you have the objectives of the session agreed, you can start planning it. 

The first thing to think about is timing. Of course, this may be more fixed than you'd like - the only day people are available, or by the demands of the job (for example, if you have to do it within the next couple of days to have the ideas ready by a certain time). 

But if you can be more flexible, think about the best day of the week. Mondays for many organisations are a no-no - Thursdays and Fridays are often best. Consider the availability of the people you'd like to involve, even the best time of day. 

I like to choose either early morning (before people have been caught up in day-to-day problems) or late afternoon (but use energisers and hands-on exercises to keep post-lunch energy levels up). 

How long should the session last? Anything from an hour to a day or two - as long as you are creative about the agenda (yes, even brainstorms should have an agenda or plan, even if it's only shared by the facilitator and problem-owner).

Next is venue. My preference would always be to go off-site, if only because in my experience the simple act of changing environment changes thinking. However, unless you can "borrow" another building or meeting room, going off-site will almost inevitably cost money.

But whether you stay in-house or go off-site, I'd implore you to be creative about the venue too. 

Is there natural light? Can you get up and move around? Can you be flexible with the layout of the rooms? Is it fit for purpose? In other words, does it have the right AV or can you take your own? Does it have flipcharts and white-boards if you need them? Are there areas which let you break the team up into smaller thinking groups? And no, you don't need expensive breakout rooms, just different areas like a lounge, bar, or garden. 

Think about attendees - who must attend? Who else could you invite - clients or customers? People from other teams? Outside experts? And about how you'll invite them, and what you'd like them to do in advance of the session. 

And finally, start thinking about what you'll need for the session itself - how will you inspire great thinking? Take a look at "How to Headsurf" at www.headsurfing.com for some ideas. Think about music, exercises, and what stimulus you might use to provoke creative thinking. 

Now all you have to do is manage the process, manage the people, manage timing and manage the outcome - but more on those in my next blog.

Presentation tip - play it, don't say it

This week I have a special guest at the Professional Speakers Chapter I run – John Cremer from Brighton.

John runs The Maydays, one of the UK’s leading improvisational comedy groups – I have performed with them quite a few times, and enjoyed (almost) every second!

I saw him speak in South Africa recently, and was struck with how good he is at translating what he’s saying into what he’s doing.

Of course, John has an acting background, but anyone, yes anyone, can put more performance and action into their presentations – and you should try it.

I call it "play it, don't say it". Look for passages in your presentation where you are describing a scene, or telling a story, and use movement, body language, facial expression to bring the piece alive.

Watch friends telling stories in the pub – they become animated, adding gestures, pulling faces, and acting out what actually happened. Try the same in your next presentation – bringing your talk alive will bring your audience alive too.

Creativity Tip - Improve your facilitation skills

I’ve been working with a great new client over the last couple of weeks – the makers of three (if not four) of my favourite whiskies.

As well as doing the opening keynote at their conference (which was a blast) they asked me to train some of their key staff in facilitating brainstorms – so that during the conference we could run several creative thinking sessions simultaneously, getting the most out of them.

The ability to run a meeting properly is a great skill to have – it cuts down on wasted time, keeps energy levels up, and helps your colleagues to look forward to meetings rather than hate them.

The first tip I’d give you is that The facilitator’s key responsibility is to ensure the meeting achieves its objectives.

There’s no other point to facilitating – indeed, there’s no other point to any meeting.

Of course, step one is to have objectives in the first place. Ever been to a meeting that seemed to have no objective, no process, and no point? Thought so.

I’ll put up the key tasks of the facilitator – managing the meeting, managing people and managing process included – as well as tips and strategies for success on this blog over the next couple of weeks.

To learn the skills you need to get the most out of your sessions, keep reading the tips.