25 Rules for a Perfect Brainstorm | InnovationManagement.

A nicely structured article that touches on how to organize a brainstorming session. From planning to hiring cartoonists that will display ideas in a visual-friendly way, it’s all in there.

One practice that was not mentioned in the article and can lead to a better session is to have a warmup brainstorm before the actual session. Take a fun topic and allow 15-20 min for people to get in the idea generation mood. The timing can be adjusted, I often keep the session just as long as it takes people to get really enthusiastic on playing with ideas and comfortable with the group.

I sometimes review some guidelines at the end of this warmup session, as it is a great opportunity to observe who is more talkative, more prone to criticize, shy etc.