Facilitating Creative Meetings

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“Every new idea is born drowning” said Bob Woodruff. Have you ever been in a group when some creativity was called for and everyone was too scared to suggest an idea in case someone else squashed it?

Most groups that have existed for a long time don’t do ideas very well or leave them to a select few for this very reason. No sooner has a ‘baby’ idea hit the table then it is drowned by practicality worries: “that’ll never work”, “that’s impossible”.

If you are facilitating an ‘ideas’ session put some rules in place first.

• Every idea must be followed by a positive comment. If anyone says anything negative they have to take a forfeit: stand in the corner, wear a silly hat or something.
• There are no good or bad ideas – reserve judgement for later.
• Some ideas are just seedlings and need building. You don’t know which is which yet so suggest all your ideas, half-developed or fully formed. Remember that crap fertilises!
• If you can ‘build’ on someone else’s baby idea give credit and say “My build on Sam’s idea is . . .”
• Headlines only. All you want in a dynamic, fast paced ideas session is the headline. Quantity of ideas rather than detail and development.

Embody also facilitates ideas sessions. Creativity is needed in all sorts of places and organisations. We make the sessions fun because we believe that the best ideas come when we’ve been freed from some of our normal rules. We have experience developing ideas for new marketing strategies, new product concepts, creative communication ideas and qualitative concepts like group vision and purpose.

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