By Marvin Ng

Brainstorm is a common methodology for generating ideas.  It is especially effective when conducted in larger groups of people.  Here are the steps to conducting your own brainstorming session:

1. Assemble your group of participants in a relaxed environment.
2. Bring along a white board or a chalkboard and assign one person (preferably with good hand writing) to be in charged of taking down notes on the board.
3. Define the problem/challenge by describing it concisely.  Ensure that everyone understand it and agree with the way it is worded.
4. Start the ‘brainstorming’ by inviting everyone to shout out their ideas to solve the problem.  The note keeper will write them out on the board.  No ideas must be criticized at this stage, no matter how silly or impossible they sound.
5. Once the time is up, select 3-5 ideas that the group likes best. 
6. Now, write down the selection criteria for the ideas.  4-5 key criteria usually work well.
7. Give each idea a score of 0-10 depending on how well it meets each criterion.   Tally the total score for each idea and select the one with the highest score.
8. However, it is useful to keep a record of your best ideas as the selected idea may not be workable.

COPYRIGHT(C) 2002 By Marvin Ng

-----------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marvin Ng provides how-to advice on start-up and business issues.  Visit http://www.startupcafe.com to get useful start-up advice and interesting business ideas.  Become a subscriber of our online e-zine and draw inspiration and ideas from the stories of other seasoned entreprenurs.  mailto:subscribe@startupcafe.com