3 Tips To Level-Up Your Next Brainstorm

2 comments

3 Tips To Level-Up Your Next Brainstorm

Everyone brainstorms differently. After all, it is called a BRAINstorm — and everyone’s brain works a little differently. Here at Rocketbook, we’re constantly brainstorming by putting our astronaut helmets together to make your wildest productivity dreams come true. From that brainstorm experience, we’ve found there are 3 key elements that will make or break any brainstorming session.

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Power Up Your Brain

First things first: it’s simple, but before beginning, be sure to define your brainstorm’s goal. Are you brainstorming an idea? A team structure? A fundraiser? Whatever it may be, make sure the goal is clear to everyone involved. Once you’ve completed this first step, follow these three tips to ensure your next brainstorming session is out of this world:

  1. Create a Judgement-Free Zone
  2. Quantity = Quality
  3. Document Your Ideas

TIP #1: Create A Judgement-Free Zone

Like Winston Churchill said, “No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered.” (Churchill would have been an excellent Rocketbook employee.) When brainstorming, make sure everyone involved knows that no idea is a bad idea. People don’t always feel comfortable sharing their ideas due to fear of rejection, so it’s important to keep a judgment-free zone. Sometimes the most ridiculous ideas can spark the most impactful ones. The more inclusive a brainstorm’s atmosphere is, the more creative the ideas will be. Similarly, don’t let the voices of a few dominate the conversation — it’s important to make sure all opinions and ideas are heard.

Rocketbook Hack: Brainstorming from different parts of the galaxy can be difficult. Use Snapcast mode in the Rocketbook app with a notebook or Beacons to share a live feed of your notes with the entire team. 

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Use Snapcast for effective remote brainstorms.

TIP #2: Quantity = Quality

Usually, it’s said that quality is more important than quantity. For brainstorms, let’s leave that ideology at the door! For a successful session, it’s important to get as many ideas on the table and then refine them into actionable steps. In step 1, the idea is to encourage the wildest of ideas, while step 2 encourages throwing out as many ideas as possible, no matter how seemingly obvious they might be.

Rocketbook Hack: Jotting down lots of ideas and capturing them with Snapcast can be frustrating if the Rocketbook app is constantly scanning. To fix this problem, set the snapcast scan-interval to 15, 30, or 60 settings. You can learn more about this feature here.

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Change the scan frequency to make it easier to ideate and collaborate with Snapcast.

TIP #3: Document Your Ideas

What’s a brainstorm if the ideas aren’t documented and shared with all participants? It’s fleeting like space dust or a shooting star. But if you assign one person to take notes during the session, your brainstorm will be as permanent as a planet. A common space for capturing a brainstorm is a whiteboard. At the end of your session, digitize your notes with a photo or by scanning with the Rocketbook app and Beacons.

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Photo vs. Scan (Rocketbook App)

Rocketbook Hack: Whiteboard marker running out of ink? Use science! Tie a string to the back of the dried-out marker, and spin it around in the air above your head. The centripetal force will pull the ink towards the marker’s tip and give it some extra idea-capturing life.

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Veteran teacher, Sandy Owens, demonstrates an amazing whiteboard hack.

Start Brainstorming Better

Ideation is a useful skill for all areas of life and all occupations. Next time you’re involved in a brainstorm session, whether you’re the leader or not, try to incorporate the three tips we’ve laid out here. Allow everyone’s voice to be heard without judgement, encourage all quirky ideas, and no matter how you capture everything that’s being said, make sure it’s saved in a way that’s easy for everyone to access. We hope these tips will help put that cranium to good use and make your next brainstorming session a success.


2 comments

Delores Murphy
Delores Murphy

Thanks for the hacks.

Klee
Klee

I like those ideas-very inclusive. It’s also always good to be reminded of Churchill’s way :)

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