Working virtually as a presenter has its pros and cons. It’s nice to be able to bounce ideas off of partners from anywhere. However, brainstorming virtually takes a different skill set. In-person, the conversation seems to flow freely without connection glitches. Creativity is fueled by the physical whiteboard and the crisp smell of an expo marker in the air. But take those things away, and how do you adjust? We’re here to give you some tips and tricks for your next virtual brainstorming session. Here are a few ways to avoid awkward silence and increase productivity.
Brainstorm Offline First
Ensure each virtual brainstorming partner has had ample time to digest the game plan for the upcoming meeting. This way, they can manifest their own set of ideas to bring to the virtual table. While offline, there are a few different ways to help spark creativity.
- Try bringing a pen and paper on a nature walk. Studies prove walking increases creativity.
- Maybe stay outside for a longer period of time. When unplugging and connecting to nature, creativity is boosted by up to 50%.
- Try taking a shower. Showers have all of the ingredients for a creative epiphany. dopamine, distraction and relaxation
Or, you could try to simply let the boredom in. Research proves that boredom leads to creativity! No matter your tactic for sparking ideas, make sure you jot them down in advance, so you don’t lose your train of thought once the meeting gets going.
Come Together with Intention
First, ensure there is a moderator that is in charge of keeping everyone on-task. While tangents are good and can keep ideas flowing, it’s important to utilize time wisely by designating someone to track progress. The sky is not the limit. Set boundaries and restrictions on ideas to boost creativity. Also, make sure someone is taking notes via a live google sheet everyone can see or your notes app of choice.
Next, don’t sweat the small stuff by setting simple ground rules. Tell the team not to get too hung up on reactions. In fact, encourage dissent—this increases the number of ideas by 25%. Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box, said it well:
“Peoples reactions to ideas: bad ideas, ‘that’ll never work.’ Good ideas, ‘that could work.’ Great ideas, ‘that’ll never work.'”
This is a time to challenge assumptions about your topic of choice. Just remember, when we stop pretending every idea is a good one—we’re better able to find our best ideas. Don’t forget to squeeze ideas out of every single attendee! Use the round-robin approach to get feedback from everyone (even introverts) during virtual brainstorming.
Allow Ideas to Incubate
Brainstorming is not a one-step process. It will inspire, but most often will not finish the job. If you can’t brainstorm the perfect solution, take a break. Sometimes ideas need incubating for days, or even weeks. During incubation, develop some ideas from your live note-taking sheet utilizing the SMART method. Another great tool to solidify ideas is a SWOT analysis. Because inspiration does not always deliver a finished product, taking ideas and fleshing them out helps you decide how to implement them into your final presentation. Use the incubation period to solidify the unfinished ideas from your virtual brainstorming session.
Sometimes, coming up with the right answer starts with asking the right question. Albert Einstein famously said,
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes”.
If you’re ultimately not producing results, re-visit the questions you’re asking. Have questions for us? Our presentation coaches would be happy to help! Let’s do some virtual brainstorming together to make your next presentation your best yet!
