Who is this guide for?

This guide gives you a structured approach to facilitating an ideation workshop. From brainstorming cards to analogy thinking tips and warm-up exercises, it contains the tools you need to host your own session. We read all the research, facilitated a gazillion ideation workshops, spoke to a lot of facilitators, and then summarized the best information and advice in this highly actionable how-to booklet. You’ll find 3 possible agendas, from a 1-day workshop to a morning session, as well as step-by-step instructions on how to use several proven ideation tools. Adapt the instructions to suit your business goals, whether you’re ideating for new product development or to optimize internal systems. We believe in creating positivity in the world by empowering people to innovate. And there’s nothing quite so empowering as enabling people to be creative and come up with the next innovative idea.

5 examples from this guide

1. 3 agendas for a 1-day ideation workshop.
In this playbook, you’ll find 3 detailed agendas which you can use to host your own ideation day.
2. What is ideation?
Find a detailed explanation of what ideation is and how you can use it in a corporate environment.
3. Where does ideation stand in the innovation process?
Ideation is the first step in the innovation process, right? Wrong! Innovation doesn’t start with ideation. Before you host an ideation session, you need to do empathy research and define a problem that’s worth solving. In other words, coming up with new ideas (for services or products) is pointless if you’re ideating over problems that your audience isn’t facing.
4. Learn about the 4 golden rules of ideation.
Rule #1: There are no bad ideas
Rule #2: Capture everything
Rule #3: Go for hybrid brainstorming
Rule #4: Quantity over quality (yes, really)
5. Practical information.

How do you host an ideation workshop? Who can facilitate? Who can participate? How many people should be involved? Which tools do you need? 

Download our ideation guide to find answers to all these questions and more.