One of the benefits of using Crainstorm to host a session is the ability to choose the right contributors for you and your project. Crainstorm removes the barriers of geography and the reliance on connections to people you know. It also allows you to handpick contributors based on relevance to your project. Here are three tips to picking the right people for your session.
1. Finding Your Team
The trick to picking a well-rounded team is to find the right ratio of people that know their stuff and people that are going to bring something new to the table.
Experts
These are the folks that know their stuff. They know how to execute ideas in your industry, and can use their familiarity with the topic or process to bring information and guidance to the session.
Outsiders
These are the people who can bring an outside perspective to the session. They have the benefit of distance that can be geographical, professional, or personal. These participants can look at the problem without being limited by precedents or constraints that someone familiar with the topic might be limited by. This allows them to bring original and innovative ideas to the table.
Ratio
The ratio you choose will depend on the outcome you want. If you want to shake up your status quo and host a disruptive brainstorm where the sky is the limit on creativity, fill your team with a higher ratio of outsiders. If you want to fine tune an idea with more attention to industry standards or other limitations, fill your team with more experts. Be clear about what you’re looking for in your session description to ensure you’re stacking the deck in your favour.
2. Quality Control
Now that you’ve decided what you want your contributors to bring to the table, it’s important to pick the best possible individuals for the task. This is where Crainstorm’s profile, application and review process comes in.
Every contributor that applies to your brainstorm will have a profile and be prompted to fill out an application that includes a short paragraph about why they are right for your brainstorm. This allows you to see what their strengths are and what they can offer.
You can also look at reviews left by hosts of brainstorms they have already contributed to so you can get a sense of how they performed in past sessions.
If a contributor doesn’t live up to expectations because they are unprepared, or if connection issues prevent them from participating, you have ten minutes at the start of the brainstorm to remove them before you are required to offer them payment.
3. Your Brainstorm, Your Way
The final set of contributors you choose will be a large factor in the success you can expect from your session. Make sure that in addition to a clear goal, you’re selecting contributors that will be a good fit for you as a host. If you’re skilled at keeping people on task, then you may thrive in a session filled with outsiders. If you prefer to run a more grounded session, you may want to examine profiles for more process driven thinkers who may highlight terms like “analytical” or “detail oriented” for participants.
Take full advantage of the variety of contributors you can access through Crainstorm. Don’t be afraid to take a chance on a wild card – wonderful ideas could come from it.
