Last week I attended Brighton SEO.
This superb event is not only on my doorstep, but it’s free to attend (assuming you are super quick off the draw – this one sold out in 11 minutes).
I always come away from the event with a long ‘To Do’ list with lots of great new tools and websites to check out.
Highlights from last week’s session include Image Raider (who’s been stealing your photos), Responsinator (how sites look on mobile) and Simitator (all sorts of fun with fake Tweets!).
Brainwriting – the 6-3-5 route to creativity
My favourite speaker of the day was Stacey Cavanagh from Tecmark. Her presentation (‘The Habits That Land You Links‘) was excellent, but what particularly stood out was her thoughts on ‘brainwriting’.
This method was developed in the 1960s by German Bernd Rohrbach. It’s a simple and effective way to come up with ideas.
The advantage of brainwriting over brainstorming is that dominant individuals do not take over the flow of ideas, and the whole group dynamic can be harnessed.
The 6-3-5 Method
In this context, you need 6 people, a target of 3 ideas and 5 minutes allocated to come up with them. There is no discussion or talking during this stage.
- The group is briefed on the task and the target audience, with any limitations and as much detail as feasible.
- Using a pre-set form, each person writes their ideas down, then once the five minutes are up, they pass the form to their right.
- Each person now reads the three ideas in front of them and adds three new ones. They can be related to the original ones, or completely new.
108 ideas in 30 minutes
Thirty minutes later and you have 108 ideas, already written down.
Someone will have to sort and make decisions on the ideas, but you’ll have plenty to work with, and those ideas will have come from the group as a whole, rather than the loudest individuals.
Try it and see how you get on. We think it’s a winner.
Article by Iain Martin
1 comment
Stacey Cavanagh says:
Apr 29, 2014
Thanks very much for the mention, Iain. Glad your found the brainwriting interesting. It’s been great fornus!