Posters

Crowdsource Your Business Strategy: Tips from Portland Impact

07.02.12

The Portland Impact sessions were organized by Graeme Byrd, President of Net Impact Portland and Business Development & Collaboration Manager at FMYI; Meg Busse, Strategy + Community Consultant at Context Partners; and Jen Schmidt, Senior Development Officer at Mercy Corps. Ted Howes, Director, Advisory Services at Business for Social Responsibility, provided a framework for  brainstorming from his previous work at IDEO:

Defer judgement, especially on your own ideas Encourage wild ideas, but stay focused on the topic at hand Build on the ideas of others, but stick to one conversation at a time Be visual: draw your ideas Go for quantity

Each session started with an intro from an organization representative and a short overview of the challenge they hoped to address. Participants were then asked to spend a few minutes of quiet brainstorming, writing ideas and drawing scribbles on Post-It notes. As soon as the writing slowed, participants were asked to share ideas, sticking them on a poster in the center of table as they described each, and to build on the ideas of others. Before long, a constellation of concepts appeared on each poster, grouped by category. The physical, verbal, and visual aspects of the session kept participants engaged whatever their style, and with careful observation, those facilitating could draw out and expand on ideas from even the quietest attendees.

Source: Triple Pundit