I scribbled this thought when I was waiting for a conference to start a few days ago. The initial seed was planted during an EQ training a few years ago in which the facilitator said: “most brainstorming sessions have a lot of storm, but very little brain.”

What I mean by straight-away brainstorming: after initial instructions, participants are required to participate in a brainstorming session straight away, without giving them a chance (and enough time) to think about the matter(s) being discussed first.

The session will tend to be dominated by strong-willed/aggressive individuals. Other participants, who haven’t had a chance to think deeply about the matter being discussed and haven’t formed their own opinions about it tend to be swayed or influenced easily and end up going along with the general consensus, when later they could’ve had different opinions. Hence, I would let participants go away and give them time (amount of time depends on complexity of subject, but a week should be plenty) to form their own ideas and set the foundation for discussion when all participants come together for a meeting.

Q: Why face to face meeting is still necessary, instead of just via letter/email/phone?

A: Action tend to be more urgently done if told face to face.

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