Quick, Think Of Something! The Art of Quickly Generating Ideas

1. The Art of Quickly
Generating Ideas
AAF Akron
Bryan Huber, Chief Interactive Officer

4. The brain is a wonderful
organ. It starts working
the moment you get up
and does not stop until
you get to the office.
- Robert Frost

5. ✴ Imagination
The 3
✴ Problem-solving
✴ Presentation
Forms
of
Creativity

6. Idea Killers:
• Shyness, Doubt or Fear
• No or Low Expectations
• Not Enough Information
• Impatience
• Creative on Cue

7. The #1 killer
of ideas?

8. a good idea.

9. The Greatest Inhibitor
of Idea Generation…

10. negativity

11. ideas
vs.
answers

12. Never be
satisfied
with one
idea.

13. let’s think
about it
understanding different
types of thought processes

14. Divergent Thinking:
The generation of many
possibilities, even those
without direct applicability
to the immediate subject
matter…

15. Convergent Thinking:
The analysis of all
possibilities to determine
the few ideas with potential
to succeed.

16. Lateral Thinking:
Abandoning an idea entirely
and beginning a completely
new and different thought…
as opposed to modifying an
existing train of thought.

17. let’s do this.
brain exercises

18. prepare yourself to
think creatively:
✴ research
✴ understanding

19. use your
noodle
training your brain

20. I've missed more than 9000 shots in
my career.
I've lost almost 300 games.
26 times, I've been trusted to take
the game winning shot and missed.
I've failed over and over and over
again in my life.
And that is why I succeed.
-Michael Jordan

21. Household
Appliance

23. The rules:
✴ All things are possible
✴ No boundaries exist
✴ No ideas are bad
✴ No negative comments
✴ Do not withhold ideas
✴ Humor and outrageous thought
encouraged

24. Household
Appliance!

25. More
Techniques

26. Brain
Showering
Requires a high level of energy,
and usually works because there
is little time to violate the rules
of Brainstorming.
✴ All brainstorming rules apply.
✴ Spend five minutes explaining the
problem and parameters.
✴ Spend five minutes on rapid-fire divergent
thinking.
✴ Spend five minutes on convergent
thinking based on divergent thinking
ideas
✴ Spend final five minutes deciding who will
do what with which ideas

27. Affinity
Diagrams
Organizing ideas into
common themes.
Can be used to:
✴ Draw out common themes from a large
amount of information.
✴ Discover previously unseen connections
between various ideas or information.
✴ Brainstorm root causes and solutions to a
problem.

28. Mind
Mapping
The art of tornado notes. Great
by yourself or with a group.
✴ Start with a blank sheet of paper.
✴ In the middle of the paper, write the
problem.
✴ Encircling the problem, write down
everything that occurs to you - do not limit,
edit or censor yourself.
✴ Work quickly without stopping.
✴ Finish when you’ve “run dry”, usually takes
10 to 15 minutes
✴ Take a break and come back later.

29. Chair
Jousting
Need at least two people
“jousting” and one person
taking notes. Works well with
larger groups.
✴ State the problem.
✴ Take turns and be fearless.
✴ Work quickly without stopping.
✴ Build on ideas or use lateral thinking.
✴ Use notes to conduct convergent thinking.
✴ Take a break and come back later.

30. SCAMPER
A checklist for either direct
suggestions or as starting points
for lateral thinking.
S: Substitute - components, materials, people
C: Combine - mix, combine with other
assemblies or services, integrate
A: Adapt - alter, change function, use part of
another element
M: Modify - increase or reduce in scale,
change shape, modify attributes (e.g. color)
P: Put to another use
E: Eliminate - remove elements, simplify,
reduce to core functionality
R: Reverse - turn inside out or upside down

31. Ask A Child
See the world through
fresh eyes.
✴ Why is the sky blue?
✴ Where does wind come from?
✴ How can we sell more widgets?
✴ The work of Jean Piaget

32. The
Elusive
Obvious
✴ Theodor Geisel

33. Share and
Fertilize
Your Ideas
✴ Seeds vs. Flowers

34. More…
Idea Generating Techniques
✴ Imitation
✴ Musicians, artists, athletes do it.
✴ Inspiration
✴ Go to a museum. Read magazines. Go the
movies. Put creative apps on your phone.
Go to the library. Attend a play.
✴ Elimination
✴ Throw out the first idea
✴ Accidental Revelation
✴ Visualization
✴ Repeated Examination

36. …Still More
Idea Generating Techniques
✴ Google
✴ FFFFound
✴ http://ffffound.com/
✴ Visual Thesaurus
✴ http://www.visualthesaurus.com/
✴ Wordoid
✴ http://wordoid.com/
✴ Tagline Generator
✴ http://taglinegenerator.com/
✴ YouTube
✴ http://youtube.com/

37. Regular breaks enhance problem-
solving skills significantly, in part
by making it easier for workers to
sift through their memories in
search of relevant clues.
Creativity and the Mind: Discovering the Genius Within
Thomas B. Ward, Ronald A. Finke, Steven M. Smith

38. Tools

43. Do, or
do not.
There is
no try.

44. Go out there
and have fun!
THANK YOU!

45. Connect with me.
in/bryanhuber @bryanhuber
paulwerth.com or huberandco.com