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A bunch of interesting suggestions from Jeffrey Cufaude's "Beyond Brainstorming" session:

- Don't put meeting attendees under pressure to have fun. Not everyone has fun in the same way.

- Make sure there is time for introverts to share their ideas too--having time where everyone writes their ideas on index cards instead of saying them aloud is one way to do this.

- Have a symbolic "coat check" where everyone can check their negative attitudes or their traditional thinking.

- Think about how you personally can contribute your strengths to the meeting in ways that don't end the conversation. For instance, if you tend to have a lot of ideas and dominate the conversation, turn some of your ideas into questions that could lead to others contributing their thoughts.

- Idea generation should be ongoing, not just something we do on Tuesday from 3-4 pm.

- When holding an idea generating meeting with all members of the staff and the full board, one association tried to defuse the hierarchy by creating "nametags" for everyone with photos of him or her as a baby. It emphasized that everyone was equal--they were all babies once--and symbolically put them in the mindset of a brand-new learner.

- "If we only talk about what's desireable, nothing cool is ever going to happen."--Jeffrey Cufaude

- If you try to gather ideas online, it helps to give everyone a requirement--for instance, everyone must log in for 15 minutes each week and contribute ideas. If you leave it open-ended, you may find that no one makes the time to log in.

- Behavior is a function of people interacting with their environment--look at the people you have and build an environment that will help them to be creative and generate ideas.

- Watch the rhythm of your session--balance all-out, high-energy idea generation with time for the group to catch its breath. A whole day of all-out brainstorming can be as boring as running on a treadmill.