Purpose: To creatively encourage brainstorming among participants.

 Time Required: 10 to 25 minutes.

 Size of Group: Unlimited.

 Materials Required: Post-It Notes.

 The Exercise in Action: It’s sometimes tough to get participants into the speak-without-filtering spirit of brainstorming, Julia Ballmer says, because they’re accustomed to being careful about what they say in front of others. To encourage participation, she uses a “silent brainstorming” technique.

Ballmer, a sales representative with American Cyanamid, Madison, WI, gives each participant Post-It Notes, with instructions to address the problem as many ways as possible, and to record just one idea on each note. The method’s anonymity lets people offer ideas they might not have offered orally, she says, and allows for the contribution of far more ideas in a smaller time frame.

Ballmer then asks them to post their ideas randomly on a classroom wall (or flipchart if the group is a small one). When all the ideas are posted, she asks participants to begin categorizing them by hand, without speaking. In this way, participants are exposed to one another’s ideas while developing a sense of structure for the conversation that follows.