29. POST-IT VOTING

* With this arsenal of techniques, we really should be able to generate some excellent ideas to solve pretty much any brief.

* However, as the ideas start to flow, it is easy for sessions to become unruly, and one nasty consequence is that the attendees unintentionally spend far too much time on ideas that aren’t in truth going to be very helpful. This is often not noticed amongst the enthusiasm and energy of the session.

* An excellent way to keep a regular handle on how productive the session is proving to be is to use the Post-It Voting technique.

* As soon as an idea is sufficiently articulated, capture it on a chart and stick it on a wall. As the session unfolds, the facilitator needs to assess either whether there are enough ideas to review, or if sufficient time has elapsed to justify a review.

* At this point, call a break for everyone else and, whilst they are smoking cigarettes or checking their mobiles, organise the material in a suitable format for review.

* When they come back in, give them all Post-It notes and ask them to vote for what they regard to be the most promising ideas.

* There are many variations to this. You can give them a limited number of votes (perhaps 3). You can ask for a rank order of 1, 2, 3 (using different note colours). Or you can just do it with pens.

* This allows you to eliminate unfruitful routes as you go along.