Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 4c2d1b071c041cc6cc74a33018f34cdb43004aa86751a7141f178027f3042363

# Structured Brainstorming

Participants generate ideas rapidly without critique, group them into common themes on a shared wall, and prioritize the top concepts using dot voting.

**Time:** 40 minutes. WorkshopBank describes a three-phase process without fixed duration; UWT provides a 40-minute structure for generation, clustering, and voting.
**People:** 4 to 24. Whole group with one scribe for 4 to 8 people. For 9 to 24 people, work at parallel tables of 4 to 6 people where each table selects one member as table scribe, then combine notes on a central wall.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Generate and organize a wide range of ideas on a specific challenge while keeping generation strictly separate from evaluation.
**Use it when:** Use when a team needs fresh options for an open challenge and wants a clear structure to prevent haphazard shouting or early critique.
**Skip it when:** Skip when decision criteria are already locked, when an operational task needs immediate execution, or when detailed analytical trade-off analysis is needed.

## Materials and tools

- Flipchart easel and pad (1 pad per breakout table or central wall)
- Roll of masking tape (for hanging flipchart sheets)
- Chisel-tip marker pens (1 per scribe and participant)
- Sticky notes (1 pad per participant or table scribe)
- Sticky dots for voting (3 per participant)

## Before participants arrive

1. Write the central issue question clearly across the top of the main flipchart sheet.
2. Use masking tape to affix blank flipchart sheets side-by-side across the wall space for clustering.
3. Distribute markers and sticky notes to each participant station or table.
4. Place sheets of sticky dots at each seat or table for the final voting step.

## Say this to open

Our goal today is to generate as many ideas as possible on this question. In this first phase, focus entirely on quantity. Say your ideas briefly so your scribe can write them down verbatim, or write them directly onto sticky notes. Remember our rules: no criticism, no bad ideas, free-wheeling is welcome, don't mind repeating or stating the obvious, combine and build on others, and hold all evaluative questions until later. We will sort and evaluate them together in the next phase.

## How to run it

### 1. Set the Brief and Ground Rules (5 minutes)

State the problem clearly. Review the rules: no criticism, quantity over quality, welcome wild ideas, no evaluative questions, state ideas briefly without enlargement, repetition is allowed, and combine or improve ideas. Clarify roles: Issue Owner frames needs; Facilitator protects the process without offering ideas; Scribes record words verbatim; Contributors propose ideas. For groups over 8, assign table scribes.

### 2. Generate Ideas (10 minutes)

Invite participants to call out ideas quickly or write one idea per sticky note. For 4 to 8 people, the scribe records each spoken contribution verbatim on sticky notes. For parallel tables, participants call out ideas to their table scribe or hand written notes to them. Stop at 10 minutes. Neutral example: If the prompt is 'How do we reduce drop-off?', quick ideas include 'Send automated SMS' or 'Cut step three'. Intervene immediately if anyone critiques an idea.

### 3. Cluster and Label Themes (15 minutes)

Have scribes post all notes on the central wall sheets. Invite all participants to come to the wall. For 10 minutes, participants move related notes into adjacent clusters and group duplicates. Anyone may shift a note if they see a different link. Once clusters settle, invite participants to suggest short descriptive labels for each cluster. Write the agreed label above each group. Allow 5 minutes for brief factual clarification if any note is illegible.

### 4. Prioritize and Debrief (10 minutes)

Give each participant 3 sticky dots. Invite everyone to walk to the wall and place dots on the ideas they consider most promising. Participants may put all 3 dots on one note or split them across notes. Count the votes and announce top-scoring concepts. Invite up to three participants to answer one of the debrief questions to close the session.


## Debrief questions

- Which ideas surprised the group or combined two different viewpoints?
- What theme had the highest density of potential solutions?
- What is the immediate next step the Issue Owner will take with these prioritized items?

**Finished output:** A clustered wall of brainstormed ideas organized by theme, with top-voted priority concepts marked by sticky dots.

## Remote

Use a shared digital whiteboard with areas for Idea Generation, Thematic Clusters, and Voting. In Step 1, share the screen to explain the brief, review rules, and clarify roles. In Step 2, participants create digital sticky notes independently in parallel for 10 minutes. In Step 3, all participants work in the board simultaneously to drag related notes into clusters and type theme labels above them. In Step 4, each participant places 3 digital voting dot stamps on their selected notes.

## Hybrid

All participants use a shared virtual whiteboard so contributions stay unified. In-person participants open the board on individual devices or call ideas to a designated room scribe who types them directly into the canvas. Remote participants post directly into the same board. During the grouping phase, everyone moves notes online in parallel. All participants cast their three votes digitally on that shared canvas so counts merge automatically.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may submit ideas aloud to the scribe, write notes quietly by hand, or pass during open generation.
- Voting is optional; participants may abstain or place fewer than 3 dots without explanation.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants start debating or critiquing an idea during generation.**

Gently interrupt and remind the group: 'We are in pure collection mode right now. Let us capture it first; we will assess feasibility during grouping.'

**Idea flow stalls after a few minutes.**

Prompt with reversals or extremes, such as: 'What would make this problem twice as bad?' or 'What would we do if we had zero budget?'


## Terms used here

- Dot Voting: A prioritization method where people place adhesive dots or digital markers on preferred items.
- Issue Owner: The person responsible for the problem who will take action on the final brainstorm outputs.
- Facilitator: The person guiding the session process and enforcing ground rules while offering few or no ideas.
- Scribe: The person who records all ideas verbatim on flipcharts or sticky notes without judging or editing.
- Contributors: All participants actively generating and grouping ideas during the session.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in WorkshopBank as 'Brainstorming', detailing classic Osborn-style brainstorming rules, roles, affinity grouping, and sticky dot voting.

Retained the three-phase flow (idea generation, idea grouping, and idea review with dot voting), four roles, and Osborn rules from WorkshopBank. UWT added a 40-minute schedule, explicit step scripts, role definitions in the glossary, participant-driven cluster labeling, and hybrid instructions using a shared virtual whiteboard.

[WorkshopBank](https://workshopbank.com/brainstorming)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/brainstorming-workshopbank/