What is the opposite of what we want? Get the group to describe, in detail, the opposite of what you want to have happen. What’s the worst web navigation design possible? This never fails to get people to smile, and dig in. It’s just so much fun to work the other way for once. The trick here is that before people know it, they’re sharing ideas, being clever, and communicating well. At the peak of momentum, shift gears the other way. “Ok. We have a horrible design. How do we achieve the opposite of this?” You’ll be surprised at how original some of the ideas that follow will be.

Random theme generators: (This works only for design related brainstorming) Before the meeting, make a big list of adjectives, colors, verbs, and attributes that might or might not apply to the project (20 or 30 of each). Write them on index cards, but keep them in stacks. Shuffle each stack. Then pick one from each, and try to design something for it. “Agile blue focused”. What features would a car/website/software/sneaker with these attributes have? Or go through the list of adjectives and verbs and get the group to pick the ones that are most interesting in relation to the problem at hand. Papernak’s Design for the real world has a set of these, but other there are similar kits you can buy (Anyone know of other kits? This was the only one I could find. Let me know if you recommend others.)

Rotate: Anyone, at any time, can call out “rotate” and everyone in the room has to get up from where they are sitting, and move to the chair to their left. I have no evidence to prove it, but I’m convinced moving around physically helps people to move around mentally. It’s usually the facilitator that calls this out when people get stuck, or the energy doesn’t feel right. Bonus points for getting people to do the hokie pokie (a stupid childhood dance) or something silly that makes them laugh and let down their guard.

Roadblock removal: Eliminate assumed constraints. Tell the group there is no limit on costs, or time, or other resources. They can think as big or expensive as their minds allow. Think of other constraints that the group is assuming. Business? Political? Customer? Take the biggest ones you can find and get rid of them. Removing a roadblock might free new directions of ideas that wouldn’t have been considered otherwise.

Roadblock introduction: Come up with some ridiculous new constraint to the problem. The goal isn’t to make it harder, just to force people’s creative muscles to work differently. Suggest that everyone that uses the product will be right handed, or that the website can only work in Arabic (or some other non-Western language). Make the problem as difficult as possible: pretend the budget for the project has to be $50 or less, or that instead of the 2 months to write specifications, there are only 2 days. Don’t let people cop-out: push them to work with the problem. This can often shake people up into action, challenged by the insanity of the problem, and protected by the feeling that since it’s a ridiculous situation, there are no bad answers. Guaranteed they be stretched creatively, find new ways of thinking about the work, and will be relieved or energized to return to the real constraints.

I’ve used many of these, but will add the rest to my toolkit.  What are your best brainstorming tips?

Next time you’re tempted to ask your attendees (whether at a CLE or Law Firm Retreat) to complete a lengthy, multi-page evaluation form, try something a bit different:  ask them for a one-sentence evaluation instead.

I’ve been doing this for a while and what I’ve found is the insights I get when I ask everyone in the room to give me a few words of  feedback is that I get much more insightful stuff from them that the “circle-a-number-between-one-and-five” evaluations lack.

In my last customer service retreat, done for a bar association’s entire staff (including lots of folks who never interact with customers), I had a tough audience.  About half of the audience didn’t want to take a day off from work to discuss things they felt weren’t relevant to their jobs.  However, after a pretty engaging day, my “one-sentence evaluations” included such honest gems as:

• This actually wasn’t too bad.  Thanks!
• Better than I thought it would be!
• I didn’t fall asleep.

as well as:

• I thought it was creative, thought provoking & encouraged forward thinking. Great job.
• Many new ideas learned while creating whole-office camaraderie — realized we’re all working toward the same goal.
• Thanks for helping people to think outside the box!

Not only did I get a very good sense of how the audience liked the presentation, but I also came home with 50+ “testimonials” I can use in my marketing materials.

Do you see a place for these one-sentence evaluations in your conferences?  Let me know if you try them.  I’d love to hear how they’ve worked for you.

At your next conference or firm retreat, don’t give out attendance prizes.  Give out idea prizes instead in an “Idea Lottery.”

From Creativity expert Michael Mihalko:

Have an “idea lottery,” using a roll of numbered tickets. Each time a person comes up with a creative idea, he or she receives a ticket. At the end of [the event], share the ideas … and then draw a number from a bowl. If the number on anyone’s ticket corresponds to the number drawn, he or she gets a prize.

This is an easy-to-implement idea that could add some fun and interest to your next firm retreat.  Just make certain you prepare your audience before the event so they can get their thinking caps on.

1.  Each practice group delegates one lawyer to attend each of the other practice group meetings (whether they’re standalone meetings or part of a larger firm retreat).

2.  In a very short one-minute introduction, each outsider shares the kinds of clients their group serves and the types of work they do.

3.  Then, in a quick five-minute presentation, each practice group “outsider” presents a Letterman-esque Top Ten List, titled: “The Top Ten Ways Your Clients Could Use Us, But Probably Aren’t.”  The list should focus on new legal developments, common “gotcha’s” and non-obvious ways that the practice group’s lawyers could add value to existing relationships.

4.  Give an award for the best, funniest and/or most creative Top Ten List from all the Practice Groups.

5.  Distribute the Top Ten lists to every attorney in the firm.

The presentations can either be done in regular practice group meetings (as a monthly agenda item), or in a series of 5-10 rapid-fire presentations (one for each practice group, a la Ignite Law) that take place at the firm-wide retreat.

The unique format will capture the audience’s attention and, ultimately, keep more client business inside the firm.

If you begin your law firm retreat planning with last year’s agenda, you’re doing it wrong.

Instead of beginning your planning with the agenda from the year before, why not start with a blank sheet of paper and build a law firm retreat that delivers what your attorneys want and need?

Begin by asking your firm management and a representative group of the firm’s lawyers these three questions:

1. What is a great outcome of the retreat for our attorneys?  What do they want to learn, see, do or accomplish that can only occur when they’re all together?  If collaboration and networking top the list, the retreat will look much different than one designed to deliver information and learning.
2. What is a great outcome of the retreat for our firm?  What three things does the firm need from the retreat?  What does the firm want its lawyers to do, practice or learn?  What does the firm want to learn from its lawyers?
3. What do we do at our retreats that we’ve always done?  Make a list of all the things that have become staples at your firm retreats, and then try to justify the reason those things remain on the agenda.  If there’s a reason, is there a way to make it better?  If there’s no reason, would anyone notice or complain if you eliminated it?  Can some of the things you’ve always done (giving information about firm finances, for example) be delivered better in an email or video-conference than in a speech?

Remember, the most significant cost of a retreat is the time and attention of the attendees.  Building your next retreat “from scratch” is a better way to deliver a more productive experience for your attendees and a better result for your firm.

I asked the group to design a “personalized” web page for each type of customer, using a template I developed.  The template prompted them to answer questions about their target customer and, ultimately, build an “analog” web page that addressed the needs of that target customer.  Here’s part of the template each team of 4-6 completed:

Though we weren’t trying to develop a better website in the retreat, the website design format (and question prompts) really drew out some interesting answers and ideas that a pure “what courses should we offer our lawyers?” question wouldn’t have.  It was a great hour of creative thinking, and we all walked away inspired to try new things.

Here’s a snapshot of the version I completed to give the participants a sense of what they could do with their blank templates:

The full set of templates and my sample are here: Website Design Exercise.

Part of our work was centered around small groups of attendees “solving” some novel CLE Challenges I created.  For each challenge, the groups had 20 minutes to agree upon 3 top suggestions.  Before group brainstorming began, everyone completed a ”3 Minute Brain-Dump” to capture their individual ideas.

The first of our challenges focused on delivering “value” to lawyers instead of just credits:

Beginning January 1, 2013, there will no longer be “mandatory” CLE in your state.  

Instead, lawyers will have to take an annual test on the substantive laws and practical skills  such as client relations, trust account management, legal research, court rules, etc. that they’re likely to use in the areas in which they practice.

 Lawyers can prepare for the test any way they like, including self-study, online courses and even “traditional” CLE.

 How can you remain relevant to your state’s lawyers in a post-mandatory CLE world?

What skills should you teach?  What courses should you present?  What alternative ways could you deliver your content?

Discuss and be prepared to present your top three responses to this challenge.

All four of the challenges are here in this .pdf file: CLE Challenges  I’d love to know what you think.

Why explore an “untraditional” format for your next conference, meeting or law firm retreat?  Chris Corrigan says it better than I can:

[The] planning committee should focus on building a container into which participants can pour their ideas.  Creative, engaging, participatory conferences and gatherings have substantial participation undertaken by the participants themselves.  They look at how passive a conference is and break open opportunities for people to connect, to go on a learning journey together, to create something new, or simply to sit in good conversation with each other catching up and sharing their work.

Trust your participants and invite them well.  Invite them to come prepared to make contributions.  Put responsibility for their experience solidly in their laps.  Let them know that if they are taking to time and money to come to the gathering, they should also take the chance to create and contribute content to the gathering.  Bring your questions, bring your stories, look for others and see what you can create.  Challenge participants to show up to a co-creative gathering rich in conversations, connections and inspiration.  Invite them, provide a good container with tools for them to do their work, and turn it over to them.

How does your conference or retreat planning if you begin by building an Idea Container?