Hello, All,
I am eager and excited about this new group! It is like game-night, but we are talking about real life!! It has all the fun of game night but we come away with tools and insights about how to live with more effectiveness! And talking about "real things", we will inevitabley get to know each other quite well! I want to call you "friend" already! Come with whatever is on your mind: what you want, what you are stuck on, what you want to move forward on, your frustrations, your house and garden and life and love and job and family problems and, take a deep breath, and say it, and we will, gently and warmly brainstorm the issue. We will be both doing this and building the road map as we go. We will start with intuitive brainstorming and develop, as a group, a more and more complete set of Rules of Conduct and Brainstorming Strategies and Techniques (BST).
Interested? Excited? Great!! Welcome!
Cheers,
Amanda
Who am I? I am someone who gets stuck and who likes talking about it! I am not a "business" as some meet-ups actually are. I just like to talk with folks. This is a time in my life for finding meaningful work. And this is a time for friendship and conversation! I love socializing with friends, but right now I would far prefer talking about tangible specifics in life and solving problems creatively with friends! I want to brainstorm! I searched the library and Amazon for books on brainstrorming and was sorely disappointed - nothing was inspirational. If this group developes and works well, we should write that book! In the meantime, let's help each other spiral upwards in our lives with brainstorming! All are welcome!
(The formating of my Word Document below is all wacky and nearly unreadable. But it is reasonably complete, so I have kept it!)
PRIMARY BRAINSTORMING GROUP
Primary Goal: Ongoing development and use of brainstorming strategies and techniques (BST) in a group situation for personal and professional problem solving and fun!
Timing of Primary Group: Once every month or two.
Activities:
• Brainstorm, as a group, the issues brought by the participants
• Practice brainstorming, as a group, using brainstorming prompts (analogous to responding to writing prompts in a writers’ group).
• Sharing of innovative solutions brainstormed outside of the group. Request for suggestions and further brainstorming, as a group, is optional.
• Brainstorm brainstorming strategies and techniques (BST)
o How we function, as a group, in response to an issue brought by a participant (Rules of conduct.)
o How to develop brainstorming prompts and how to use them
o How to keep a log of our BST and determine the most effective forms of BST.
o How to try out new brainstorming ideas with the group.
 How to possibly incorporate meditation as part of our BST.
 How to use visuals.
o How to form new brainstorming rules, guidelines and rules of conduct.
 • Mini-presentations, by participants, on topics useful to the resolution of a wide variety of issues. Some examples are:
o How to use computer-related tools, such as blogs, MS access, twitter, facebook, etc
o How to do some basic household tasks such as hanging things on drywall or plaster walls, Feng Shui in “impossible” spaces, basic carpentry to make things for “impossible spaces”, how to decorate to hide functional things and make them pretty, quick ‘n dirty household tricks, etc
o How to do each step of creating and running a business such as business plan, paperwork for new business, legal signage, finances and bookkeeping, website, book publishing options, publicity and getting the word out, photography of your business for publicity and website, etc.
o How to optimize energy and health such as nutrition, eating on the go, diet for athletic performance, self-massage, stress management, meditation, exercise, rest and sleep, personal relationships, etc.
o How to optimize personal relationships such as meeting new people, finding old family and friends, reconnecting with family and friends, tips for giving a simple but great house party, how to talk with difficult people, how not to be a difficult person, how to laugh, how to find and live in gratitude, etc.
Examples of Possible Issues Brought by Participants to the Group
(Note that almost anything can be brought up for discussion. I include some examples to give a sense of just how broad the possible topics can be. I know that the actual issues will span a much broader scope than I have presented here.)
HOME:
• Create more usable storage space in an awkwardly shaped closet.
• How to make a functional home office space in an impossibly small studio apartment.
JOBS/CAREER:
• How to get a new job.
• How to freelance what you know.
• How to freelance what you do not know.
• How to become a ski instructor when your own skiing abilities are only on an intermediate level.
• How to advertise/network your freelance work
• How to learn to use various computer applications to optimize your business – website, MS access contact list, blog, twitter, etc.
RELATIONSHIPS:
• How to meet people.
• How to have a party and invite people to it.
• How to organize an address book – paper, e, x-mas list, MS access.
• How to remember birthdays and creative ways to acknowledge birthdays for folks who are both near and far.
HEALTH:
• How to exercise when you have “no time”, no equipment and no extra money for this.
• How to eat healthfully on a budget.
SECONDARY GROUP
Secondary Goal: Start an off-shoot group, from this group, to develop additional formats of our brainstorming strategies and techniques (BST) such as
• A book on brainstorming
• A game of brainstorming fun
• Outreach presentations to instruct others in our developed brainstorming strategies and techniques (BST)
Timing of Secondary Group: The members of this off-shoot group, who will co-author the products of these goals, must be able to make significant contributions and time commitments to their development. Details of time commitment TBD.
Bring a warm-up mystery item! We can brainstorm what it might actually be used for and what creative uses it could be put to. Bring an idea/problem/concern to have... Learn more
