I love brainstorming sessions. I love to stand in front of a huge whiteboard and bounce ideas off of others. To build on ideas. To think up wild ideas. Some of my fondest memories of afternoons at work have been huddled around a white board and dragging random people into the brainstorming.
Below is an example of the questions I ask myself and others when brainstorming.
- What are my objectives and goals? This is obvious. Your booth design must work around your objectives and enhance them.
- Does the show have a theme? I exhibited at a show with the theme of Alice in Wonderland. I created hundreds of paper flowers as a backdrop.
- Is there a holiday nearby? The World Ag Expo always falls on the week of Valentine’s Day but I have never seen anyone take that and run with it.
- What hot trends are out that you can capitalize on? Photo booth? Bell Bottoms? Unicorns? Mermaids? Will any of the major trends work with your objectives?
- How can we make it interactive? What will draw your customers in?
- Does your company have an anniversary or milestone that it is hitting? These make great themes and get to celebrate your companies longevity.
- What constraints do you have? Booth size, budgets, materials, staffing.
- What would I do if my booth was half the size?
- What would I do if I had half the budget?
- What has worked in the past? You do not need to reinvent the wheel. Use what has worked and build on it.
I use words, doodles, and images to capture the ideas that come out.
I like questions 8 and 9 because it helps to distill your ideas down to their core essence. I ask these at the end of a brainstorming session. They strip away all excess and fluff to bring the objectives to the front.
What are your best brainstorming tips and tricks? What questions do you ask your team when building your ideas?