Brainstorming sessions often result is far too many ideas. But without a clear priority list, no action is taken, making the whole brainstorm session unproductive.
“There’s no such thing as a bad idea,” you’re told in the middle of a brainstorming session. “Let’s write them all down.”
So, an hour later, you have a white board filled with 56 ideas. Plus, half a dozen that trickle in via email as an after thought.
It can be crippling to prioritize these ideas and communicate them without overwhelming your boss or client.
Every brainstorming session ends with the same dilemma: While a couple of ideas are truly innovative, having the potential to offer a competitive edge, they will require a bigger budget and more time, whereas a few other ideas are simple and easy to execute, but they’re not really unique.
How would you go about explaining all this when you communicate?
Well, the answer is simple…
Communicate results, not ideas.
How to prioritize ideas after a brainstorming session
Similar to how you might prioritize your daily activities using the Eisenhower matrix for time management, this brainstorming grid can help sort ideas into ‘bins’.
Consider that each idea sits on a spectrum. The first spectrum being ease of implementation i.e. it’s easy or difficult to pull off. And the second spectrum being the final outcome i.e. it could be very effective or has negligible effect.
1. Quick wins: Implement them right away!
Highly effective ideas that are easy to execute. 
These ideas may not get you a TED talk, but they yield easy wins. They require limited resources and time, making them easier to implement. To communicate these ideas, focus on the benefits as well as the ease (skill, time or budget).
Plus, it’s worth mentioning that in case the idea backfires, there’s nothing to worry about as you can easily test and tweak them.
For example: Using hashtags to target the right audience.
2. Quality Investments: Labor of love but totally worth it
Highly effective ideas that need additional resources. 
An idea that needs planning, time, strategy and, of course, a bigger budget belongs to the ‘quality investments’ bin. To communicate the need for additional resources, you need to offer details as to what benefits this idea will bring, what success looks like after this idea is implemented, and plans for risk management along each step.
For example: Building an e-commerce website.
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3. Questionable: Ideas that are seemingly easy but offer poor returns
Ideas that are easy to implement but not that effective. 
You feel rather ‘meh’ about this idea. It sounds good on paper, but you’re not quite sure. It’s easy to execute though, and if it works, great! These belong to the ‘questionable’ bin. Resources and time permitting, these are worth a try, but only after you’ve implemented your ‘quick wins’. When communicating these ideas, express why you think this may not be as effective. Prepare for someone to disagree.
For example: Placing advertisements in the local magazine.
4. Quit: Ideas that need to be tossed
Ideas that are difficult to pull off and not very effective. 
Your first reaction to this idea: “Just, no.” You’ve learned it the hard way, maybe even having faced challenges in the past that this is simply not worth pursuing, especially, when other ideas seem to have more potential. When communicating an idea that you’ve thrown in the ‘quit’ bin, focus on why it’s ineffective and the resources it may drain. Offer better alternatives that you’ve placed in the ‘quality investments’ or ‘quick wins’ bin.
For example: Planning your own international conference to target new audience.
There’s no such thing as a bad idea, they say. But there is such a thing as an idea overload. I hope this helps manage ideas resulting from a brainstorm and offers you a direction on how to communicate them without overwhelming yourself and your audience.
Book: Jessica Pryce-Jones, Julia Lindsay. Running Great Meetings and Workshops For Dummies, 2014.
Anita Ramanathan
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