The First Amendment of the Constitution promises Freedom of Speech.  But does it guarantee Freedom of Tweets? And, should it?

When it comes to tweeting (and other forms of social communication), many brands, companies and organizations are struggling with guidelines.

Even my alma mater – UNC – is no exception. When members of the men’s basketball teams were a little too open with their tweets this season, the athletic department stepped in and told them to tone down their online conversations.

So should there be any rules? And if so, where should the line be drawn?

I believe it depends on who is doing the talking (or tweeting) and in what role they are recognized. When communicating socially, most people fall into one of three categories:

• Personal Communicators: They are not necessarily known or linked outside of personal relationships. It could be your next door neighbor, your child, or even Ashton Kutcher.
• Corporate Communicators: They are linked to an organization because they are speaking on their behalf, they are a fairly high-level executive, or they have purposely associated themselves with the organization. See Scott Monty, head of Social Media for Ford.
• Public Figures: People know them and they are linked to an organization . . . like some of UNC’s basketball players (meet Deon Thompson).

So what should the rules be?

In general, Personal Communicators should have no guidelines other than what they self-impose based on values and common sense.  On the other hand, Corporate Communicators and Public Figures should be held to a higher standard. Intentionally or not, they represent certain organizations and their comments impact those groups, companies and brands.  And by the way, you might fall into more than one category depending on where you are speaking. For example, your Facebook might be totally personal, but on Linkedin or Twitter you might be associated as an employee of an organization.

But I also have a suggestion for the organizations to which these people belong. Spend a little less time trying to control the dialog, and a little more time trying to improve the situations your people are complaining about. This would fix two things:  whatever they are complaining about and their complaints.

And finally, whatever you do as an organization, don’t ignore this and assume it will simply take care of itself. Determine your guidelines, and then make sure your people clearly understand the things you welcome and the behavior you won’t tolerate. Don’t make them guess.

How about you; what’s your opinion?

Oh yea, I almost forgot. Do you know how I found out about the UNC basketball situation? From a Tweet, Toning down the Tar Heels Tweets.

On a couple of recent occasions, I’ve had friends ask about tips for leading brainstorming sessions, or at least how to get more out of them.  There are a variety of tactics I use – some are borrowed, some are original.  Most have become second nature, but in an effort to capture a meaningful list of tips, I decided to write them down.

The keys to success include everything from preparation to expectations to location to actual facilitation.  Each group and topic will be different, and the facilitator should always be sensitive to the situation and be flexible.  But regardless of the specific session, I have found that most of these practices, when implemented, will yield stronger results.

Overall

1. Goals:  where there is no vision the people perish. Are you trying to develop a mission statement, solve a problem, come up with a new idea, or refine a current program?  If you don’t know exactly what you want to accomplish before you begin, chances are you will end up with a bunch of discussion but little accomplished.
2. Planning:  the devil is in the details. Everything from location to participants to discussion topics to brainstorming tactics is critical.  Yes, you want the group to have a casual feel, but that doesn’t mean that you need a casual approach to planning.   The more thoroughly you prepare, the more you will accomplish.
3. Focus:  keep your eye on the ball. Because brainstorming is open and free-flowing, and because there are “no bad ideas,” there is sometimes a tendency to get off track.  It is critical that the facilitator continually steer the group towards the overall objective.  This takes tact, because you don’t want to spurn participation, but it is critical.
4. Inclusion:  there is no “I” in “TEAM.” It is important to include all participants in the brainstorming.  You cannot afford to let one or two people dominate the group, nor can you let anyone quietly remain silent.  There is a reason each person is involved, and each person’s opinion is valuable.

Preparation

• Expectations: When inviting attendees, set clear expectations about why they are involved.
• Invitations: Make sure all participants know when, where and how long the session will last.  Don’t begin the session until everyone has arrived.
• Commitment: Make sure everyone in the group is committed to the goal, to attending and to participating.
• Attendee Preparation: While it’s okay for attendees to have a general idea why they are attending, they generally should not bring prepared ideas.  This leads to people “selling” their pre-conceived ideas versus trying to come up with the best ideas as a group.
• Group Size: Brainstorming can be done with groups of all sizes, but generally a minimum of four and a maximum of eight people is best.  If you need to conduct sessions with larger groups, then be prepared to introduce topics and divide into smaller sub-groups (e.g. if you have a group of 24, then introduce the topic, break into six sub-groups of four, and then have each group report back).
• Topics/Questions: The facilitator should come prepared with enough topics/questions/thought starters to fill the time and achieve the objective.  However, they should also have the flexibility to move in the direction the brainstorming leads, as long as it ultimately results in achieving the overall objective.

Space

• Location: Pick a space that is private, free of distractions, relaxing and preferably different than most are used to (e.g. avoid a conference room normally used by the group, go off-site).  Also pick a room that fits the group (you don’t want 20 people in a small conference room or six people in a gymnasium).
• Supplies: Have plenty of flip charts (or butcher paper), pads of paper, pens and markers.  Also supply drinks and snacks.  Another good idea is something for people to do with their hands while thinking (clay dough, small plastic toys, nerf balls, hacky sacks, etc).
• Distractions: Remove/turn off all phones, email, televisions and other potential external disruptions, including cell phones.

Facilitation

• Moderator Role: The moderator is a facilitator – not a participant.  Their job is to focus on guiding the group, soliciting feedback and moving the discussion forward.  They should not be offering their own ideas.  Also, the moderator needs to have energy.  If you drag, your group will follow.   And remember, brainstorming should be fun . . . not work!
• Documentation: Make sure ideas are being captured, usually through flip charts.  Flip charts are good because they are visible to everyone, people know their ideas have been captured, ideas remain visible to spur other discussion, and you can refer back to earlier ideas.
• Support/applaud ideas: There are no bad ideas, even if it is a bad idea.  The quickest way to quell ideation is to start judging and shooting down ideas.  Remember, often off-track ideas lead to other ideas that move towards the solution.  Don’t let people in the group judge or put down ideas.
• Parking Lot: Create a “parking lot.”  This is a flip chart where you write an idea down to come back to later.  This is a great tactic for keeping the group on track.  When someone brings up something that isn’t relevant say, “let’s put that in the parking lot and come back to it later if we have time.”  This way you don’t have to ignore someone, yet you can keep the group moving.
• Process: Separate brainstorming (idea generation) from the judging of ideas.  Many times when a group needs to get to a final short list of recommended solutions, they have to go through a multi-step process (oftentimes over multiple sessions).
  • Step 1:  Brainstorming (get all the possible ideas on the wall)
  • Step 2:  Evaluation (everyone votes, discusses and narrows down to the best options)
  • Step 3:  Combine/Refine (combine some ideas and refine others)
  • Step 4:  Finalize (determine the final recommendations)
• Probe: When preparing for you group, come up with a variety of different questions to get to the same end.  For example, if I wanted to know what someone enjoys doing, I could ask the following similar but different questions:
  • What is your favorite thing to do?
  • What is the coolest thing you have ever done in your life?
  • If you could spend this afternoon doing any one thing, what would it be?
  • If you had one day left to live, what three things would you do?
  • If you could spend one day with your favorite person in history, what would you do with him/her?

How about you?  What needs to be added to the list?  What techniques have worked for you?

“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”  – Jerry Seinfeld
via Think Exist

Perhaps only one thing strikes more fear into a Creative’s heart than not coming up with the big idea. That one thing? Actually presenting that big idea. And let’s face it; rarely does an idea sell itself.  So for 99% of the time, presentation skills are necessary. But the reality is most Creatives, from the obscure to the Boguskys, view these presentations with a mixture of fear and trepidation. We’re human after all.  And like others of our kind we’re prone to developing the dreaded “butterflies”.

How to overcome that fluttering feeling in ones tummy may be as simple as recognizing and remembering a few things:

Rehearse

Spend as much time preparing to present the work as you did putting the work together. Rehearse in front of your partner, your coworkers and the family dog. Jot down your key points. Again and again from memory. Do it until you know your material like the back of your hand.

Be yourself

Don’t stand in front of a room pontificating and throwing around $10 words. Present the work in a conversational and passionate way. If clients feel you’re BSing them, they’re less inclined to accept your solutions. It also sounds like you don’t know what the heck you’re talking about. One of my favorite people in the business always warms up his audience with a relevant, funny story told with a Catskill Comedian-like delivery before launching into his spiel.

Know thy client

Ernie Schenck, of Hill Holiday, describes it this way:

“I try to bulletproof the work in my mind as much as possible. I can do that because other than new business, I know the clients I’m dealing with. And I go through a lot of trouble to do deep surveillance on each and every one of them. The quirky stuff they like or don’t like. That kind of thing.  Know who you’re presenting to and you know what to avoid, what to say, what not to say, where not to go, how far you can take things.”
via The Ranch Blog

Make it about them

Try to keep yourself out of it. Two words you should never utter when presenting creative to clients is “I” or “we.”  You should make it about them.  Remember you’re not selling your brilliance; you’re solving a business problem.  So your presentation should be all about the business problem, and how the ideas you’ve developed might help that problem. By keeping yourself out of the equation, you make the conversation less personal, and you end up looking like more of an expert in the process.

Finally

Clients don’t want to be sold; they want you to be sold. You’re the expert, so present work you believe in.  Have an opinion. Have a recommendation. Tell the client what they should do. After all, that’s what they’re paying us for. And, believe it or not, most clients want to like what you’re presenting and most of all, they want to like you.

Got any presenting tips of your own?  Would love to hear them.