Meeting professionals are known for their creativity, but sometimes their well runs dry, leaving them in a predicament—especially if innovative solutions are quickly needed.
To avoid these predicaments, professionals can take the following steps that facilitate generating creative ideas on a regular basis.
Broaden your experiences: New experiences stimulate creativity, and since most meeting professionals deal with highly diverse situations, it’s particularly important for them to be adventurous.
Hang out with creative people: Cultivate relationships with imaginative people who can give you honest, direct feedback. They can help you to refine your ideas or scrap them completely in favor of other ones.
Keep a notebook: Even the most talented meeting professionals sometimes “lose” brilliant ideas that come to them because they later forget them. This can be addressed by carrying a notebook and jotting the ideas down as they arise.
Turn off the tech: It’s often helpful to turn off your electronics—with their potential distractions—and simply focus on the present moment. Sometimes, the best ideas come straight from your own brain, without relying on other sources. Electronics should serve as a tool, not the guide, in helping to stimulate ideas.
Scribble: Sometimes, creative inspirations can’t easily be put into words, and can be expressed much better pictorially. Don’t hesitate to draw or sketch, even if you aren’t highly skilled artistically. At some point, you most likely will need to transfer your scribbles to words, but don’t lose the power of the original inspiration by feeling that you quickly need to put them into words.
Write down new ideas every night: To avoid the pressure of having to come up with ideas first thing in the morning, compile a list every night.
Brainstorm: This can be done by yourself or with others. First, clear your mind so that you’re open to whatever thoughts come to you. Then, let your mind wander—brainstorming is most effective when your mind is open to all possibilities.
Collaborate: Some people are most creative when collaborating, while others are most imaginative working on projects by themselves. But even the latter can boost their creativity by seeking input from others, and can make valuable contributions to group projects.
Be a closer: Whenever you have a creative idea, let it evolve. And bring it to fruition if it remains meaningful. This requires some persistence, because other responsibilities often take up much of our time.
Know that you can be creative: Don’t fall into the trap of labeling people (especially yourself) as creative or not creative. Everyone displays creativity, and you can enhance yours by following these basic steps!
