Welcome to this week's episode of the Modern Mentor Podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Cook.

Today's episode is all about how you can capture awesome ideas by running a brainstorm in a virtual world.

It's different than how you'd run one in person, but it can be done and done well.

So hang with me.

Fun fact about pandemic life.

Zoom fatigue is real.

And not just real, but widely prevalent, intense, and completely new, according to psychiatric times.

Although we might be avoiding Zoom these days when an email, or even a phone call, is it 1986 again,

will suffice. But there's one place where video conferencing still shines. And that's the good old-fashioned

brainstorm. When I picture brainstorms of years past, I see images of big tables full of candy

and fidget toys and pens and post-its galore. Old school brainstorming was creative and

connective and interactive, all things difficult but not impossible to recreate virtually.

Today we'll talk about some virtual brainstorming strategies I've seen work really well,

and then hopefully you'll give one a try. First, choose your occasion wisely. Back when our biggest

workplace woe was a vending machine out of diet

Coke, many of us took brainstorming sessions for granted. But in a virtual world, it's harder to

organize, facilitate, and get people engaged. That's why brainstorms shouldn't be a catch-all

for any group conversation. Often what you're looking for is, well, a meeting.

Brainstorms are a very specific brand of discussion in which a collective of creative voices,

ideas, and opinions are necessary inputs to achieve a valuable output. Because of challenges

like Zoom fatigue and burnout, I urge you to be stingy with your

brainstorming sessions. They are a fabulous enabler of ideas and solutions, so do use them,

...