LinkedIn has over 50 million members who belong to almost 444,000 Groups. Innovators may want to join the Marketing, PR, & Sales Innovators Group which has over 71,000 members, ranking it as the 11thLargest Group on LinkedIn.
Request to join the valuable Group by clicking HERE. Once your membership is approved, your LinkedIn profile can show the following disctinctive group logo.
Did you know there are over 400,000 "Groups" within the 45 million member LinkedIn social network? Since there are over 2,500 groups focused on innovation or innovators, we want to make it easy for you to join Innovators Digest's "Top 20 Innovators Groups" by clicking on the links below.
More than 8,000 people belong to the helpful InnovationPeople Group
Click on Links Below for Details or to Request to Join the Groups in the "Innovation Top 20"
Innovation Group Members Have The Following Icons Displayed in Their LinkedIn Profiles:
Click on any of the above icons to get more information or request to join the group.
Relate-to-Innovate!
Every innovator should read Anthony Ulwick's book, What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services, because he makes it very easy to questionate-to-innovate. SolutionPeople purchased 50 copies of the book and made it required reading before an innovation facilitation for a consumer products company. The facilitation agenda was simple; we used innovative techniques and tools to answer the 46 questions addressed in the book! The facilitation was a huge success as we produced an Idea Bank with thousands of ideas and over 100 useful solutions.
Question Bank
(created from the Table of Contents in Ulwick's Book)
Formulating Innovation Strategy
1. Who Is the Target of Value Creation and How Should It Be Achieved?
2. What Types of Innovation Are Possible?
3. What Growth Options Should Be Considered?
4. Where in the Value Chain Should We Focus to Maximize Value Creation?
5. How Do We Handle Multiple Constituents with Potentially Conflicting Outcomes?
Capture Customer Inputs
6. Why Should Companies Gather Customer Requirements?
7. What Three Issues Plague the Requirements-Gathering Process?
8. What Types of Data Do Companies Commonly Collect from Customers?
9. What Customer Inputs Are Needed to Master the Innovation Process?
10. What Methods Should Companies Use to Obtain the Necessary Information?
11. How Do You Know Which of the Three Types of Inputs You Should Capture?
Identifying Opportunities
12. What Is an Opportunity?
13. What Three Common Mistakes Are Made in Prioritizing Opportunities?
14. How Should Companies Prioritize Opportunities?
15. How Do You Identify Underserved and Overserved Markets?
16. How Dos Value Migrate Over Time?
17. What Implications Does the Outcome-Driven Paradigm Have for Competitive Analysis?
Segmenting the Market
18. What Is the Purpose of Segmentation?
19. How Has the Practice of Segmentation Evolved?
20. Why Are Traditional Segmentation Methods Ineffective for Purposes of Innovation?
21. What Is Different About Outcome-Based Segmentation?
22. How Is Outcome-Based Segmentation Performed?
23. How Does Outcome-Based Segmentation Address Development and Marketing Challenges?
24. How Is Job-Based Segmentation Different, and When Should it Be Used?
Targeting Opportunities for Growth
25. What Is Different About Targeting for Innovation?
26. What Types of Broad-Market Opportunities Are Likely to Be Attractive?
27. What Segment-Specific Targeting Strategies Are Effective?
28. How Does a Targeting Strategy Result in a Unique and Valued Competitive Position?
29. Why Do Companies Fail to Target Key Opportunities?
Positioning Current Products
30. Why Does Messaging Often Fail to Tout a Product's True Value?
31. What Are the Prerequisites for an Effective Messaging Strategy?
32. What Messaging Will Be Most Effective?
33. Should a Company Message Along an Emotional or Functional Dimension?
34. How Does the Sales Force Have Immediate Impact on Revenue Generation?
35. What Is the Advantage of an Outcome-Based brand?
Prioritizing Projects in the Development Pipeline
36. What Issues Do Companies Face When Prioritizing Projects?
37. What Method Is Used to Identify the Winners and the Losers?
38. Which Efforts Should Get Top Priority?
39. What Other Factors Affect Project Prioritization?
Devising Breakthrough Concepts
40. Why Does Traditional Brainstorming Often Fail to Produce Breakthrough Ideas?
41. How Are Breakthrough Concepts Successfully Generated?
42. What Are the Mechanics Behind Focused Brainstorming?
43. Why Do Traditional Concept-Evaluation Methods Fail?
44. How Is the Customer Scorecard Used to Evaluate Product and Service Concepts?
45. How Are These Methods Applied in Practice?
46. What Is the Role of R&D in the Innovation Process?
Order Anthony Ulwick's book, What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services via Amazon.com
Do You Need Breakthrough Solutions?
Do You Want More Innovation?
Do You Need Improved Innovative Thinking Skills?
Do You Want More & Better Ideas in Less Time?
Do You Need Time-Saving Tools & Proven Techniques?
Thousands Now Innovate Better, Faster, Smarter Who Never Thought They Could.
What is the KnowBrainer Tool?
The KnowBrainer® is a hand-held, fan-deck tool that helps you quick think better, faster and smarter using hundreds of proven questions, words, quotes and images as inspiration. Do you want to BE more creative? Do you want to KNOW how to innovate faster? Do you want to FEEL empowered? If you answered yes, you need the KnowBrainer Innovation Tool.
The KnowBrainer's integrated 4-Stage Accelerated Innovation® Process helps you generate, plan and organize ideas. The tool also helps you use your whole brain to generate up to 530% more ideas than traditional brainstorming. It is not computer software, but "headware" that can be used anywhere. The 5-ounce, compact (just 2x 4.5 inches or 5.1 cm x 11.4 cm), and portable tool has 180 color-coded cards that use a proven innovation language. Many people find the KnowBrainer tool is more valuable than traditional books or software on innovation.
What Do You Get With Your KnowBrainer?
You get more than a tool, you get a complete SYSTEM. Your Innovation System includes tools, techniques, worksheets, planners, posters, bookmarks and eBooks.
How Does the KnowBrainer Work?
The KnowBrainer works because it is designed to help you use your whole brain. Your brain is much more complex than traditional right and left brain models. Your brain actually has 4 quadrants and the KnowBrainer stimulates all 4 of them which inspire you to quickly develop innovative solutions. The KnowBrainer uses carefully-researched stimulus to provoke your brain to be more creative and innovative. The tool's innovation language is based on the biological structure of the human brain and Gerald "Solutionman" Haman's 4-quadrant 4Brain Thinkers™ Model.
The toolis self-instructional and can be applied to a variety of goals, challenges or problems. University tests revealed the tool increases the volume of ideas generated by over 530% versus traditional brainstorming with flip charts. Additional testing revealed that the tools unique content (questions, nouns, verbs, quotes and images) stimulated different parts and quadrants of the brain. The following KnowBrainer card reveals the 6 different types of content in each Stage:
Who Should Use the KnowBrainer?
Everyone Who Wants To Innovate Better, Faster, & Smarter Needs a KnowBrainer.
The KnowBrainer was designed to be used by anyone for almost any purpose. It is based on how most human brains think, and therefore can be used in a variety of job situations, functions, professions and age groups. The KnowBrainer has been used by people in management, sales, marketing, public relations, communications, product and service development, finance and operations. Students and professors at several prominent universities and schools have found the KnowBrainer to be extremely valuable. Many people have used the KnowBrainer to prepare for entrepreneurial opportunities, change careers or find a new job.
How Will the KnowBrainer Help You?
Create Breakthrough Ideas Everywhere and Everytime with Everyone and Everybody.
The tool has helped thousands of people generate millions of ideas… and it can help YOU. People have used the KnowBrainer tool to invent award-winning products or services. Thousands of people have used the KnowBrainer to develop, sell, market and promote ideas. Many people have used the KnowBrainer to plan meetings, events, conferences and conventions. Others have used to tool to develop plans that help people implement and execute ideas. Professors and teachers have used the KnowBrainer to teach students how to be more creative and innovative. The KnowBrainer has also been used as a "textbook replacement" for a graduate level innovation course at Northwestern University
If you need to save time or gain time, then the KnowBrainer is for you, your team, or your customers. If you need to increase profits or communicate more value, the KnowBrainer is for you. This card from the KnowBrainer reveals many ways the tool can help you:
How Can You Record the Ideas You Generate Using the KnowBrainer?
You can generate hundreds or thousands of ideas with the KnowBrainer. Therefore, you will want to record them with a computer, voice recorder, flip chart or blank paper. The KnowBrainer comes with a pad of professionally-designed worksheets and sample planners shown below.
Who Developed the KnowBrainer Tool?
Gerald "Solutionman" Haman developed the Knowbrainer to help you develop the full power of your innovative potential. Haman founded SolutionPeople.com in 1989, Thinkubators.com in 1997, InnovatorsDigest.com in 2005, InnovationTooloftheMonthClub.com in 2008, and he plans to launch illumiNation.com in 2010. Haman enjoys connecting interesting people with other innovative and creative minds. Therefore, he organized more than 30 Innovation Groups on LinkedIn that comprise a worldwide community of over 110,000 members. People call him "Solutionman" because of his ability to quickly help people develop breakthrough solutions. Since launching SolutionPeople, Haman has helped people generate more than 3,000,000 ideas valued at over 2,000,000,000 dollars. Haman set a world brainstorming record by facilitating 8,000 people in a Thinkathon® at the Singapore Stadium to generate 454,000 ideas in less than 60 minutes. Formerly, Haman was an award-winning manager at Procter & Gamble and Arthur Andersen. In addition to creating the KnowBrainer, he also created the world's first innovative thinking programs for iPhones and iPods, software programs including the FlashBrainer™ and Innovation Activator™. Solutionman has a Masters Degree in Communications and Training from the University of Minnesota and teaches part time at Northwestern University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 2007, Haman was certified as an "Experience Economy Expert" by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, the pioneering authors of groundbreaking books including The Experience Economy and Authenticity. He incorporates many Experience Economy principles into his innovation facilitations and workshops. Haman also created certification training programs that designate graduates as Certified Innovation Trainers, Facilitators, Coaches, Questionators and Masters. The KnowBrainer is an integral tool used in all of Haman's Innovation Certifications.
What is The History of the KnowBrainer?
In 1987, Gerald Haman began researching thinking tools while a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. In 1989, he released one of the world's first tools specifically designed to foster innovation. That tool, called the Pocket Innovator, gained acclaim and was recommended by FORTUNEmagazine. The latest KnowBrainer is a culmination of Haman's over 20 years of experience creating innovation tools that have been used by over 100,000 people around the globe. The KnowBrainer is an evolution of proven tools which include the Pocket Innovator, Pocket Persuader, Pocket Problem Solver and customized tools such as Kraft's Diamond Miner tool. In 2009 history was made as over 100,000 of SolutionPeople's innovation tools have purchased since the Haman introduced his first innovation tool. Haman continues to follow that advice of Abraham Maslow who advocated that people need a variety of tool. The following card from the KnowBrainer quote's Maslow's wisdom:
Normally, the full KnowBrainer Innovation System sells for $149 and the KnowBrainer costs $98. For a limited time, get the COMPLETE System including the KnowBrainer for only $98! You save over $50 (34%) off the regular cost.
How Can You Become a Superb Innovator by Being a Skilled KnowBrainer User?
The KnowBrainer Tool is self-instructional; so all you need to do is follow the instructions printed on the tool! Below is the actual card that shows the simple 6-Step Directions.
The more you use the KnowBrainer, the faster you train your brain to use your whole brain. Practice leads to perfection. The more you use the self-instructional tool, the more you will appreciate its value, and realize it can be used to address a wide variety of goals, challenges, problems and questions. You can also attend FREE webinars or training workshops for more advanced training. Training opportunities can be found on the Training Calendar by clicking HERE.
Many KnowBrainer users have found it to be valuable to attend webinars and workshops that help them learn the full power of the KnowBrainer and learn over 50 innovation techniques that use the KnowBrainer. All KnowBrainer owners can download a FREE eBook that provides detailed instructions on the 5 most popular techniques including FlashThinking, Questionating, Wordating, Quotemplating and Visualating.
How Do Other People Feel About Using Their KnowBrainer?
"The KnowBrainer (which I use every week) made for one of the most valuable training sessions in which I have participated."
- Kevin Lawrence, American Express
"Size Matters; in this case, smaller is better. The KnowBrainer is a Napsterized version of Haman's knowledge. Using it day to day, doesn't require a $150 per hour consultant."
- Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba, authors, Creating Customer Evangelists
"The KnowBrainer tool was a great takeaway that will be quick and easy to use."
- Amy Curtis, Abbott Labs
"The KnowBrainer tool is invaluable. Understanding how to use this tool has revolutionized my approach to all of my business and personal endeavors."
- Janice Shokrian, EVP, DemingHill
"The KnowBrainer is a power tool that gives your brain a head start."
- Civil Service College, Singapore
"If you are looking for a creativity tool that is powerful, portable, and low tech, then you ought to check out the KnowBrainer… This tool does an excellent job of leveraging the mind's capabilities of association to a major advantage. It may look like a simple tool, but don't let the KnowBrainer's low-tech "interface" fool you. This is one powerful and easy to use idea generation tool."
- Chuck Frey, InnovationTools.com & LifeHack.org
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Normally, the full KnowBrainer Innovation System sells for $149 and the KnowBrainer costs $98. For a limited time, get the COMPLETE System including the KnowBrainer for only $98! You save over $50 (34%) off the regular cost.
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"A No-Tech Innovation Tool"
- Linda Stockman-Vines, Investor's Business Daily
"The well thought out "KnowBrainer" tool will help incredibly as I continue to develop and then activate my ideas! The KnowBrainer is on my list for birthday and Christmas presents."
- Terri Williams
"The KnowBrainer tool can't be beat."
- Kent Blumberg
"Using the KnowBrainer tool as a guide, I have led numerous brainstorms on dozens of client projects." - Tim Dyer, Creative Director, GMR
"The KnowBrainer tool and techniques make thinking and problem solving fun and charming again, as it was in our youth... It's addictive!"
- Jerry Meyerhoff, Engineer formerly with Motorola
"The KnowBrainer tool can be used in all aspects of life." - Leah Tate
"KnowBrainer - a great tool to help you achieve your goals" - Mike Sansone
"I woke up this morning around 4am with some great ideas. The KnowBrainer works!" - Jim Waszak
"The KnowBrainer tool is a palm-sized set of symbols and icons that channel your thinking into great solutions." - Entrpereneur.com
"After succeeding with the KnowBrainer, you will notice an exponential change in your innovation potential!" - Angelfire
"I used the KnowBrainer tool to resolve a situation on my plane trip home and was impressed with how complete my results were."
- Theresa Kinney, Vice President, Lee Hecht Harrison
"The KnowBrainer tool was a great takeaway that will be quick and easy to use."
- Mark Pufundt, Institute for Management Studies
"I highly endorse the KnowBrainer tool."
- Fritz Hollenbach, VP of Learning, Regal Beloit Corp.
"I found the "KnowBrainer" tool very helpful to consider different aspects in the thought process."
- Richard Ziegler, Continental Automotive in Germany
"I found the KnowBrainer is a useful tool to organize thinking around the four key stages of the innovation process. It also provides a series of questions which can help focus your thinking on the issue at hand. And to stimulate your mind it provides a list of nouns and verbs to jumpstart your ideas." - Bill Burnett, Innovation Consultant
"I recommend the KnowBrainer Innovation tool to anyone who is interested in finding solutions in their personal or business life!"
- Nathan Kievman, CEO, DemingHill
"Cool Resource: The KnowBrainer. I can't believe that I'm writing about this thing. I don't often tell too many people about it because it's been my 'secret weapon' for coming up with creative ideas for the better part of a decade (I own 3 of these, and NEVER leave home without one in my computer bag). The KnowBrainer, by SolutionPeople is simply the most effective creative brainstorming tool I've ever used. "
- Dana VanDen Heuvel, MarketingSavant.com
"I use the KnowBrainer tool to enhance my brainstorming. It truly helped me get past this recent brick wall and I can see how I continue to use it." - Joshua Gutstein
"The great KnowBrainer tool is an excellent guide to be used while having brainstorm sessions, working on an issue, developing new ideas or products."
- Luis Godinez, Continental Automotive in Mexico
"My favorite tool is the Knowbrainer, with its quotes and photos; it is a great aid in stimulating my innovative ideas. I also like the fact that I can continue to learn about innovation, even though my workshop ended." - Katrina Birling
"I plan to use the KnowBrainer tool with all future engagements; I think it's going to be indispensable." - Michael Burns, Creative Consultant
"The KnowBrainer tool deftly allows a group to move beyond the 'wall' that is sometimes experienced during the creative/brainstorming process." - Dae Markus
"KnowBrainer tool is one of the easiest and most effective tools out there to use in the brainstorming process."
- Mike Thompson, President, Interlude Coaching
"I am a heavy proponent of his "KnowBrainer" tool for innovation. It actually helps you generate ideas... We often have our staff and partners, as well as our clients use Gerald's tools and methods to innovate. I find his tools and strategies invaluable for fleshing out ideas, troubleshooting, writing blocks, and brainstorming."
- Jason Metcalfe, Film Producer
"I learned the amazing opportunities the KnowBrainer tool has for groups of people both within and outside the same company."
- Jodee Bock, Bock's Office Transformational Consulting
"I've had many ah -ha moments in using the KnowBrainer and have taught KnowBrainer techniques to my staff and colleagues."
- Lynn Hazan, Recruiter
"The KnowBrainer tool has made it easy for our internal and international trainers to foster more creativity and innovation in our company throughout the world."
- Andy Hines, formerly with Dow Chemical, author of Thinking About the Future
"The KnowBrainer Tool is something I use to help me coach, provide performance consulting, manage projects, design and deliver training, as well as develop and shape business goals and strategies."
- Emily Cowling formerly with Capital One
"The KnowBrainer is definitely more than a brainstorming tool. It's a whole brain process that follows an idea through to implementation. This just scratches the surface of what's available in this small portable innovator."
- Marcy Nelson-Garrison, Choice Magazine for Coaches
"The tool that has been indispensable has been the KnowBrainer from SolutionPeople. They call it an 'accelerated innovation tool' but I call it my project meeting lifeline. I never leave for a meeting without it. I take most of my probing questions from it, and I evaluate most of my solutions against it." - Dana VanDen Heuvel, Technology from the Trenches
"The KnowBrainer is more than an innovation tool; it's a catalyst to zoom ideas into action. The KnowBrainer tool teaches a four-stage process for making innovation happen from identifying needs to generating ideas to assessing solutions, and to putting plans into action. The beauty of the KnowBrainer tool is at every innovation stage, the tool asks you focused questions designed to better create, shape, evaluate, and activate the idea(s) for implementation." - John Moore, Brand Autopsy, formerly with Starbucks & Whole Foods
Where Can You Get Your Own KnowBrainer Tool?
Normally, the full KnowBrainer Innovation System sells for $149 and the KnowBrainer costs $98. For a limited time, get the COMPLETE System including the KnowBrainer for only $98! You save over $50 (34%) off the regular cost.
Order the KnowBrainer Innovation System & Tools for only $98 by clicking HERE. Order KnowBrainers for your teams, employees, families, students and friends. One company ordered 500 tools to distribute at a company meeting and everyone found the tool to be much more valuable than the traditional meeting handouts. The KnowBrainer's compact card-deck fan format puts the gift of inspiration for innovation in the palm your hand! Award-winning inventor, Solutionman, will be happy to include an autographed note card with tools ordered as a gift!
Solutionman Gives You His Personal $100 ROI (Return On Ideas) Guarantee! "I want you to be very satisfied with your purchase. If you are unable to generate ideas that are worth at least $100, then return the tool and we will happily refund your original investment. Plus you can still keep the FREE Bonus Gifts Worth Over $130 described below."
Sincerely,
Gerald "Solutionman" Haman, KnowBrainer Creator, Founder of SolutionPeople Innovation
View My LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/GeraldHaman
BONUS #1 – a $10 Value: Why You Should Order a KnowBrainer TODAY.
Receive a Coupon for a FREE 60-Minute Webinar led by Gerald "Solutionman" Haman. Tuition ($100 USD Value) for "Introduction to KnowBrainer Tool & Innovation Techniques" can be redeemed to attend any of the monthly webinars.
FREE BONUS #2 – a $100 Value: Why You Should Order a KnowBrainer TODAY.
Get the portable Idea Fan so you always have a convenient tool for recording your bright ideas. It's about the same size as the KnowBrainer but has blank cards for recording ideas. Includes tips about "The New 3Rs" for innovators that remind you to Record, Recall & Recycle your ideas!
FREE BONUS #3 – a $20 Value: Another Reason Why You Should Order a KnowBrainer TODAY.
For a limited time only, everyone who orders will receive a FREE set of 8 colorful bookmarks/desk signs with creative quotes that inspire innovation. Valued at over $20.00 USD, the set of 8 provocative bookmarks includes the ones below.
Discover fascinating statistics about the growth of Social Media by clicking HERE to view the YouTube video.
Click HERE to view the interesting video on YouTube.
Internet marketing experts Leland Harden and Bob Heyman authored, Digital Engagement, to help people understand how internet marketing can capture customers and build brand loyalty. The book contains a superb 2-page "Digital Engagement Scorecard" that is ideal for identifying innovative growth opportunities by leveraging the internet.
Harden offered the following 20 questions to get started on the path towards better digital engagement.
20 Questions to Increase Digital Engagement
1. What is digital engagement?
2. Is your site instrumented for measurement, and which web analytics tools should you consider?
3. What metrics should you be watching? What should you be measuring?
4. How can you protect all relevant domain names?
5. How can you aggressively protect your brand on search engines?
6. Should you be using more than just Google in your search program?
7. What is entailed in doing effective search engine optimization?
8. What are the best ways to use blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts or webinars to reach customers?
9. What should you consider when you set up a corporate blogging initiative?
10. How do you identify and recruit important influencers of your customer base?
11. How can you empower your customers to be effective word of mouth/word of web marketers for you?
12. How can you incorporate best practices of web video on your site?
13. How can you make a video go viral?
14. How can you make sure your web videos help your search engine rankings?
15. How can you make your online advertising more effective?
16. How can you easily gain incredible competitive intelligence on the web?
17. How you can use social networks to reach customers?
18. How should I utilize virtual worlds in my marketing initiatives?
19. What questions should I consider for the mobile web?
20. What are some of the best practices being utilized by companies using Web 2.0 tools?
Naturally, the book begins to answer all of the above questions. You can purchase Digital Engagement from Amazon.com by clicking HERE.
In Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force, authors Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba explain how to convert customers into influential and enthusiastic evangelists. The book outlines the framework for developing evangelism marketing strategies and programs. The ultimate goal is to create communities of influencers who drive sales or membership for your company or organization. Many companies have been effective at applying the book's "six basic tenets" to create evangelists for innovation and sales growth.
The book explains how IBM, Southwest Airlines, The Dallas Mavericks, and SolutionPeople have successfully built their customer base and created targeted marketing programs to involve their biggest fans. These programs have produced legions of unofficial salespeople and a cost-effective and powerful marketing force. McConnell & Huba interviewed SolutionPeople's Gerald Haman, clients, and spent several days at the Thinkubator, and wrote a book chapter entitled The High-Flying Solutionman that chronicles Haman's 20 years of growing his business through customer evangelism.
6 Tenets to Create Customer Evangelists
1. Customer plus-delta: Continuously gather customer feedback.
2. Napsterize knowledge: Share knowledge freely.
3. Build the buzz: Build word-of-mouth networks.
4. Create community: Encourage communities of customers to meet and share.
5. Make bite-size chunks: Devise specialized, smaller offerings to get customers to bite.
6. Create a cause: Focus on making the world, or your industry, better.
Download a PDF of the entire chapter from the book on SolutionPeople’s applications of the Six Tenets by clicking HERE.
Order the book from Amazon.com by clicking HERE.
SolutionPeople has helped innovators generate over 3 million ideas. What is one of the secrets to their successful ideations that lead to innovation? One secret is their proprietary Questionation™ Method that includes developing provocative questions to be used in innovative facilitations, training workshops, meetings and innovation events. 
Surveys have found that Questionation™ Methods have increased meeting productivity, reduced meeting time and increased participant engagement. Most importantly, innovation facilitations that used Question Banks and the Questionation Methods yielded 34-65% more ideas than traditional meetings that followed typical agendas.
Question Banks & Topics
Questionation involved developing unique "Question Banks" for a wide variety of innovation goals, problems or challenges. Agendas and facilitation plans are structured in a way so that key questions are addressed throughout the meeting or event. Answers to questions are collected and deposited in Idea Banks that are used for follow-through and implementation.
Over 10,000 questions have been collected or created by SolutionPeople since 1989. SolutionPeople created question banks for over 100 topics including new product development, sales, marketing, experience design, meeting planning and strategic planning. Haman teaches facilitators, trainers and coaches how to apply the Questionation method during workshops and webinars.
Why Are Questions Important?
"If you want to come up with great ideas, you need to ask great questions," states Gerald "Solutionman" Haman who invented the "questionated" innovation tool called the KnowBrainer. The KnowBrainer contains 40 provocative questions that actually help users generate more questions, as well as lots of ideas!
Record-Setting Thinkathon Used 100 Questions
A future Innovator's Digest article will reveal how Solutionman set several world brainstorming records by using the Questionation Method and KnowBrainer tool. Over 454,000 ideas were brainstormed by 8,000 people who used 100 questions in SolutionPeople's Thinkathon at the Singapore Stadium.
Do You Questions About Questionation?
Email your questions to solutionman@solutionpeople.com!
The Pepsi Challenge was a marketing tour de force. It proved that in a blind taste test, most consumers prefer Pepsi. So why hasn’t that analytical proof pushed the needle in Pepsi’s favor? Read Montague, Director of the Human Neuroimaging Lab at Baylor College of Medicine, has shown the true power of branding on the brain.
Montague decided to repeat the Pepsi Challenge, but added a twist of technology. Using a non-invasive technique called Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) he was able to reveal which parts of the brain are active in real time.
When Montague and his team gave a taste of an unnamed soda to his volunteers he found that more people preferred Pepsi. On the scan, images of the ventral putamen, one of the brain’s key reward centers, had a response that was five times stronger than for people who preferred Coke.
The surprise came when Read repeated the experiment. This time, telling volunteers which brand they were tasting. Nearly all the subjects then said they preferred the Coke. Moreover, different parts of the brain fired as well, especially the medial prefrontal cortex, an area associated with thinking and judging. The subject’s brains were proving that their experience of the Coke brand influenced their preferences.
The work of Montague and other studies proves that branding goes beyond images and memory recall. The medial prefrontal cortex is a part of the brain known to be involved in our sense of self. It fires in response to a stimulus -- an image, name or concept -- that resonates with who we are. Something clicks, and we are more likely to buy.
The science of neuro-marketing is now in its infancy. But what it has proved is that branding isn’t the latest marketing ploy, but a glimpse into how our brains are affected by smart messaging and marketing.
Marty Baker - President of Inotivity
Email Marty
