Today I took part in an exciting and productive brainstorming session. Now, I've been in lots of these kinds of meetings over the years. Who could forget a Slinky-wielding facilitator who encouraged us to "play our way" to inspiration. I've joined brainstorms with foregone conclusions and others with no end in sight. I've been locked in a conference room for five hours on a Saturday morning until my caffeine-addled brain could barely hold the wisp of a thought, much less contain a storm of creativity. What made today special was not heaping bowls of Hershey's Miniatures or the promise of unlimited carbonated beverages, it was the presence of a great facilitator who had an agenda and held us to it.

It certainly helped that we had a room full of brilliant minds. But without an assertive and personable leader to guide us through the process, I am certain the meeting would have devolved into a stream-of-consciousness, intellectual group hug. Janet, our facilitator, did a wonderful job of compartmentalizing the meeting into a series of mini-storms, each with a clear objective. Each mini-storm segued perfectly into the next until we had methodically stepped our way from chaos to clarity. Janet came to the meeting with a printed agenda, allowed us enough creative space to roam, reeled us in when we got off track, and kept the momentum moving in the right direction -- no Slinky necessary.

- Erica Stephens