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Welcome to part three of our series of articles designed to help you understand the flow of money through crypto investments. We examine historical trends which appear to drive a predictable sequence of investor behaviours following a Bitcoin price rally. 

In part one of this series, we examined why Bitcoin tends to be the first to move, its power to usher first-time crypto investors into the fold and how that has been shown to trigger the flow of money we are discussing in this series. Part two looked at why Ethereum tends to be next to move. We explained that this is primarily due to its sheer size (Ethereum is the 2nd biggest crypto asset by market cap) and because it supports an entire ecosystem of applications and services. 

This week we examine the next phase, which is playing out a little differently from how it has in the past. Where historically, we have seen money flow from Ethereum to large-cap altcoins, this time, they seem to be moving all at once.

But before we dive into the details, let’s first understand what a large-cap altcoin is.

(Image credit: .)

‘Large-cap altcoins’... you say what now?  

Let’s break it down.

‘Large-cap’ describes a cryptoasset with a large “market capitalisation”, often shortened to market cap. A market cap is simply the total value of a cryptoasset. For example, at the time of writing, Bitcoin’s market cap is $1.1 trillion. In other words, the total value of all bitcoin in circulation is $1.1 trillion.  

What on earth is an ‘altcoin’?

Because Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, continues to hold the top spot in terms of market cap, essentially every other cryptoasset is generally referred to as an alternative to Bitcoin. Hence the term ‘altcoin’. 

So large-cap altcoins are essentially any cryptoasset with a significant market cap that isn’t Bitcoin. 

Now that we understand what large-cap altcoins are, let’s look at how the standard money flow started and why this time could be a little different.

It all started with the standard money flow

Following the market turnaround in late September, we saw Bitcoin’s price easily outperform altcoins, posting an impressive +52% return into its all-time highs. Meanwhile, Ethereum (+29%) , Solana (+16%), Cardano (-6%) and many more were struggling to keep up with the pace of the old guard. 

As we learned in the previous parts of this series, the “standard money flow” suggests that money will flow from Bitcoin into Ethereum and then feed into the large-cap altcoins.

But what if that’s wrong?

The standard money flow cycle is not so standard anymore.

Recent price data is actually showing that money is not flowing solely into Ethereum. This time around, large-cap altcoins are moving right alongside Ethereum.

This is a fundamental change to the historical flow of money that so many investors have tracked for years, and the answer to why it’s changing is relatively simple.

The battle for the altcoin throne 

In the past, the flow from Bitcoin to Ethereum was a sure thing, like receiving earphones with your new Apple iPhone. And much like you, Ethereum is realising that there is less and less in its box.

 Many factors are driving this phenomenon, but chief among them is the fact that the large-cap altcoin sector now offers investors a far wider range of ambitious and potentially disruptive technologies to choose from. In the past, Ethereum could reasonably have been considered the only viable prospect for a smart contract-based decentralised future, but those days are over. In the smart contract space, for example, Solana, Cardano and Polkadot have become major players, to name just a few.

With the new wave of “Ethereum killers” popping up left, right and centre, we are seeing many investors choose to spread their investment over multiple Ethereum competitors and, therefore, the standard flow into Ethereum is instead being spread amongst multiple large-cap altcoins, which show the same promise. 

(Image credit: .)

The graph above plots the returns of these large-cap altcoins vs Bitcoin since the day Bitcoin reached its all-time high and funds started to flow out of it. It’s clear from the above that, in this price cycle, several large-cap altcoins are keeping pace with Ethereum (grey line) rather than following it in the next phase. Not only that, but all of the large-cap altcoins above are displaying better returns than Bitcoin (orange line) itself.

Furthermore, large-cap altcoins are now gaining the attention of investors who are interested in more than just decentralised finance (DeFi) applications like lending and yield-farming. Large-cap altcoins are the infrastructural layer beneath global tech movements, which are garnering massive media coverage and birthing entirely online communities. NFTs, for example, have provided artists with new ways to generate revenue from their work. A recent study by the Crypto Gaming Alliance indicates that half of all crypto wallets in existence are connected to blockchain-based games. The most popular technologies supporting both NFTs and blockchain-based gaming fall into the large-cap altcoin segment.

(Image credit: .)

What’s the smart investment?  

It’s clear that deciding where to invest in this phase of the crypto price cycle has become more complicated than it was just a year ago. We’re in the midst of a flat out race to see who will be the first to genuinely challenge Ethereum’s position as the second biggest cryptoasset by market cap, and investor opinions on the matter couldn’t be more polarised. 

We’re making it easy to get in on the altcoin action at Revix.

Revix, a Cape Town-based crypto investment platform, is offering crypto investors a prime opportunity to add the top-performing large-cap altcoins to their portfolios. 

******  Zero Fees on purchases. ******

We start with a one-time-only celebration, from the 29th of October and the 1st of November, you’ll pay zero fees when you buy Bitcoin, in celebration of the 13th anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepapers, in purchases made with ZAR or GBP. 

After that, between the 5th of November and the 11th of November, you’ll pay zero fees when you buy Cardano, Uniswap, Polkadot, Solana or Binance Coin in purchases made with ZAR or GBP. 

Back the altcoin you think is going to change the world, or expose your portfolio to all of them. Either way, you pay no buying fees. 

Revix is backed by JSE listed Sabvest and offers access to all of the individual cryptocurrencies we’ve mentioned in this article, such as Bitcoin, Cardano, Ethereum, Polkadot, Solana and many more.

You can get started with as little as R500. Sign-up is quick and effortless, and you can withdraw your funds at any time.

About Revix

Revix brings simplicity, trust and great customer service when investing in cryptocurrencies. Its easy-to-use online platform enables anyone to securely own the world’s top cryptocurrencies in just a few clicks. Revix guides new clients through the sign-up process to their first deposit and first investment. Once set up, most customers manage their own portfolio but can access support from the Revix team at any time.

Remember, cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments. You should not invest more than you can afford to lose, and before investing, please take into consideration your level of experience, investment objectives and seek independent financial advice if necessary.

This article is intended for informational purposes only. The views expressed are opinions, not facts, and should not be construed as investment advice or recommendations. This article is not an offer, nor the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any cryptocurrency. 

To learn more, visit www.revix.com.

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The best email service

1. ProtonMail

2. Gmail

3. Outlook

4. Yahoo Mail

5. Zoho

If you're looking for the best email service providers around today, you've come to the right place.

Getting hold of the best email service providers today can be easy. Sign up with an ISP and you’ve got one account for starters. Creating an account with Google, Microsoft or other big names will get you more. Buy a decent web hosting package and you'll probably get enough email addresses to power a large business, all for no extra charge.

But picking the best email service providers for you can be more difficult, as there's a lot to consider - especially in these days of remote working. What are the spam filters like? How easy is it to keep your inbox organized? Can you access the account from other email clients? And what about using the service with a custom domain and address of your own (yourname@yourdomain.com)?

Keep reading and we'll highlight some of the best email service providers around. All have decent free services, perhaps with ads and some limits, but we'll also talk about their business-friendly commercial products which deliver the power, functionality and enterprise-level extras that demanding users need.

Google Workspace : Collaboration + productivity apps
There are many different office software suites but Google Workspace formerly known as G Suite remains the original cloud one and one of the best business office suites, offering a huge range of features and functionality that rivals can't match.
Try it free for 14 days.

Check out the best email hosting providers and the best secure email providers, or you might also want to discover the best business VPN for you.

The best email service providers of 2021 are:

Image credit: Proton Technologies

1. ProtonMail

Email with an emphasis on security and privacy

Tight privacy features

End-to-end encryption for messages

Only 500MB of storage for free

Signing up with an email provider will often involve some privacy compromises. Yahoo Mail asks for your name and mobile number, for instance. Gmail and other services might scan your messages to carry out useful actions (such as adding events to calendars), and just about everyone serves you with ads.

ProtonMail is a Swiss-based email service that focuses on privacy above all else. You can sign up anonymously, there's no logging of IP addresses, and all your emails are end-to-end encrypted, which means there's no way ProtonMail (or anyone else) can read their contents. Also, address verification (which allows you to be sure you are securely communicating with the right person) and full support for PGP email encryption is available. In late April 2019, elliptic curve cryptography was introduced, which adds additional security and faster speeds. Paid users also have the Undo function and the import-export app which they can use to easily transfer emails between accounts or download messages to their device.

There are some significant limits. The free product has a tiny 500MB storage space, only supports sending 150 messages a day, and is distinctly short in terms of organizational tools (no folders, labels or smart filters). And as the end-to-end encryption is specific to ProtonMail, emails sent to other email clients won't be encrypted (unless you use the Secure Message function to send a password-protected message).

Still, it seems a little unfair to complain about a service which is no-strings-attached free, and doesn't even show ads. In reality, ProtonMail is a specialist tool which is intended for use alongside services like Gmail – not to replace them – and overall it performs its core tasks very well.

If you do need more, ProtonMail's $5 (you can choose to pay in USD, Euro and CHF) a month (or $48 yearly) Plus account gives you 5GB storage, a 1,000 message-per-day allowance, custom domains (you@yourdomain.com) and support for folders, labels, filters as well as some addition features like contact groups.

A further Professional plan brings more storage, email addresses and a second custom domain, as well as adding a catch-all email address and multi-user support. It's priced from $8 per month per user (75$ yearly), which is reasonable if you need ProtonMail's security, although it's also notably more expensive than the business accounts of the big-name competition.

• You can sign up for ProtonMail here

Image credit: Google

2. Gmail

Google’s webmail juggernaut needs no introduction

Streamlined interface

Google Workspace option gives you lots of power

Paid plan isn’t as cheap as some

First released back in 2004, Google's Gmail has become the market leader in free email services with more than a billion users across the globe.

Gmail's stripped-back web interface is a highlight. Most of the screen is devoted to your inbox, with a minimum of toolbar and other clutter. Messages are neatly organized via conversations for easier viewing, and you can read and reply to emails with ease, even as a first-time user.

There's plenty of power here. Dynamic mail makes Gmail more interactive, with the ability to take action directly from within the email, like filling out a questionnaire or responding to a Google Docs comment. Messages can be automatically filtered into tabbed categories like Primary, Social and Promotions, helping you to focus on the content you need. Leading-edge spam blocking keeps your inbox free of junk, you can manage other accounts from the same interface (Outlook, Yahoo, any other IMAP or POP email), and there's 15GB storage for your inbox, Drive and photos. 

You can also access Gmail offline, although you'll need Google Chrome for that to work. Furthermore, there is a neat snooze feature that allows you to, well, snooze an email for a specified amount of time (it also automatically labels that email as important).

Other features are more questionable. Instead of organizing messages into folders, for instance – a simple metaphor which just about every user understands – you must filter them using a custom labelling system. This works, and has some advantages, but isn't popular with all users. Still, Gmail is an excellent service overall, and a good first choice for your email provider.

Google makes a paid business-oriented version of Gmail available in the shape of its Google Workspace product.

This more professional product drops the ads and allows using a custom email address on your domain (yourname@yourcompany.tld). Business-oriented migration tools can import mail from Outlook, Exchange, Lotus and more. Storage space doubles to 30GB on the Basic plan, and you get unlimited group email addresses, 99.9% guaranteed uptime and 24/7 support.

Google Workspace is Google's answer to Microsoft Office, so of course you also get apps for working with documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Shared calendars keep you better organized, there's video and voice conferencing for online meetings, and again, there’s 24/7 support to keep your system running smoothly.

This more Office-like power makes for a more expensive product than the email-only competition, with prices starting at $6 a user for the simplest plan. You're getting a lot for your money, though, and if you'll use Google Workspace's features then it could be a smart choice. A 14-day free trial provides an easy way to help you find out.

• You can sign up for Gmail here

• Read our full Gmail review.

Image credit: Microsoft

3. Outlook

There’s plenty of power here, especially for Office 365 users

Focused Inbox is a smart feature

Powerful events and calendar-related abilities

Raft of app-based integrations

Outlook's web interface follows the same familiar style as its desktop incarnation, and most other email clients: folders and organizational tools on the left, the contents of the current folder in the center, and a simple preview pane on the right (with adverts in the case of the free account).

A toolbar gives you speedy access to common features, and right-clicking folders or messages shows you just about everything else. If you've ever used another email client, you'll figure out the key details in moments.

Despite the apparent simplicity, there's a lot going on under the hood. The service automatically detects important emails and places them in a Focused Inbox, keeping any distractions out of sight. Events including flights and dinner reservations can automatically be added to your calendar. It's easy to share that calendar with other Outlook.com or Office 365 users, or you can save your events to a Family calendar that everyone can access. In addition, there are some interesting features too, like the ability to add polls directly to your Outlook emails.

Excellent attachment support includes the ability to directly share OneDrive files as copies or links. You can also attach files directly from your Google Drive, Dropbox and Box accounts, and a chunky 15GB mailbox allows storing plenty of files from other people.

This all worked just fine for us, but if you're unhappy with the service defaults, there's a chance they can be tweaked via Outlook.com's Settings dialog. This doesn't have quite as many options as Gmail, but they're well organized and give you plenty of control over layout, attachment rules, message handling and more.

If that’s still not enough, Microsoft offers a bunch of app-based integrations to take the service further. You get built-in Skype support via the beta, and apps give you easier access to Evernote, PayPal, GIPHY, Yelp, Uber and more.

Upgrading to Office 365 gets you an ad-free inbox, 50GB mail storage and a vast 1TB of OneDrive storage. Extras include offline working, professional message formatting tools, phone or chat-based support, file recovery from malicious attacks like ransomware and more. Oh, and the latest versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. All this can be yours for the equivalent of $7 a month on the single user Office 365 Personal plan or you can pay 70$ for a year.

• You can sign up for Outlook here

Image credit: Yahoo

4. Yahoo Mail

A powerful offering with some surprisingly neat extras

Useful extras like disposable email addresses

1TB of inbox storage

Not as many low-level options as rivals

Yahoo Mail doesn't make the headlines so much, these days, but its latest version is a polished and professional service which stands up well against the top competition.

The well-designed interface resembles Gmail, at least initially, with a large view of your inbox, one-click filters for common messages and content (Photos, Documents, Travel), and easy browsing of all the emails in a conversation. But you can also organize mails into custom folders, and the layout can be tweaked to display a message preview in a couple of clicks. Mobile users have some additional features like the option to unsubscribe to newsletters and such, without ever leaving the Yahoo Mail inbox.

A powerful underlying engine can integrate with Facebook, supports sending SMS and text messages, is accessible via web, POP and (in some situations) IMAP, and can forward email to another address. Valuable extras include disposable email addresses to protect your privacy, and a mammoth 1TB of mailbox storage means you can keep just about everything you receive, for a very long time.

Demanding users might find issues, over time. Mail organization can't quite match the flexibility of Gmail's labelling scheme, for instance, and there aren't nearly as many low-level tweaks, settings and options as you'll often see elsewhere. But overall, Yahoo Mail is an appealing service which needs to be on your email shortlist.

As with other providers, Yahoo offers a Business Mail plan with more features. The highlight is an option to use the service with a custom domain (yourname@yourdomain.com), although there are other advantages, too. The service can import contacts from Facebook, Gmail, Outlook and more. You can view all your mailboxes on the same screen, and there are all the usual business-friendly productivity tools (multiple calendars, document handling, analytics and more).

Prices start from $3.19 per mailbox per month, billed annually, and they drop as you add mailboxes – $1.59 for 5, $1.19 for 10, and for 20+ you'll need to contact them. Additionally, another pricing plan called Yahoo Mail Pro is available at $3.49 per month. This gives you ad-free inbox, priority customer support and additional features.

There's even a free domain name included, and not just the initial registration: Yahoo will also renew it for as long as your subscription is active.

• You can sign up for Yahoo Mail here

Image credit: Zoho

5. Zoho

An email provider that gives you a lot for, well, nothing

Free plan allows up to 25 users

Freebie has features normally only in paid plans

Also boasts office and collaboration tools

Zoho Workplace is a business-oriented email service which throws in an online office suite, document management, and a host of collaboration tools and other extras.

Zoho's free plan supports up to 25 users, although there's an extra 25 available if you can refer others to the service (update: Zoho is currently remodeling the referral program so this isn't available at the moment), each with 5GB of mailbox storage, and can be used with one domain of your own. These are features you'll normally only find in commercial products, and when you factor in the spreadsheet, word processor, presentation and other tools, it looks like a real bargain.

The email service is easy-to-use, and provides a decent set of features to help organize your emails: folders, tags, filters, smart searches, and more. You can also create custom hotkeys to expand and replace easy abbreviations of your choice with full words and phrases as you type. Zoho also has an offline mode, which allows you to read and respond to your emails even when your internet connection fails you. Zoho Mail has also introduced an IMAP client to help you configure, sync, and manage your other email accounts via IMAP.

The free plan is still a little basic. It gives you web access only, for instance, and there's no support for email forwarding.

Fortunately, the Zoho Standard plan fixes that. A mere $3 per user (paid annually) gets you IMAP and POP access, email forwarding, active sync, multiple domain hosting, domain aliases, 30GB storage, a 30MB attachment limit (up from 25MB with the free plan) and some major improvements elsewhere (the ability to send cloud files to non-Zoho users, for instance). You also have Lite plan which is a cheaper Standard plan ($1 per user) with less features, and a Professional ($6 per user) plan which adds more features.

A number of these features are available elsewhere for free, of course, but businesses or anyone who will use the custom domain support or Office tools will find a lot to like here. Well worth a closer look.

• You can sign up for Zoho here

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Black Friday deals have already begun to roll in early with some steep discounts on some top-tier products – case in point: the Roku Premiere 4K. 

It’s one of Roku’s most popular models and it’s on sale at Amazon for 50% off ($19.99). That's the lowest price we've seen and an incredible Black Friday deal to snag before the official sale even begins.

Early Black Friday Roku deal

Roku Premiere 4K: $40 $19.99 at Amazon
Save $20 - This early Black Friday from Amazon has the Roku Premiere 4K on sale for just $19.99. We've always loved Roku devices. They offer an egalitarian platform that doesn't elevate any one service. They've got access to one of the most robust universal searches and this one can stream 4K HDR content.

In our review of the Roku Premiere 4K, we called it an impressive piece of kit that offers 4K HDR streaming at an affordable price. It has access to nearly every major streaming service (minus YouTube TV) and a vast array of free shows and movies on Roku’s own ad-supported streaming service.

You could hold out for Amazon’s counter deals on its series of smart streaming devices – the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, Amazon Fire TV Stick and Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max – but if you’re set on a Roku device, they won’t come much cheaper this year.

Not in the US? Find streaming device deals for your territory down below:

• Want some discounts on your next TV purchase? Check out our guide to the best Black Friday TV deals

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Facebook Messenger and Instagram Messenger appear to be suffering an outage that is affecting both the US and UK. According to the outage tracking site DownDetector, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp services have all seen a huge spike in outage reports in the UK.

TechRadar has confirmed that Instagram in the US isn't loading, at least for some of our team members.

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(Image credit: DownDetector)

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(Image credit: DownDetector)

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(Image credit: DownDetector)

This story is developing...

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In the broadest sense, brainstorming is the collective consideration of ideas in order to arrive at a solution to a predefined problem. More strictly, it refers to a technique businesses can apply to come up with fresh, creative, and focused ideas. While being superficially similar to the concepts of problem-solving and mind mapping, brainstorming is most often a collective effort, and does not always have to target a specific issue.

It is a technique designed to stimulate creativity in the most spontaneous way possible, with the goal of generating a list of quality ideas and suggestions from the participants. Brainstorming usually takes place in a less formal setting, primarily to restrict inhibitions on speaking one’s mind and promote creative thinking without the fear of criticism.

In business, brainstorming is a well-established approach to creating ideas that serve as intellectual resources and commodities. Despite having the same outcomes, the applications of brainstorming vary across industries, with marketing brainstorming being different from the sessions more focused on the technical side of the business. For example, many brainstorming sessions concern coming up with ideas on how to win over a new customer base, introduce new technologies, streamline company operations, etc.

 Who should do brainstorming? 

Brainstorming was developed as a technique by Alex F. Osborne in 1939 as a response to his team’s inability to come up with useful ideas. Osborne started working on developing group sessions in which individuals would present their opinions in an informal manner under the guidance of an executive - and this general format of brainstorming still persists today.

The range of stakeholders who can benefit from brainstorming is rather broad, as the technique is easily applied as a solution to problems that require collective action. Based on this, any organization or a group of individuals gathered around a central idea, such a business, can benefit from brainstorming. Yet, its also a valuable tool for political parties, schools and other educational institutions, research facilities, medical institutions, government authorities, etc.

Common to all of these use cases is the need to face a pre-defined issue that needs to be questioned and approached from different and innovative angles. This is often described as group brainstorming, but the technique is equally applicable to individuals as well. With individual brainstorming, one person defines an issue to be tackled and records ideas that come to their mind in the course of a single or several sessions. While being less commonly used than the group-based method, individual brainstorming has been proven to be even more effective in tackling complex issues. 

 Why you should do brainstorming

The benefits of both individual and group brainstorming are numerous. Apart from the focus on quantity of ideas over quality, brainstorming sessions are usually free from criticism, meaning that participants can present their ideas without the fear of being ridiculed.

Collaborative efforts such as brainstorming promote teamwork and a common approach to general business goals. Once they become an established practice, brainstorming sessions bring team-building to a new level, becoming a long-term solution to creative blocks, staff communication problems, and the lack of business innovations.

Brainstorming is usually the fastest way to gain access to numerous ideas which are then filtered and provided with feedback for further refinement. This serves to encourage consensus-building as a general practice for dealing with business issues that require inclusive solutions and arriving at informed collective decisions.

Also, brainstorming benefits from the interaction among multiple ideas as these sessions usually do not end with a single final conclusion. Instead, participants present diverse perspectives and, more importantly, combine them to produce a novel and out-of-the-box solution. Even when this happens, no participant can claim exclusive ownership of an idea, treating it instead as a product of a collective, team-based effort.

Pros and cons of brainstorming 

While being almost universally applied today for its advantages, getting the best out of brainstorming sessions starts by being aware of its potential shortcomings as well. 

Pros

Great new ideas and perspectives can be discovered. With brainstorming, it is easy to get a wholly new perspective and uncover “elephants in the room” with regard to a particular issue. These can easily become sources of solutions, new ideas or even constructive criticism coming from people guided by the same vision but who do not always get the chance to have their voices heard.

Brainstorming helps you define problems better. Brainstorming sessions often take place in a less formal environment in which no one feels pressured to come up with the best idea, as is the case with formal meetings.

Brainstorming is an informal pinnacle of creative teamwork. Brainstorming promotes a sense of camaraderie and working towards a common goal. It also helps relax the barriers that exist as part of a hierarchical organization. Once a solution is reached, everyone can feel satisfaction from participating in a collective effort that can be made part of standard organizational practice.

Cons

Brainstorming takes time to do properly. Brainstorming is not a fast solution to a particular problem. It needs to develop organically over time, which is why it often takes place over a sequence of sessions that can last for hours or days.

Brainstorming can bring underlying interpersonal conflicts to life. Brainstorming, by its very character, often features a “stormy” or fiery exchange of ideas and it can easily get out of control without the assistance of a facilitator.

It does not work in settings with a history of poor personal communication. To get the best out of every brainstorming session, one should ideally have a team of people who are taught to express their opinions and ideas freely. People with inadequate communication skills will find it hard to speak their minds, particularly if they work in an environment in which the free flow of ideas is not sufficiently promoted.

How to produce great Brainstorming

Since brainstorming sessions prosper in the relaxed ambiance of free-flowing exchange of ideas, they usually do not involve a strict set of rules. Unless a business has established its own best practice for handling brainstorming, there are some proven approaches to extracting the best value from this technique. 

Firstly, gathering a team of professionals deemed as having the potential to offer a creative spin on an idea and organizing them in a group. The group is usually helmed by a facilitator, here in a less formal and hierarchical role compared with formal meetings. As the ideas are proposed and described in a freestyle manner, recording is usually done in an unobtrusive way so as not to disturb the exchange of ideas.

·        Provide feedback to the proposed ideas subsequently, or as part of a separate brainstorming session. A typical brainstorming session can be divided into two parts: a) presentation, collection and recording of ideas, and b) provision of feedback on the idea presented. The participants may usually be more willing to share their ideas in an informal setting in which they are not feeling as being judged. Looking for immediate feedback as ideas are exchanged can be a valid option, but some participants may be discouraged to get involved more actively if they see that their ideas get shot down repeatedly. This is why a balanced approach to brainstorming involves treating all ideas as valid to promote the atmosphere of an inclusive exchange of ideas.

·         Seemingly wild ideas should still be considered as a potential source of a creativity spark. This is similar to treating all ideas as being equally meritorious, yet with the focus on exploring more unorthodox ideas. Knowing that some great inventions have come out of supposedly “crazy” ideas means that it is usually worth keeping some of these on file, at least to spice up more conventional ideas. With brainstorming, ideas generate and complement one another, and making them come together naturally as a solution is one of the key tasks of brainstorming facilitators.

·         Facilitators need to gently direct the proceedings of a brainstorming session. While facilitators often work best when they maintain a sort of invisible presence, a brainstorming session still needs to revolve around a central idea. Due to the improvisational nature of these meetings, brainstorming can easily veer into the territory of informal conversations about irrelevant topics. Facilitators need to keep the team focused on the task at hand without being obtrusive.

You might also want to check out our lists of the best project management software and best business plan software.

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