Freethinking With a Plan

Follow these rules and let the juices flow during your brainstorming sessions

Before you start, make sure you define the problem or issue you're going to discuss.
During the session, make sure someone writes down all ideas as they surface.
Once you get started, everyone must suspend judgement. Reserve criticism for after the session.
Encourage people to build on the ideas of others. Remember, few ideas have a single author.
The idea is to push the envelope--invite unconventional thinking. In fact, often the wilder the idea, the better.

And don't sweat the details. During brainstorming, quantity is more important than quality.