Ok – this is basically a piece of social dynamics I was alerted to at a D&AD lecture given by graphics designer Paula Scher. She explained it better on a flip chart line by line. But here goes:

You arrive at a presentation and the mood is moderately high. Everyone is looking forward to your proposal. There’s a lot of energy in the room. For most of the people you are presenting to, this is one of the bits of their job they like. So without further ado you put forward your idea. Now if you have met your brief and done your ground work your idea will be well received. The mood in the room rises and there is a bit of a buzz, but then, suddenly, one of the number will remember an obstacle. Now this is not good idea growing behaviour. Risk assessments must be made at some point but not right this second. As the impact of this person’s words are felt, the mood in the room will plummet. Those that saw the idea as a way to solve their problems will now start to lose hope. So you rush in and making due consideration to pointed out obstacle, explain how said obstacle can be climbed over, got round, zapped with antimatter particles etc and suddenly the idea is back on. The mood will rise again, probably back to the optimistic level it was when the meeting started, but it will not get back to the point where the idea was unveiled. This is the point where you leave the room. Have another appointment to get to and wait for the call back.

If you stay, now that the judging, evaluating precedent has been set, someone else will think of a problem. The mood will plunge again and the idea starts to look untenable. Each time you rescue it, it will get attacked from another quarter now because you are on that slippery slope. Confidence in the idea and maybe you has been lost. The idea is dead.

So before I present stuff, if I can, I draw them the slow death diagram. And I ask people to look for the possibilities in the idea as I present. How could it be adapted? What would happen if we put wheels on the wizzogizzmo? If I know the people in the room well I might mention the idea’s potential for a whole other area of business and ask a particular person to consider that as I present. At the end of the presentation, what then happens is someone usually makes a positive suggestion and builds on the idea. The energy in the room becomes charged – everyone one starts to grow the idea and possibilities I hadn’t considered begin to emerge. They take the idea and make it their own! I live for moments like that.