Brainstorming and clustering can help you in both public speaking and small group settings. When choosing a topic, both strategies allow you to generate ideas based on your interests, your audience’s interests, and your time constraints (Chapter 12). In a group, brainstorming and clustering allow you to identify and discuss solutions from a variety of perspectives to ensure that the solution meets the needs of the group.
The EcoCrew group has scheduled its first meeting in the student union lounge. Susan, the group’s founder, is the designated leader. Deciding to adopt a participative leadership style, Susan invites each person to give his or her perception of the problem the group will set out to address before debates or questions occur. Members pipe up with a number of issues and activities they’d like the group to address. One suggests the elimination of plastic bags from campus shops; another wants to address littering on the beaches.
By inviting members to voice their concerns one at a time, Susan is providing an opportunity for the group to identify and define several problems. Once all the members have presented their views, Susan encourages the group to discuss the various proposed definitions of the problem and agree on one that EcoCrew can productively address. The group decides that litter, both on campus and on the nearby beach, is the most immediately troubling environmental issue.
Having defined the problem it wants to address, EcoCrew has gotten off to an effective start. According to researchers, many groups don’t spend enough time identifying the problem they want to tackle (Gouran, 2003). Without a clear, agreed-