What if. . . ? is one of the simplest, yet most powerful, activities available. It is often overlooked, however, because it is so simple. If participants truly suspend belief during this exercise, the results can be outstanding. Ask participants how they think this approach compares with more traditional brainstorming activities and why.
Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?
What if. . . ? Handout
What if you were a car dealer who wanted to increase repeat business? To think of ideas, you might begin “Whatiffing” as follows:
• What if I gave repeat customers a free car?
• What if prospective repeat customers had to beg to let me sell them a new car?
• What if prospective repeat customers tried to pay double the price for a new car?
• What if a customer’s current car hypnotized the customer into buying another car?
• What if new cars followed people around town until the people bought them?
Next, use these questions as idea triggers. Here are some sample ideas:
• I can’t give repeat customers a free car, but I could give them a substantial discount.
• I can’t get repeat customers to beg me to sell them a new car, but I could contact customers on a regular basis to see if they have any problems. Such constant attention may encourage repeat sales.
• I can’t double the price for a new car, but I could offer to pay customers double the difference of any better car deal they can get from another dealer.
• Acustomer’s car won’t hypnotize the customer into buying another car, but I could mount a relentless advertising campaign using all media.
• New cars won’t follow customers around, but I could offer repeat customers free use of a cellular car phone for one year.
Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity
