General overview of how to implement it

Step 1: Create a list of criteria to use when assessing an idea or a solution. “An excellent concept or solution would have the following features…”, you would think to yourself. The project may be limited in terms of resources, timeline, or materials. It may also need to target a certain individual or set of school activities.

Step 2: Once you have a list of criteria (which will most likely consist of no more than 10-15 items), try to reach agreement on the order in which the criteria should be prioritized. If this proves to be too tough, you may need to dot vote on the criterion, in which case go to the next stage in the procedure.

Step 3: Now that everyone understands the choice criteria, have them each use a colored marker that will be visible from a distance and cast 3-5 votes or the moderator can distribute three to five sticky points to each participant (each participant gets the same predetermined amount). Ask the participants to indicate their preferences by placing a visible dot on the concept of their choosing or a sticky note.

Step 4: Organize the concepts in such a way that the ones with dots are grouped together and sorted from most dots to least.

Step 5: Discuss the ideas that got the most votes and determine whether or not there is a widespread consensus on whether or not one or more of those ideas should proceed to the next stage.

Step 6: After that, have everyone look over the undotted ideas one more time to see if there are any “orphans” among them who they believe should be placed in a more permanent setting.

Step 7: Make a decision on the next steps and discard the stack of sticky notes. Make a visible list of the ideas you’ve gathered on a board or pinboard. Ideas with less points should be saved as a reserve, while ideas with no points should be discarded.