@Kathryn Davis : Carolyn Brookfield.... and she is primarily a public speaker, so not a member of this community

... what is your end goal? And tailor your outreach strategy with that in mind. If you are looking for followup business, then emphasize the ROI or how much money this could save them.

Interesting. I wasn't able to access the reading, but from what you have said I'm not sure you should have done anything differently. You wanted to be inclusive and welcoming to everyone, but there were some who weren't comfortable with that. My inclination is to let them sit in their discomfort. Would there have been others made uncomfortable if you hadn't set this tone? I don't know if you are able to talk with the two who found it very uncomfortable, but if you can, it might be worth a discussion so they feel heard... and you can explain why that was included.

@Sebastian Marcu : although you will probably generate some ideas, as @Salah Bouchma suggests, you need to include specific ideation activities to stimulate a wider range of ideas. SCAMPER and Worst Possible Idea are possibilities, though I'm not sure SCAMPER is the best for communication materials. Worst Possible Ideas is a good one early on as people are more likely to offer crazy ideas and get the creative process going without self-censoring. Other activities you may wish to consider are: - Role storming: take on the role of famous people and ask what ideas they would come up with - Who else has solved this problem? ... or in your case, come up with some really interesting communication approaches - Visual stimulus: random set of objects/pictures and capture the ideas that they suggest. You might want to have a question as part of this (This picture makes me think of... ) - Brainwriting - Mindmapping And then, when you have a lot of ideas generated, look for where you could combine ideas for something new. To get good ideas, you need to generate a lot of ideas. Quantity leads to quality. You might want to have an idea quota... 30 ideas from each participant (ideally distinct) as a minimum, and you may be able to go higher. The first 10 will be reasonably easy. Next 10 will be really hard work. And then you start to see some really original ideas emerge. And alternate between solo work and collaborative work in generating ideas. Generating ideas should be like making popcorn (I'll let you think about that one). There are some basic brainstorming rules dating back to Alex Osborn that is worth mentioning here: 1. No censoring or judgement of ideas (or saying "no" or "but") 2. Freewheel and come up with the wildest ideas you can 3. Quantity over quality 4. Build on and develop on ideas that have already been expressed Something that seems to be missing in this is understanding who your target audience and a sense of their interests and motivators. That is an important starting point, and will probably point the direction for a number if ideas.

@Saqib Niaz : welcome

Welcome to the community @Uros Micic