BE 408: How to Throw Out Your Ideas in a Brainstorming Session
17:46 Share

This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 408, How to Throw Out Your Ideas in a Brainstorming Session.

Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.

The Hoover Dam wasn't built in a day. And the GMC Sierra lineup wasn't built overnight. Like every American achievement, building the Sierra 1500 heavy-duty and EV was the result of dedication. A dedication to mastering the art of engineering. That's what this country has done for 250 years.

and what GMC has done for over 100. We are professional grade. Visit GMC.com to learn more. Assembled in Flint and Hamtramck, Michigan and Fort Wayne, Indiana of U.S. and globally sourced parts. Hey there, Michelle. How are you today? Good, Lindsay. Good. I'm just thinking out loud here. How many episodes should we record today? Oh, it's a good question, Michelle. Maybe three or four, I would say.

Yeah. Okay. All right. That sounds good. Lindsay, today I'm excited for this episode. Today we're going to talk about an excellent expression used to show that you're brainstorming or you're considering something, but you still want to share it. Yes. It's going to be fun. I love it. So good. Very common. It's the words that we use on a daily basis when we're not really intentional. Sometimes we hear them and that's what makes us native and natural, right? When we start to take on those expressions.

So what is that expression, Michelle? Again, what did you say? This is thinking out loud. Yes. I think there's a song called Thinking Out Loud, actually. Oh, by who? Ed Sheeran. Yeah. So, yeah. So, guys, we're going to talk about this expression today. So but before we do, remember to hit the follow button wherever you're listening to the Business English podcast. Let us come to you. Don't miss anything. And yeah, it's going to be great.

I love it. And I love how, yeah. So we're going to get into what this is good for, first of all. So why would someone say, I'm just thinking out loud here? Well, so it could be for brainstorming. It could also be showing you're not quite sure.

sure, like you're not very certain, but you want it. You still feel like what you're thinking is worth saying, right? Because it may bring somebody to the next step. You're throwing ideas out there. You're just it's it's about thinking in real time and saying what you're thinking. What do you think, Lindsay?

Yeah, it's exactly so. And this is a lot of what we do. We don't and ideally we don't rehearse what we're going to say. We don't even necessarily know what we're going to say. We just say it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. And a lot of the times you hear I'm just thinking out loud here.

Right. Instead of, oh, I'm thinking out loud. A lot of times it's, oh, I'm just thinking out loud here. And then you kind of introduce your idea. Yeah. But there is an important caveat here. Um,

this must be coupled with something that you were actually thinking at that moment. Okay. So don't say this as a way to introduce something you already knew you were going to think you were going to say, right. Because then it doesn't feel genuine. It doesn't feel natural. And certainly you have to say something, right. You don't just, this expression isn't used in isolation. It's when you're introducing something that you're thinking, right. You could say it before or after you say what you're thinking. Either one is really okay.

Yeah, Michelle, are you someone who works through your thoughts verbally? I mean, are you someone who thinks out loud or do you process things internally? No, I'm a talker. You're a podcaster, so that kind of makes sense. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, I like to talk through things. What about you? Yeah, I am someone for sure. I think out loud. I need to articulate everything.

I need someone that will listen to my thoughts and then, but the challenge is when your partner's not that way, sometimes it's different. Like my partner is more internal working through things in the mind. And so that can be a clash sometimes. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I get that. Yeah. No, I, no, I'm a chatter. I'm a chat. Yeah. Yeah. But what about when you're making a decision? Do you feel like you have to sit down and talk to someone or do you come to the decision and,

in your mind kind of thing? I think I think it really depends on what it is, but I think I usually like to talk. What about you? Yeah, that's me for sure. So maybe that'll be related to our poll question today. We'll see. We'll see. Yeah, that'd be good. All right. Example. So let's do some examples. All right. So here we go. OK, so I'm just thinking out loud here. What if we change our sales pitch? Mm hmm. Good. Or, hmm, we could call and ask if they could change the appointment. I'm just thinking out loud.

- Right, so it comes before or after, right? - Right, and how does this sound to you? I mean, what does it convey? - It conveys spontaneity, and I know a lot of our listeners do wanna be more spontaneous. It conveys a sense of brainstorming, collaboration,

Openness, flexibility to ideas. Yeah, yeah. You're not too rigid. I think it is also a little bit of just a softener. It pulls back. Oh, I'm just thinking out loud, right? It's like a way of saying I'm saying this, but I'm not really saying it. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Right. And this is good for brainstorming some topics. I would avoid this at work. Right. Like if you're, I don't know, you don't want to promise things that you can't fulfill. You can't follow up on. So be careful if you're making promises and the person interprets that as a promise, but it's really not. You're just brainstorming. Right. There's a time and a place for this. Right. This is not a way out. You can't say this and say, Oh, I'm just thinking out loud, but it's something serious and,

And you can't totally use it as a way of saying, oh, I wasn't, I didn't say that. I was just thinking out loud. It doesn't work. It's a little casual, I would say. But again, like we said, it shows that you're not too rigid, not too planned. You're open to spontaneity. Why do we think it's good for business?

Because if you are brainstorming, you can share, okay, this is, this is what's going on in my mind. It's not, it's not an a hundred percent idea. Maybe I just want to share this, but it's, it's letting the person know you're, you're open to discussion. Yes. I love that. It's good. It's good for collaboration with the right people at the right time, the right teams at the right moment. Right? Right. Exactly. Exactly.

Okay, Michelle. So there are some other things we could say that would mean the same thing, like rattling off ideas.

Yes. What do you think of that one? It's like a rattle, like a, you know, like a rattlesnake. You know, we have rattlesnakes out here. We have those here actually. Oh yeah. We have rattlesnakes in Colorado. Have you seen any? I haven't seen any yet, but I've heard like there's an entire mountain that my friend lives right near this mountain. It used to be called Rattlesnake Mountain, but they had to rebrand the mountain because people wouldn't, I guess, didn't want to hike it, didn't want to move near it. Yeah. Not a great

- Not a great name. - Not a great name. They changed it to something more benign like Green Mountain or something. But anyways, rattle, the rattle. A rattle makes a sound, right? So it's this idea of rattling off ideas, a phrasal verb, very interesting expression, right? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you could say, I'm just rattling off ideas. Could we give out hats with our logo on them? So it means you're just throwing out ideas like a rattle would make a noise. Like here's an idea, here's an idea, here's an idea.

And speaking of throwing out ideas, that's our next one. I'm throwing this or I'm throwing it out there or I'm throwing out ideas. So, Lindsay, how would that sound? Yeah, I'm going to throw this out there. How about a Christmas party for our clients? Yeah, I like that idea. Oh.

Um, this idea of throwing it out there and we could do another episode, Michelle, about this when it comes to inviting someone. Like just yesterday, I was texting a friend who I haven't seen in a couple of years. And I said, Hey, you and your partner should come visit us this summer. Just throwing this out there. Just throwing it out. And it's another way we did an episode. I think Aubrey and I are on no pressure yet. That was me. And yeah, okay. Similar to that,

Right. Similar. Throwing it out there. Yeah. It's like no pressure. You don't need to say yes. Right. It's OK if you don't want to. Right. Episode idea. So. So the last one is spitballing, which sounds disgusting. Yeah. But come in, Lindsay, what does it mean to spitball? Yeah.

So spitballing, I guess something like, like, it's like, it's like school. Oh, well, I mean, I'm talking about in this context. I mean, I mean, it is used to, yeah. Okay. Actually I'm looking it up. Oh, gross. I'm looking this up. This is actually from chat GBT guys. So it says the term comes from a game in which people I quote would chew on a piece of paper and spit it at a target. Yes.

- Yeah, yeah. I feel like kids in school would like spit ball. It was a verb we would use. Not in the idea of brainstorming because now in the business world nowadays, we use it in this more brainstorming context, right? But in the very crude sense, it is like a form of spitting.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. But let's take it into the boardroom, you know, into the meeting rooms of corporate America, corporate world, global, corporate global. We say, I'm spitballing. I'm just spitballing here. A dinner party, a party, a brunch, right? Right. So we're thinking of something for maybe our clients, whatever it is. It's kind of interesting because you're actually like,

bringing that crude language into the business world. Right. True. Right. I mean, do you think it's something that people should avoid? I mean, is it or do you think it's totally evolved? I think it's yeah, I think it's OK. I yeah, I think it's one of the less common ones, but I think you can say it.

Actually, you know, maybe listen if you're not sure if you think maybe your corporate environment is very conservative or something. Listen and see if you hear it first and then repeat what you're hearing from your coworkers. But I think you can get away with it in many work environments for sure. Definitely. All right. Cool. Let's do a role play. All right. Here we go. So we are brainstorming in a meeting. Here we go.

Okay, so what should we do about the conference presentation? I'm just thinking out loud here. What if we had a video component? Video? Showing examples of how our work has helped others. Ooh, I like it. Okay, I'm just rattling off ideas. Could we ask the O'Connells to be in it? Maybe the Jaron family?

Yes and yes. All right, let's keep spitballing. Okay, I'm going to throw this out there. Could we interview them all and have them send in their progress over time? Love it.

we are on a roll yeah what do you do you think uh this was a question that we actually asked in our professional English course to our native speaker friends but do you think that brainstorming happens better is more effective in person or do you think you can have the same results through a zoom meeting oh zoom um I mean virtual whatever teams doesn't matter yeah

I think it's always better to be in person, but I don't think that like a video, as long as it's on video, I think it's better than if you're just texting back and forth and anything, you know, but like in terms of video, I think it's okay. What do you think? Yeah, I think it's ideal to be in person, like you said, but if you can't do it because we're all dispersed around the world now working together, it's just not practical. Then I think Zoom is okay. I think it's the next best option. Exactly. Exactly.

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You might say all kinds of stuff when things go wrong, but these are the words you really need to remember. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. They've got options to fit your unique insurance needs, meaning you can talk to your agent to choose the coverage you need, have coverage options to protect the things you value most, file a claim right on the State Farm mobile app, and even reach a real person when you need to talk to someone. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

All right. So let's go through this. So I said, hmm, I'm just thinking out loud here. Right. And then I introduced the video idea. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. What if we had a video component? And often people will it'll follow with what if X, Y, Z. Right. I'm just thinking out loud here. What if X, Y, Z. Right. That's also part of what we're teaching our listeners today. Mm hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. And then here comes the rattler, the rattlesnake. You're saying, hmm, I'm just rattling off ideas. Could we ask the O'Connells to be in it? The Jaron family? Yep. And I say, I'm very excited, guys. We're getting excited about all our ideas. I say, yes and yes. And then I said, let's keep spitballing. So throwing things out there.

there yes exactly and then i said okay i'm gonna throw this out there again very natural could we interview them all and here maybe it's a question can we could we um would it be possible to asking these questions hypothetical questions right yes yep exactly um so yeah sounds like we have some really good ideas and we're getting excited you can kind of feel that excitement growing oh wait wait and what if we do this and what if we do that

that right yeah lots of good ideas love that sounds like one of our team sync meetings right yeah yes yes yes yes exactly um so very fun it's exciting when you get on those brainstorming sessions it is exciting exciting about it like everybody gets like oh oh it's always fun it's super exciting Michelle what's another episode of business English that our listeners should check out right now

guys head on over we did episode 396 was test the waters with these office expressions love it and where should we leave our listeners don't be afraid to spitball in at work you know literally but right not no don't really do it um but yes and the way that we discussed right brainstorming is good it's healthy it's this is you know these are a lot of good phrases that you can use to kind of get the ball rolling and get everybody excited about

what you want to say but it's a it's also a good way to say hey i'm i'm not i'm not committing to this i'm just throwing it out there so it's really it's really good because it sounds strong and in some ways exciting but at the same time you're not committing exactly and it's important to make your voice heard in these kind of scenarios right these meetings where people are just throwing out ideas so don't try to uh be in the mindset of not saying no to an idea as it pops in your head just kind of

throwing it out there, like we said, to make your voice heard. It is important that people hear your voice in the workplace, right? Super important. Good. Very good. All right. Well, I'm glad we talked about this. This was fun and we will see you next time. All right, Michelle. Talk soon. Bye. Bye.

Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional. Want more from All Ears English? Don't miss our biggest and best podcast with 8 million monthly downloads. Just search for the All Ears English podcast and hit follow to get four new episodes per week on fluency, American culture, grammar, and so much more. Or

Tap the link in the show notes. Remember, we believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English. Follow the All Ears English podcast now. Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? Well, with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision makers. You can even target buyers by job title, industry, company, seniority, skills, etc.

Wait, did I say job title yet? Get started today and see how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Get started at linkedin.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply.