How to Run a Brainstorming Session with an Online Whiteboard

Written by Greg Ives

Creator of Jotboard

Learn how to run effective brainstorming sessions using an online whiteboard like Jotboard, with practical tips for remote and in-person teams.

Why Brainstorm on an Online Whiteboard?

Brainstorming works best when ideas flow quickly and everyone can contribute. An online whiteboard gives your team a shared space to capture ideas visually, whether you are in the same room or spread across different time zones. Unlike a shared document or chat thread, a whiteboard lets you see all ideas at once, group them naturally and build on each other’s thinking.

The key advantage of using a tool like Jotboard is that you spend less time setting up and more time ideating. There is no complicated interface to learn, no templates to configure and no onboarding required. Your team can open a link and start adding ideas in seconds. For more on how teams use Jotboard for brainstorming, visit our brainstorming use case page.

Step 1: Prepare the Board

Good brainstorming starts with a little preparation. Before the session, create a board in Jotboard and set up a few slides:

• Slide 1: The brief — Write the problem statement or question you want to brainstorm around. Make it clear and specific so everyone knows the focus.
• Slide 2: Individual ideas — This is where participants will add their sticky notes. Leave it blank so there is plenty of space.
• Slide 3: Grouping and themes — You will use this slide later to organize ideas into categories.
• Slide 4: Next steps — A place to capture action items after the session.

Using slides keeps the session structured without being rigid. Each phase of the brainstorm has its own space, which prevents the board from becoming chaotic.

Step 2: Set the Rules

Before diving in, set a few ground rules for the session:

• No criticism during ideation — Every idea is valid at this stage. Evaluation comes later.
• Quantity over quality — The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible. Encourage wild ideas.
• One idea per sticky note — This makes it easier to group and move ideas around later.
• Time-box the session — Give the team a fixed amount of time (10 to 15 minutes works well) for the idea generation phase.

Share these rules on the first slide so everyone can see them throughout the session.

Step 3: Generate Ideas

Move to the ideas slide and ask everyone to start adding sticky notes. In Jotboard, each person can create sticky notes simultaneously thanks to real-time collaboration. Encourage participants to use different colored sticky notes to represent different categories or perspectives.

This is where the simplicity of the tool matters. If people are fumbling with menus or trying to figure out how to add a shape, you lose momentum. With Jotboard, adding a sticky note is instant, so the focus stays on thinking rather than tooling.

Step 4: Group and Vote

Once the timer is up, move to the grouping slide. As a team, drag related sticky notes together and label each group with a theme. This is where patterns emerge and the strongest ideas start to become clear.

To vote on the best ideas, you can use a simple method: ask each participant to place a small colored shape or a second sticky note next to their top picks. This gives you a quick visual read on which ideas have the most support.

Step 5: Capture Next Steps

On the final slide, write down the top ideas and assign owners and deadlines. Having this on the same board as the brainstorm means everything is in one place and easy to revisit later.

For teams that brainstorm regularly, Jotboard boards persist so you can return to previous sessions anytime. This makes it easy to track how ideas evolve over time. You can also explore how Jotboard supports meetings for more structured collaboration.

Start Your Next Brainstorm

Jotboard’s free plan gives you unlimited boards and real-time collaboration for up to 5 people, making it perfect for team brainstorming sessions. No accounts or downloads are needed for participants — just share a link and start.

Try Jotboard for free and run your next brainstorming session in minutes.