Specialty · Foundation
v2.0

AI Ideation Facilitator

Run ideation workshops with AI in the room that end in a recorded decision, with every voice heard and AI kept in its place.

Level
Foundation
Learning time
15 hours
Price
$199
Credential
Valid 2 years
Enroll on learn.brrain.io See the syllabus
What's new in v2.0

What changed in this edition.

  • Complete course: v1 published 5 of 40 lessons and a 10-item sample bank; v2 has 36 full lessons, 6 module pretests and retrieval checks, 5 AI role-play labs and a capstone.
  • New coverage of decision rules, psychological safety and norms, the AI plan, How-might-we, SCAMPER, analogies and constraint flips, assumption mapping, remote and hybrid sessions, retrospectives, recovery moves, and ethics and confidentiality.
  • AI roles are taught as scribe, provocateur, synthesizer and challenger, with humans-first sequencing, labeling, the adoption rule and explicit defenses against anchoring on AI output.
  • Product content where it genuinely helps: Nexus Meetings capture (and its Me/Them speaker-label limit), Lists and Notes, Nexus Plan's Matrix and Pairwise lenses, record_decision, and Nexus Memory for revisiting and superseding decisions.
  • Role-play labs with a skeptical sponsor, a dominant executive and a quiet expert, ending in a capstone where you run a session with AI-played participants and produce the decision record.
  • Re-levelled to Foundation: 15 hours of honest seat time, 2-year validity, and a new LOFT exam of 45 selected-response items plus 2 AI-conducted performance tasks.
Outcomes

What you will be able to do.

  • You will be able to turn a request into a decision statement with one owner, a deadline, known constraints, a floor and an announced decision rule, or reshape a session that should not run.
  • You will be able to design attendees, a paced agenda, working norms, a confidentiality agreement and an AI plan with a no-AI fallback.
  • You will be able to run structured divergence (brainwriting, How-might-we, SCAMPER, analogies, constraint flips) with AI used only after the humans, labeled and adopted.
  • You will be able to choose, signal and bound AI's role as scribe, provocateur, synthesizer or challenger, verify its drafts and prevent or recover from anchoring.
  • You will be able to handle dominant, quiet and skeptical participants and conflict, in the room, remote or hybrid.
  • You will be able to converge with dot voting, effort and impact and pairwise comparison, map assumptions and tests, and help the owner make a five-part call.
  • You will be able to capture the session, read back a one-page synthesis, record the decision with record_decision, follow through in a plan and revisit or supersede the decision.

Who it's for

  • Facilitators, design-thinking practitioners and innovation leads
  • Product managers running discovery and prioritization sessions
  • Design leads running ideation and concept sessions
  • Engineering and team leads running planning sessions and retrospectives
  • Consultants running client workshops
  • Founders running co-creation sessions with customers or teams

Not covered here

  • General coaching certification (this is a workshop-facilitation certification)
  • Project-management methodology (Scrum, SAFe and similar)
  • User-research methodology (interview craft, survey design)
  • Group therapy or psychological intervention
Syllabus

6 modules, 54 lessons.

About 15 hours of learning. Open a module to see every lesson.

  1. Frame the Decision and Design the Session 9 lessons · 2 h 30 min

    No decision, no workshop. Turn requests into decision statements with one owner and a decision rule, know when not to run a session, choose who attends, pace the agenda with the Double Diamond, build psychological safety and norms, and write an AI plan for every segment.

    1. Module 1 pretest Diagnostic pretest · 5 min
    2. Name the decision before you book the room Reading · 15 min
    3. Decision rules, and when not to run a workshop Reading · 15 min
    4. Who should be in the room Reading · 15 min
    5. Agenda and pacing with the Double Diamond Worked example · 15 min
    6. Psychological safety and working norms Reading · 15 min
    7. The AI plan: role, tool, data and fallback for every segment Reading · 15 min
    8. Lab 1: Intake with a skeptical sponsor AI role-play lab · 45 min
    9. Retrieval: Module 1 check Retrieval check · 10 min
  2. Divergence With and Without AI 10 lessons · 2 h 45 min

    Structured generation instead of shout-it-out: brainwriting, 6-3-5 and Crazy 8s, How-might-we questions, SCAMPER, analogies and constraint flips, pre-work and async rounds, and AI as a provocateur that comes after the humans, labeled, and only through adoption.

    1. Module 2 pretest Diagnostic pretest · 5 min
    2. Divergence is structured generation, not 'shout it out' Reading · 15 min
    3. Brainwriting, 6-3-5 and Crazy 8s Worked example · 15 min
    4. Writing How-might-we questions Reading · 15 min
    5. SCAMPER: evolving something that already exists Reading · 15 min
    6. Analogies and constraint flips Reading · 15 min
    7. AI as provocateur: humans first, labeled, adopted Worked example · 15 min
    8. Async ideation and pre-work Reading · 15 min
    9. Lab 2: Run a divergence round with a dominant executive and a quiet expert AI role-play lab · 45 min
    10. Retrieval: Module 2 check Retrieval check · 10 min
  3. Converge, Prioritize and Test Assumptions 9 lessons · 2 h 30 min

    Narrow fairly and close honestly: dot voting with anti-gaming rules, clustering and verifying AI clusters, effort and impact with the Nexus Plan Matrix, pairwise comparison with the Nexus Plan Pairwise lens, evidence and assumption mapping, and making the call.

    1. Module 3 pretest Diagnostic pretest · 5 min
    2. Dot voting: variants, rules and what the result means Reading · 15 min
    3. Clustering and naming themes Reading · 15 min
    4. Effort and impact, and the Nexus Plan Matrix Worked example · 15 min
    5. Pairwise comparison and the Nexus Plan Pairwise lens Worked example · 15 min
    6. Evidence and assumption mapping Reading · 15 min
    7. Making the call Scenario · 15 min
    8. Lab 3: Converge and call it with a skeptical sponsor AI role-play lab · 45 min
    9. Retrieval: Module 3 check Retrieval check · 10 min
  4. AI in the Room: Roles, Signals and Anchoring 9 lessons · 2 h 30 min

    The visibility axis, AI as scribe with Nexus Meetings, AI as challenger without impersonation, AI as synthesizer with a verification checklist, why AI output anchors and how to prevent and recover from it, and the three-sentence signal and kill switch.

    1. Module 4 pretest Diagnostic pretest · 5 min
    2. Invisible vs visible AI: the role-selection model Reading · 15 min
    3. AI as scribe: capture without distortion Reading · 15 min
    4. AI as challenger: devil's advocate and outside perspectives Reading · 15 min
    5. AI as synthesizer: drafts that humans verify Reading · 15 min
    6. Anchoring on AI output, and how to prevent it Reading · 15 min
    7. Signaling AI's role and using the kill switch Worked example · 15 min
    8. Lab 4: Verify an AI synthesis before the room accepts it AI role-play lab · 45 min
    9. Retrieval: Module 4 check Retrieval check · 10 min
  5. Group Dynamics, Remote and Hybrid 9 lessons · 2 h 30 min

    The dominant executive, the quiet expert, skeptics, conflict and polarization; remote and hybrid sessions with equal standing; AI-paired retrospectives; and recovering a session that is going wrong.

    1. Module 5 pretest Diagnostic pretest · 5 min
    2. The dominant executive: HiPPO and how to defuse it Reading · 15 min
    3. Drawing out quiet experts Reading · 15 min
    4. Skeptics, conflict and polarization Scenario · 15 min
    5. Remote and hybrid sessions Reading · 15 min
    6. Running an AI-paired retrospective Reading · 15 min
    7. Recovering a session in trouble Scenario · 15 min
    8. Lab 5: Hold a hybrid session together AI role-play lab · 45 min
    9. Retrieval: Module 5 check Retrieval check · 10 min
  6. Capture, Decide on the Record, Follow Through 8 lessons · 2 h 15 min

    Capture the session with Nexus Meetings, Nexus Mobile, Lists and Notes; read back a one-page synthesis before the room leaves; record the decision with record_decision; follow through in Nexus Plan and revisit or supersede in Nexus Memory; and apply ethics and confidentiality. Ends with the capstone.

    1. Module 6 pretest Diagnostic pretest · 5 min
    2. Capturing the session with Nexus Meetings, Notes and Lists Worked example · 15 min
    3. The one-page synthesis, before the room leaves Reading · 15 min
    4. Writing the decision record with record_decision Worked example · 15 min
    5. Follow-through: owners, tests and revisiting decisions Reading · 15 min
    6. Ethics and confidentiality with AI in the room Reading · 15 min
    7. Retrieval: Module 6 check Retrieval check · 10 min
    8. Capstone: Facilitate an AI-paired ideation session to a recorded decision AI role-play lab · 45 min
Labs and capstone

Practice against someone who pushes back.

Labs run in your browser as AI role-plays. An AI plays the person on the other side of the scenario — with their own goals and objections — and your work is scored against the published rubric. There is nothing to install.

  • Lab 1 · Frame the Decision and Design the Session

    AI role-play with a skeptical VP sponsor: run the intake and produce a session brief with decision, rule, attendees, agenda and AI plan

  • Lab 2 · Divergence With and Without AI

    AI role-play with a dominant executive, a quiet expert and an AI enthusiast: run a 25-minute divergence round with an optional AI provocateur

  • Lab 3 · Converge, Prioritize and Test Assumptions

    AI role-play with a skeptical CFO who owns the decision: converge a voted shortlist with effort and impact, pairwise and assumptions, and get the call

  • Lab 4 · AI in the Room: Roles, Signals and Anchoring

    AI role-play with a sponsor and a quiet expert: verify and correct an AI-drafted clustering and summary before the vote

  • Lab 5 · Group Dynamics, Remote and Hybrid

    AI role-play of a hybrid session with a dominant executive, a remote quiet expert, an AI enthusiast and an owner who must leave early

  • Lab 6 · Capture, Decide on the Record, Follow Through

    AI role-play of a full compressed session with a skeptical owner, a dominant executive and a quiet expert, ending in a synthesis and decision record

Capstone

Facilitate an AI-paired ideation session to a recorded decision

AI role-play scored against the published rubric

Pass mark: 70%

Scored on

  • Framing and opening15%
  • Divergence facilitation20%
  • Room dynamics20%
  • Convergence and the call20%
  • Evidence and assumptions10%
  • Synthesis, decision record and follow-through15%
Exam and credential

One exam. A credential anyone can verify.

The exam

Items per form
47
Time allowed
75 min
Pass mark
70%
Performance tasks
2
Attempts included
2
Wait between attempts
7 days
  • Online and timed, taken on learn.brrain.io.
  • Your form is assembled for you from the course's item bank, so no two candidates sit the same paper.
  • Performance tasks are conducted by an AI examiner: you work through a realistic scenario and are scored against a published rubric.

The credential

  • A verifiable digital badge in your name.
  • A public verification page at learn.brrain.io/verify, so an employer or client can confirm it.
  • Valid for 2 years.
  • Renewal: At 2 years, by completing the CE modules released in the cycle and passing the then-current exam
Questions

Frequently asked.

Do I need to install anything for the labs?

No. Labs and the capstone run in your browser on learn.brrain.io as AI role-plays: an AI plays the person on the other side of the scenario, and your work is scored against the rubric published with the course.

How is the exam delivered?

Online and timed: 47 items in 75 minutes, on a form assembled for you from the course's item bank. 2 of the items are performance tasks conducted by an AI examiner: you do the work rather than pick an answer. The pass mark is 70%.

What if I don't pass first time?

You have 2 attempts, with a 7-day wait after an unsuccessful attempt. Further exam attempts can be bought for $199 each.

How long is the credential valid?

2 years. You receive a verifiable digital badge with a public verification page at learn.brrain.io/verify, so anyone can confirm it is genuine.

I hold the v1 credential. Is it still valid?

Yes. Credentials earned on v1 remain valid and verifiable at learn.brrain.io/verify. When you renew, you sit the then-current version of the exam.

Can my company enroll a team?

Yes. Firms can buy a certification bundle for $2,999 per firm per year — see the pricing page — or contact us to arrange enrollment for a larger group.

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AI Ideation Facilitator

Run ideation workshops with AI in the room that end in a recorded decision, with every voice heard and AI kept in its place.

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