Forming a Focus Group

A focus group is a group of like minded people that come together to brainstorm for ideas.
This can be done in any environment and often starts at school for most of us. Getting our class mates together to focus and brainstorm on a certain subject can bring some astonishing results. But being part of a focus group is never more beneficial than in a business environment. Focus groups are responsible for million dollars sales and can be great for every party involved.

Focus groups are everywhere, without us even realizing it. Just take forums, blogs, websites, survey sites or even JV’s as potential online focus groups. Offline this can be also done via breakfast clubs, events and much more. We don’t need many people to start a focus group; it can be done with as little as 2 people. Ideally they shouldn’t be too big either. The best number often referred to is about 5-6 people. This guarantees that the group stays manageable. The reason it needs to stay manageable is that a focus group should come together regularly, best is once a week, at worst once a month.

I once belonged to a focus group with 4 others and we had weekly conferences. Sometimes we used skype and at other times we just used the telephone. It was a very rewarding experience for all parties involved. The amount of brainstorming we did enabled each and every one of us to be more successful in our field of business.

To structure our focus group we had one person taking notes every time. Sort of like minutes, but not as detailed either. It was important that the most relevant aspects of our calls were written down, so that we all had a document to keep which grew as time went on. It’s really amazing what sort of ideas float around when we participate in a focus group.
I suppose it is clear to you that a focus group should be positively orientated. Leave the negativity at home as the whole reason behind a focus group is to empower each other in the process. The person taking the minutes should also be the one in charge. Somebody needs to ascertain that everybody gets the same amount of speaking time. This person is also responsible to cap the group once the time is up. Otherwise we run the risk of loosing ourselves and instead of using the time given as a benefit to all of us, we waste it in the end.

So how do you start a focus group with others? My suggestions are that you simply ask. Choose people that are more advanced than yourself in your chosen “field”. If you do this, it will allow you to grow your knowledge and learn from others. The beauty is that we are all more or less advanced in any field. Even a Professional in a given field can benefit from you.