Crowne Plaza is equipping meeting rooms with a box of tricks designed by million-selling author and inventor Roger von Oech in a bid to liven up dull and ineffective meetings.

Von Oech, who wrote the business classic A Whack on the Side of the Head, has come up with the Think Box, which contains three tools designed to overcome the common problems that beset meetings: Inspire Boards, the Ball of Whacks and Think Cards.

The Inspire Boards use brain teasers to engage participants at the beginning of the meeting and stimulate positive creative energy. The Ball of Whacks, a puzzle made up of 30 magnetic blocks, is a “tactile tool to release nervous energy, prevent distraction and to reinvigorate creativity during a meeting”, says von Oech.

The Think Cards contain 32 of von Oech’s favourite strategies for creative thinking. One card simply says “Laugh at it”. Von Oech says: “There is a close link between the ha-ha and the aha moment. A few years ago I was working with some satellite designers who were trying to come up with some new design ideas. By making fun of their existing design they came up with a hundred new design ideas. You need to try a little humour.” Other cards tell you to “Slay a scared cow” or “Avoid arrogance”.

Von Oech, who counts companies such as Apple, Cisco and Procter & Gamble among his clients, says meeting planners usually look at the technical needs for a meeting – size of room, audiovisual facilities and so on – but rarely about the creative needs of the participants.

The introduction of the Think Box is part of Crowne Plaza’s Think Tank campaign, now in its second year.