I'm Holding Your 3 Hole Puncher for Ransom.

Quick! Take a replaceable office item from your colleague's table and hold it for ransom.

Oh, be sure to leave a ransom note. I'm assuming you don't have the time to cut out letters from a magazine, so here is a free ransom note font to download to your computer.

OPTIONS:
This kidnapping activity can also work great in the office. You can leave a note saying, "Take a lunch today. Or else you don't get your 3 hole puncher back."

Quick activities like these can certainly energize the workplace. I remember working at First American a few years back and my boss would gather colleagues to do something to my office after returning from a meeting. I'd return with everything turned upside down or balloons completely filling the walkway so I couldn't enter the door. I'm sure there are some great ideas like this, helping energize those Mondays...

Event and Life Planning

"Life is what happens while you're busy planning."

Haven't you noticed? This quote lives in my life with amazing magnitude. We think we're planning, but Life is busy planning it and us instead. Once I got this, anything could happen at any event in my life and it would be okay.

At the start of a session that may included "controlling" personalities, offer this quote to the group. Spend a couple minutes talking about why this is true. This activity may help lessen the need for control in the room.

Prioritize Your Passions

Description: A simple, powerful way to clarify and prioritize your passions.
Average Time: For two people, this typically takes 15 minutes, but can go much longer based on individual introspection and conversations that ensue.
Materials: Paper and pen
Process:

1. List 10 things that you would like to do, have, or BE. Don't worry about being materialistic, if you have enough money, skills, or time, etc. Get really clear on what it is that you want and just write it like it comes to you!
2. Find a partner to ask you questions. Have them ask you "Would you rather have #1 or #2?" If you choose #1, then they ask, "Would you rather have #1 or #3?" If you choose #3, then they continue on with your prioritized answer and the next one..."Would you rather have #3 or #4? Continue until you get to #10. So let's say it was #5 as your Number One Passion. Set that aside and then do it again, except this time, don't include #5 in the second round. Do this 10 times so you have your Number One Passion, Two, Three...all the way to your #10 Passion.
3. Make sure you answer QUICKLY. Don't spend time contemplating the answer or your logic will kick in. Answer from your GUT. It's a quick draw. If you had to sacrifice one for the other - which one would it be?
   
4. Circle your top 5.
5. Your Number One Passion is your #1 Prioritized Passion. This means, if you don't fulfill this, then you simply may not feel fulfilled! Your top 5 are your priorities out in the air now. Find room in your life to make these a priority. The other ones can go to the wayside right now.
6. Now, rate your Top 5 Passions. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being the least fulfilled (you don't even THINK about this, much less take action on it) and 10 being the most fulfilled (you are on TOP of this in your life right now and have certainly prioritized it. Results are showing up!) This rating activity often brings up some interesting insights.
7. Then, offer to do this activity with your partner by switching roles and ask them to choose.
8. Share what you learned about yourself here! I'd love to hear your comments :)
   
9. Prioritized passions can certainly change in a matter of a couple weeks! It's fun to conduct this activity every 3 months or so. Keeping a journal of this is great also, so you can see how life unfolds itself.
   

Take the "Passion Test"

Three Ingredients for Ice Breakers

1. Keep it simple
   To disarm inhibitions, you must keep it simple.
   
2. Create "flow"
   Keep a proper balance between skills and a particular challenge. This creation of positive engagement comes from Psychologist, Mihaly Csíkszentmihály.
3. Meet the event objective
   Figure out what the "ice" is, or the purpose of the event, and form your icebreaker around this.
   

nonverbal cues tell a moment's tale

earlier, I was reflecting on "feedback mechanisms" (see july 31) in icebreakers.

what is the wonderful thing about each of these icebreakers/games/activities? they ALL can act a barometer for group trust. just look: are people fidgeting, looking away, square-shouldered to the speaker, rubbing their neck, smiling, sitting back with hands behind their heads, gazing, yawning, excusing themselves to the bathroom, laughing, sighing? it all tells a moment's tale.

Over the last few months, I've done so much research on linguistics & non-verbal language that I bet I could start on a brand new book of TIPS. I mention a few in My Way to OUR WAY, but the list is getting bigger.

background by association

Description: an icebreaker that gets people to talk about their background or business.
Secondary Objectives: to have fun with metaphors, think outside of the box and laugh!
Primary Objectives:
* warm-up & energize
* entertain
* get acquainted
* build community & stimulate conversation
* facilitate creative thinking
* generate brand & business
Materials: as many objects as people, a bag where objects are not visible but reachable
Process: have each participant blindly guess an object from a bag and then associate the object to their background or business. for example, someone may guess the object is a "rubber ducky" and may or may not get it right. they may relate the rubber ducky to their music position as "well, I can make great music out of any noise!" before beginning, it's a good idea to let everyone know ifthey get stuck, they can elicit help from the group. the group helping this person out actually is VERY effective in creating relationships.
Variations: this can easily be taken to a different area other than business, such as interests or for debriefing purposes.

suoixna!

Description: a quick check-in that opens up a realistic room perspective.
Secondary Objectives: to learn about people's current moods.
Primary Objectives:
*solicit attitudes, values, assumptions and motivation
*promote team spirit
Materials: n/a
Process: ask everyone to describe their current mood with one or two words. start with yourself and release your inhibitions! anything goes. continue on in a circular fashion. if you find that most moods are negative, continue on with an energizer activity (see variation for example energizer). if most are neutral or positive, continue on with your event.
Variations: if moods are negative, starting with yourself, reverse the words you stated and say them backwards. for example, if someone says "anxious," they would say "suoixna". laughter will prevail as people try and reveal their words!

involvement AND feedback

lately, I have been researching proven icebreakers that simultaneously allow guests/participants to feel more involved AND also act as a feedback mechanism for the event coordinator.

for example, icebreakers that measure learning retention in a class or games that provide insights into customer loyalty.

to measure a circle, begin anywhere! the beauty of this is that it meets the needs of everyone. enjoyment is so closely related to the natural learning process. enjoyment can easily be used as a measurement tool to most anything.

mo lata!

AhSoKo!

Description: An icebreaker for a small group that gets everyone involved with the coordination of hands, voice and pace.
Secondary Objectives: To use hand gestures when signaled without making a mistake.
Primary Objectives:
* warm-up & energize
* entertain
* promote team spirit
Process: Have the group get in a circle. Use hand gestures for the following:

1. Ah (hand under the chin palm facing the floor)
2. So (hand at forehead, in salute fashion), and
3. Ko (arm and hand out in front of you pointing at another player).

One person starts with “Ah” (hand to neck). The direction the hand is pointing, that person follows with “So” (hand to forehead). Similar, the direction of the hand signals that person to do “Ko”. And so on... If someone “messes up” or forgets to act they are “outta the game" and step out of the circle. The person to the right has a silent 3 second count to start the game again with “Ah”. This game continues until 2-3 people are left (up to you whether the last 2 compete for AhSoKo champion title!).
Variations: Continue to involve everyone. The people who get “out” can become “hecklers” whose job it is to try to get the others to mess up. Rules of being a heckler are, hecklers must stay on the outside of the circle, cannot obstruct vision, physically touch anyone, or be cruel.

eating healthy is like a window because...

Description: An activity where participants explain how an object and a learning goal are similar. this is a very powerful activity for thinking out-the-box as it forces the mind to go where it hasn't. It also acts as a great exercise to increase retention around a specific training goal.
Loud Objectives: To define a comparison or association between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects.
Silent Objectives:
* solicit attitudes, values, assumptions and motivation
* warm-up & energize
* facilitate creative thinking
* generate brand & business
Materials: Pens and paper
Process: Have people team up. One person will write down 3 things that come to mind. The other person will explain how each object relates/compares/associates to your training goal. For example, the object is "window" and the word you want them to remember is "carrots." One might associate carrots to a window because drive thru windows are now offering healthy foods which include carrots. The participant invented the association and will surely remember carrots! Debrief to facilitate learning objectives.
Variations: For a class, point to objects in the room and engage the entire class. For a marketing event or creative meeting, have participants brainstorm how objects relate to your brand. It silently solicits public assumptions!

wedding couple trivia

Try wedding reception games to really get your guests into a spirit of fun. Some options for entertaining your restless crowd before the festivities begin are to include them in the reception before it begins, or to add a fun & meaningful activity in your reception.

Description: A fun trivia game for the guests to answer correctly about the wedding couple.
Secondary Objectives: To involve and entertain your guests and to pass the time between music sets or while your guests are seated and waiting for the meal to be served.
Primary Objectives:
* warm-up & energize
* entertain
* get acquainted
* build community & stimulate conversation
Materials: Index cards
Process: Have questions about you and your new spouse written down ahead of time, each relating to you, your spouse or both of you. Where did you meet? How did he propose? Who had what as a child? Have your DJ or MC select a guest to answer the first question. If they answer correctly, they can step up to the mic and call on the next guest, and so on.
Variations: If your one of your parents are up for it, have them stand at the microphone instead of the DJ! If any answer was regarding childhood, you can share a related picture on a projector. Table prizes are always a hit for the correct answers!

debriefing

after completing a team-building activity, it is important to have the participants reflect on their experience. This is called "debriefing."

with the help of an insightful and energizing facilitator, the group has a discussion around what they did, how it worked, and how they could have altered the result by doing something different. suggested questions to facilitate desired learning outcomes are as follows:

1. what happened?
2. how did you work together?
3. were agreements made?
4. what would you do differently?

note: participants will not genuinely contribute unless the environment has allowed participants to let-down their guards, roles and assumptions. in other words, safety and trust have been established for people to actually say what is REALLY on their minds. a professional facilitator is required in this type of situation, as group dynamics need to be managed with care.

treasure hunt!

Description: A treasure hunt involving clue solving.
Loud Objectives: Figure out the clues as you visit each mystery location.
Silent Objectives:
build community & stimulate conversation
foster social skills
promote team spirit
Materials: A trail of breadcrumbs...(any object will do)
Process: Divide participants in groups based on table, department, or interesting classification. Give them a time-limit, a list of clues, a worksheet to fill out, and some kind of incentive for completing. Debrief to facilitate learning objectives, if any.
Variations: Have fun with the time-limit by making it 2 minute intervals, storing the worksheet in an odd place (on people's backs), turning this into a cooperative game, or creating an odd rule like closing one eye the entire time! This can be quite hilarious as guests climb under tables.

what is an "icebreaker" anyways??

Compliments of wikipedia, an icebreaker is a facilitation exercise intended to "warm up" a group by helping the members to get to know each other in a light-hearted manner.

Commonly icebreakers begin the process of forming individuals into a team. Mainly, they are presented as a game and often focus on sharing personal information such as names, backgrounds, or opinions.

why icebaker??

the name "icebreaker" was taken, silly.

instead, we're baking the ice.

see, the intention is the same. broken or melted, its not taking the original form!

how it all began...

whoohoo! ever been asked what you would do if you didn't have to make money? well, this is it for me!

this blog is all about researching, inventing, testing and sharing the most easy & effective icebreakers. Please feel free to comment, or share your favorite icebreaker! I plan to label each post with one or more of the following, so feel free to search by label :)

• party icebreakers
• retreat icebreakers
• meeting icebreakers
• teambuilding icebreakers
• icebreakers for youth
• icebreaker games
• icebreaker questions

positively,
me