Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with icebreakers

Help me find a fun, quick activity to start our management retreat

never used baby shoes — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:21:16 -0800

Off-the-wall, get the day started with a smile activity for a small retreat. My agency's management team is doing a small-scale retreat tomorrow. My boss just came in and asked if I could come up with some type of activity to get the day started that would be fun and different. Some considerations and information that may or may not be pertinent:

-I can't go with the usual "getting to know you icebreakers" because we all already know each other and work together.

-The purpose of the day is to shift through the issues facing the organization and each part of it, and then start developing some plans for approaching them. The morning will be spent with each of us giving a brief presentation on 3 challenges/opportunities we are seeing in front of us at the moment. It would be nice from my perspective if the activity somehow lead naturally into that discussion, but it is not necessary.

-There are seven of us. We range in age from late 20s to the 50s. One male, six female.

-"off the wall" and "fun" were the words she used when she asked me to come up with this. She somewhat suggested bringing her "That was easy" button (the one from Staples, where when you press it, it says "That was easy") and asking us to come up with what we would like our version of that button to say. Not a bad idea, but I suspect we'd all go with very similar answers (and a few of us would stick with the "That was easy").

Help me Hivemind!

Group activities that prove how very, very wrong you are about the world

Skwirl — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:57:48 -0800

Is there a team building or group communications activity that highlights the important role of intuitive, macroscopic thinkers? (Team building activity spoiler inside) I've seen several facilitators perform the group activity where everyone is given a card with writing and is asked to keep the card private. Then, the facilitator asks each person to count the number of F's on the card and the participants gather across the room according to the number that they report. Then individuals from different groups (who have counted different numbers) exchange cards. The big reveal is that everyone has the same card. It's pretty darn humbling when, often after arguing your point, you find out you have the wrong count.

I suspect that the room divides pretty cleanly along the lines of detail people (Or MBTI sensing preference) versus macroscopic people (Or MBTI intuitive preference). The moral is always supposed to be that everyone has a different experience of the world, but I can't help but think that people in the correct camp are going to lose some of the humbling benefit of this exercise.

Is there a similar exercise that helps to teach humility in group interactions that might not divide so cleanly? Ideally, there would be an exercise that could be done in conjunction with the "Count The F's" exercise that would turn the tables. Are there any other exercises you've witnessed similar to "Count the F's" or that also help demonstrate different worldviews and ways of thinking?

Is there something to do at a workshop besides write on a flip chart?

jessamyn — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 10:34:12 -0800

What is a workshop? I have been giving public speeches at conferences and the like for years, but occasionally I am asked to give a workshop and I'm not sure what one is or how to do one under the specific circumstances that I am often in. I just gave a talk at a regional library get-together. They had originally asked me to give a workshop about social software and we were going to meet in a computer lab. That sort of thing, hands-on experimentation and exploration, I get. However the talk was changed to a conference room with iffy internet access and attendees with no computers. I switched format to more of a talk with examples and a lot of time for Q&A. It was appreciated, but got some feedback that it "wasn't very workshoppy" so I'm trying to work with this.

I get the feeling workshops include more "break up into groups and talk about these questions" sorts of things. I'm hindered by the fact that I present at many more of these things than I go to, so don't have much occasion to see other people doing this. My other problem is that I, personally, HATE being asked to do sort of fakey exercises and brainstorming especially if they are remotely touchy-feely in nature. As a result, I think I may overcompensate and have very few situations in my presentations where people are on the spot to do anything, even though I suspect most people wouldn't mind.

My general topic is software, social software and the online environment and "web 2.0" applications and how libraries can use them. I talk about twitter, facebook, and even things like email, IM and firefox/greasemonkey tricks. My audiences are usually librarians with low to medium levels of knowledge of these subjects but usually engaged and interested in them. Without internet access or computers I have no idea how to make this topic very interactive or remotely workshoppable. If you have suggestions, tips, or can just relate workshops you've given or attended (especially on technology topics) where something worked well I'd appreciate it. General feedback on what people expect when they go to something called "a workshop" would be useful as well. To repeat, I know how to do this when I'm in a lab, but outside the lab I'm wondering "what is a workshop?" Thank you.

0 calories, but not a low calorie food--how can this be?

deansfurniture5 — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 18:01:13 -0800

Why are Ice Breakers sours "not a low calorie food" when their nutrition facts list 0 calories? So, I was looking at a package of Ice Breakers Sours mints, which are sugar free, and on the front, right under "Sugar-free" it says "Not a low calorie food." However, the nutrition facts state that there are 0 calories. How can this be?

Hello, my name is...

nelleish — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 12:56:33 -0800

Get-to-know-you games you actually enjoyed playing? I'm the program coordinator for one of the volunteer services on my campus. We have a training day next Saturday where the new volunteers will be sitting around listening for a good part of the day but with chances for half hour to hour breaks in between speakers. We want to play some good meet-and-greet and teambuilders that aren't too contrite or dull or over done. I'm sure everyone has played enough of these. This is a volunteer commitment for the year, so we'd like to start off on a good foot with hopefully jump-starting some friendships or at least friendly feelings amongst the group so folks enjoy coming in for their volunteer shifts.

So what meeting games have you played (in whatever context, although these are university students of diverse backgrounds so the games must be "clean") that you didn't feel annoyed at being made to do and maybe you actually made a connection with someone while doing? I can acquire props if they might be needed!