Brainstorming

You can use brainstorming to break the ice and to identify problems the group may have with a topic.

Team Brainstorming

To help everyone feel equal and set the stage for later group activities on the course topics, Susan Boyd suggests this activity.

How to Use:

• Ask teams of four to six people to list things that are round, things associated with a holiday, things that are red, things you can make out of tires or coat hangers, excuses for speeding, and so forth. Allow no discussion; just list items!

• Assign a recorder based on some criterion that was set before the exercise began (for example, last person in the group who stands, person with the smallest or largest hands) to record the team lists. The team with the most items wins a prize.

Beach Ball Brainstorming

Susan Boyd likes to use this activity to get people up and moving, especially in the afternoon to break up a long session.

How to Use:

• Announce a topic to the whole group (for example, things associated with a season, a holiday, the course content, the company).

• Have everyone stand and pass around an inflatable beach ball. When someone catches the ball, he or she shouts out something related to the topic and then tosses the ball to someone else. If the group is small, the participants can pass the ball in a circle.

Introducing Something New

Peter Renner provides this example in The Instructor's Survival Kit. “The trainer's task was to introduce a new registration form to a group of government employees. For many this could seem like a dull topic, and a threatening one if you were being asked to give up a beloved old form for a new one.

The trainer ‘warmed’ the group to the topic and each other by asking them to brainstorm on the range of problems the new form was likely to present. After 10 minutes of this, everyone in the class had had a chance to speak, even those who would otherwise have been silent. Then he distributed the new form and explained its features. Next, the group again looked at the flipchart listing potential problem areas and, with the help of the trainer, was able to see how these were dealt with on the new form. Their acceptance of the new form was thus greatly enhanced.”