5 Responses

1. icebreaker / game
   An excellent communication game / icebreaker is as follows:

   give each member of the group a card on which is written a list of words. There should be approx 10 words per card and the words are all ‘things’ such as window, leg, map etc. The more amusing the words, the funnier the game is.

   Sit people in pairs back to back (you may have to join in to even up the numbers) and get them to describe each of the words on their card without actually using the word itself. Their partner then has to guess the word.

   Evryone does it at the same time and is give one minute to describe/guess as may words as possible before swapping round for their partner to have a go.

   One Point is given for each correct guess and the winners are the pair with most points between them.

   This is a great exercise in giving accurate descriptions under pressure, listening skills, and the difficulties in not being able to see the person talking to you.

   If you need any more information on this please feel free to call me on (0118) 9875683.

   Regards

   Colette Johnson

2. Communication exercise
   I have tried this one several times and it has worked well.

   Again working in pairs, allowing 2-5 minutes each, get one of the pair to describe an amusing/problematic event to the other. The “listener” has to deliberately not listen, ie look around, at their watch, start making a note about something else, scratch ear [or whatever]. They then have to switch.

   Most people dry up after about 30 seconds as it is very difficult to continue talking when the listener is so obviously not interested.

   The object of the exercise is to illustrate how important listening skills are to effective communication.

   Another good one is “Chinese Whispers” but that takes longer.

   Good luck.

3. Empowered audiences are happy audiences.
   I’ve used Collette’s game in the past and it’s very revealing. I found younger people were much better at this than people who had started to specialise in their careers – academics were the worst. I believe that’s because young people communicate more naturally in a way that’s going to make them bond with others whereas as you get older you sub-consciously forget about bonding in favour of impressing. And that’s when communication falters.
   When you are communicating with other people – no matter what you are talking about it has got to be relevant to them – merely trying to impress is not good enough. You need to shape your talk to their interests.
   So Michael if you want to communicate with your audience you must tell them why it is going to benefit them – but don’t just tell them that, show them how to communicate better. Give them some useful tips in the time you have. This will empower them and empowered audiences are happy audiences. http://www.mentorltd.co.uk

4. Communication exercises
   I see you have some great examples!

   One that works well for me is to draw an abstract sequence of connected geometric shapes (eg stacked oblongs of different sizes on top of each other, inside a circle that touches all corners, or whatever your imagination may produce), copied to all but the eventual recipient, where the practitioner then has to describe the given drawing to their opposite number, the selected recipient, preferably out of ear-shot through a microphone link.

   Suitably drawn, such problems immediately draw heavily on a shared understanding of what is ‘left’ and ‘right’ from the participant’s pov, what is an ‘oblong’, or a ‘tangent’, or what ever, and where does the drawing start and finish on the page available.

   May I commend it?

   Kind regards

   Jeremy

5. presentation on communication
   Hi
   This may take up too many of your 20 mins but
   I found this very effective on a course I attended. A person pretends to be an alien
   and the group has to advise them how to put on a shoe and tie their shoelace. It is great fun but the person who plays the alien has to be very good at listening and following the offered instructions literally!