4 Responses

1. Bop-it
   I use a hand-held game called Bop-it (favourite of kids at Christmas a few years ago) it’s a very stimulating game, lots of laughs and fun and is about £19.99 from most toy-stores. I use it regularly in training workshops, especially after lunch to get people re-invigorated and thinking again!
   Go to the following website – the one I would recommend is Bop-it Extreme.

   http://shop.gameplay.co.uk/webstore/productpage.asp?productcode=HH0112&title=bop_it_extreme_2

2. Ice Breaker for Train the Trainer
   Alice
   I have an exercise I sometimes use which describes an employee’s first morning in a company, and the complete lack of preparation/organisation/effective trainer skills of the line manager involved. It mnakes some delegates chuckle because they know they have all been guilty of some of the elements. It’s called ‘It wouldn’t happen around here – would It?’and comes with a trainer debrief. If anyone would like me to email a copy then let me know on [email protected].
   Happy Days!
   Bryan

3. Exercise to get people talking
   We run a regular ‘Train the trainers’ course, and have an ice breaker that has worked well and which we can also use to lead into our first lesson.

   When people come into the course, they find two rows of chairs facing one another (you can easily leave space for a wheelchair, if necessary). We have a list of topics on a flip chart, and ask people to spend 1 minute talking with the person opposite them on the topic given (favourite TV programme, ideal holiday, secret ambition, etc, etc.). Every time we ring a bell (it needs to be a loud one!), each person (apart from one designated person on one end of a row) moves around one place, clockwise. They then spend 1 minute talking to another person on topic two, and so it goes on. You keep going till everyone is back in their original place. The participants will have talked to every other participant, and the energy levels will have been raised considerably.

   We then spend 5 or 10 minutes discussing ice breakers, when and how to use them, how people felt about doing that one, good and bad experiences they have had, things to consider, etc. If some participants don’t like ice breakers at all, we explain the reasons that we have done this, and they always appreciate the learning point, even if they don’t like the exercise (there are always one or two that don’t like ice breakers in any form). However, most people really enjoy it. Most find it a lot less threatening, at the beginning of a course, to talk to the others one at a time, rather than addressing the whole group to introduce themselves.

   We have tried other ice breakers over the years, but keep coming back to this one, as it works so well. You do need to re-evaluate your topics every few years, to see if they’re still appropriate.

4. Ice-breakers
   Alice

   Hope this is not too late

   visit http://www.cotswoldconferencecentre.com and look at “team building ” page