Place participants in small groups (3 or 4 works well). Small groups repeat steps 1 - 3.
Have participants introduce each other to the large group.
What's the Question?
Step 1: The facilitator writes some facts on the board. Example:
Purple
16 months
Kenya
Step 2: Participants try to think of the question that matches each fact.
Purple - What's your favorite color? What color is your
car? What color is your favorite clothing?
16 months - How long have you lived in this city? How
old is your child? How long have you been married?
Kenya - Where were you born? Where have you worked?
Where are you going on vacation?
Step 3: When participants have discovered all of the questions, place them in small
groups (3 - 4). Repeat steps 1 and 2. Have participants introduce each other to the large
group.
Nonsense Name Game- Introduce yourself to the group with a sentence based upon the
first letter of your name. Examples:
"I'm kooky Katherine. I like kissing kittens."
(Pattern: I'm ADJECTIVE NAME. I like ACTION-ing
NOUN)
"I’m darling Dorothy. I like dancing daily."
Participants introduce themselves to the group with their sentences.
"I'm generous George. I like giving gifts."
Name Chain - You can play "Name Chain" as a followup to the “Nonsense Name
Game.”
Introduce yourself and the person to your right.
“I'm kooky Katherine. This is darling Dorothy."
The person to your right repeats previous introductions and introduces the person to
their right.
“She's kooky Katherine. I'm darling Dorothy. He's
generous George.”
Continue with the next person to the right, until all names have been repeated.
Challenge volunteers to rhyme off all names quickly!
The Magic Wand - Ask the participants what they would do if they just found a magic
wand that allows them to change three work-related activities. They can change
anything they want. How would they change themselves, their job, their supervisor,
those they work with, an important project, etc.? Have the participants discuss why it is
important to make the change. Another variation is to have them discuss what they
would change if they become the supervisor for a month. This activity helps them to
learn about others' desires and frustrations.
Marooned - Divide the participants into teams. Ask the participants to pretend they are
marooned on an island. Have the teams choose five (the trainer can use a different
number, such as seven, depending upon the size of each team) items they would have
brought with them if they knew there was a chance that they might be stranded. Note
that they are only allowed five items per team, not per person. Ask each team to write
their items on a flipchart and discuss and defend their choices with the whole group.
This activity helps them to learn about other's values and problem solving styles and
promotes teamwork.
The Interview - Break the group into two person teams (have them pick a partner that
they know the least about). Have them interview each other for about 20 minutes (You
can also prepare questions ahead of time or provide general guidelines for the
interview). They need to learn about what each other likes about their job, past jobs,
family life, hobbies, favorite sport, etc. After the interviews, have each person introduce
their partner to the group. This exercise helps them learn about each other.
Finish the Sentence - Ask each person to complete one of these sentences (or
something similar):
The best job I ever had was...
The worst project I ever worked on was...
The riskiest thing I ever did was...
When starting a course and you want everyone to introduce themselves, you can have
them complete "I am in this course because..."
