Group warm-up

Overview

A quick, fun activity to get people thinking fast and working together well.

Benefits

Generates an energised, relaxed and creative environment at the start of a session, suitable for thinking beyond the usual constraints of day-to-day work.

Preparation

• None

Materials

• An object to focus on, e.g. mobile phone or stapler, pens and paper for groups.

What you do

• Place the object on the table.
• Arrange people into groups of 2 - 5 people.
• Ask everyone to scribble down as many ways as they can think of to use the object.
• The group that lists most uses wins. The ideas don't have to be good and won't be judged - the winner is judged on quantity.
• Encourage everyone to be thinking about ANYTHING. Use humour to open up their thinking.
• Share your thoughts - brainstorming can lead to valuable ideas or trigger new thinking.
• Set a time limit. Keep it short - perhaps 3 minutes. Keep it rushed to raise energy.

Top tips for your group activities

• Be well prepared
• Consider changing your usual meeting environment
• Know what you want to come away with before you start
• Break the ice with a warm up
• Give people enough time to get into and do the activities
• Keep people engaged and motivated
• Encourage and proactively get input from everyone
• Think about how your going to capture the notes
• Use flip charts, coloured post its, coloured pens, paper, stickers
• If possible use a flexible and effective facilitator