Jason Ash, a creative trainer from Down Under, presented 12 different energizers in his session Games with Frontiers at the most recent Creative Training Techniques Conference. And each energizer came with at least a few modifications which ensured every attendee came away with more than 25 energizers they could adapt, adopt and apply to their own content. Here are a few of those energizers.
Soul Mate
The purpose of this activity is to get learners interacting early on and finding someone who will be their learning partner or "soul mate" throughout the rest of the training. If you want learners to quickly share some of their key learnings, have them find their soul mate and quickly share. Not having to find some random person with whom to share saves valuable time. To find a soul mate, have people find someone who has the same size shoe that they do. Ash said by using the term "shoe" and not "foot," it takes away some of the stigma somebody might have regarding personal attributes. If someone is left out and can't find a "sole" mate, match them with someone else who doesn't yet have a partner and call it close enough.
Your Word
The activity is simple: have each person at the table write down one word and place that paper in the center of the table. What type of word they write is up to you and the purpose for using this activity. Will it be one that describes the writer as a get-to-know-you? Will it be a term that describes a key learning as a content revisiter? Once all the terms are in the center, every person at the table grabs one piece of paper, reads the word and tries to guess its owner. When the true owner is revealed, that person shares a little about the meaning behind the written word.
Out of the Box
To get some energy moving and creativity flowing, Ash also uses Out of the Box. He creates a list of 25 random words [e.g., George W. Bush, mint chocolate ice cream, Cuba, Smurfs] and then gives one word to each person in the training. If it's a small group, he may give two words to each person. The group must then get in a line or circle. A designated person then begins a story making sure he uses the term on his sheet of paper. After a few sentences, the storyline then moves to the next person who has to make sure the story goes somewhere she can viably use her word, and so on. It's a quick moving activity and quite entertaining. After the activity, you can then have the learners debrief by having them find tie-ins to your training purpose related to how people worked together to complete the story, how linear or nonsensical the story was, etc. For a copy of Ash's random terms, click here.
Find information here for our 2015 conference.
Jason Ash is a learning leader at MRWED, a training company in Australia and the Bob Pike Group Australian licensee.
