Want a team-building activity for an afternoon that "only" costs $500?  Got a few geeks in your office?  Have I got an idea for you:  the LEGO Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon.  Check out this post, and make sure to watch the YouTube video of seven people putting one together in just over two hours. 




And if anyone wants to get me something cool for Christmas...

How would your next presentation go if you only had twenty slides and could show each one for "only" twenty seconds (for a total of 6 minutes 40 seconds?  A format embracing these very constraints is called Pecha Kucha, and was started by two architects in Tokyo as part of a designers' show and tell.  It seems like a natural fit for an Idea Market, as a replacement for a panel presentation, or any time a lot of presenters have something to say.

I'm doing a very short speech (nine minutes) on innovation in two days, and am going to give this presentation format a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.  In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more, check out several examples on You Tube, or this recent Wired magazine article.  If you are in the St. Louis area and want to have a Pecha Kucha night, let me know.

Here’s an icebreaker I’ve developed that I’ve been using a lot in my work at XPLANE.  I call it the somewhat generic “Building Your Robot,” but I think “Giving Yourself a Robotomy” has a nicer ring.  Here’s how it works:

1. Ask people to write down a list of the skills, attributes and talents they possess that make them great at what they do.
2. Put up several easel-sized Post-It notes around the room (one for each person), and draw a different abstract shape on each one.
3. After each person has completed their skill/talent list, give each a marker, and direct them to one of the easel-sized Post-Its.
4. Tell them they have to create, from the abstract shape, a Robot that could do their job.  It should include something to represent each of the items on their list.
5. Make them name their Robot.  Something like the Mattinatron 3007
   
6. Make them sign their name to their work of art.
7. After everyone is finished, have everyone take turns introducing their own personal Robot.

I’ve found this icebreaker has several benefits.  First, everyone gets up and draws something, without being intimidated by a big blank piece of paper.  Second, they are committed to the exercise when they begin writing down their skills before realizing they’ll later be asked to visually depict them.  Third, they aren’t asked to draw something real.  Everybody can draw a robot.  Finally, when they “introduce” their Robots, they give a really insightful look into what they view as their unique talents and skills.

At tonight’s Idea Market, we are going to do something I’ve tried before, but with a few twists.  It is an Icebreaker Icebreaker.  It works like this:

The room is divided into groups of 4-6 people.  Each group is given 20 minutes to “invent” a new icebreaker exercise.  The “icebreaker” must be easy to explain, it must take ten minutes or less from start to finish, it must introduce everyone in a similarly sized group to one another, and it must be completely new.

After each group develops their icebreaker (and experiments with it on themselves), they pair up with a second group and each group uses their icebreaker exercise to meet the people in the other group.

Finally, depending on the number of people in the room, each team can describe their icebreaker to the rest of the group. 

 

Here's another great post from Annette Clancy listing 10 questions she's used in organizational contexts.  My three favorites:

If this organisation was a religious group – what would constitute a cardinal sin?

If this organisation were a film what would it be called? Which actor would play you?

What would it be like to work for a company that’s the exact opposite of the one you work in now?

Annette Clancy shares a great facilitation tip:  The Fantasy Board Game.  It works like this:

... each person in the room gets to pick a person - real or imagined, alive or dead to place on the board. It's a fun brainstorming session and the more it is played the wilder the suggestions get (and you can tell a lot about someone by who they suggest!). It's easier to pick a fantasy person than name someone you might know in a personal capacity. I then do an exercise with people about why they picked the person they did - and the list of attributes and qualities simply flows! We then have a list of all of the skills and qualities needed to populate the board that will look to the future and it's not a difficult task at this point to compare that list with the skill base of people currently sitting on the board. Augmenting, changing or moving around tends to be a much more logical task once the illogical one of picking fantasy people has been completed.

I love this idea, and would suggest playing the "board game" every time an organization faces a challenge, creative or otherwise.  When brainstorming solutions to a particularly vexing problem, ask the people in the room to suggest a person that, if there, would help solve the problem.  Make sure they list the reasons why, and watch the problem begin to solve itself.

I think this idea could also work if people are asked to pick a company (Apple, Microsoft, GM, TIVO, etc.) and suggest how their chosen company would address the challenge or solve the problem.

My friend Scott shares 38 Random Thoughts About Creativity.  My fav's:

3.  It is impossible to be too creative.

9. If you get a great idea and have to stay up all night until 7 AM the next day working on it, do it.  Recognize when the world’s giving you a gift. Pay the price. In five years you’ll look back and say, “Boy am I glad I stayed up all night working on that idea!”

27. Go onto Google and type in “Creativity Exercises.” Do a few each week, one every morning, or one with your crew before a brainstorming session. After all, if you went to play 18 holes, you’d go hit a bucket of balls first, right? Same thing, different organ. Don’t neglect MENTAL warm-ups.

38. Make a list of 100 questions.About anything. It doesn’t matter. Just do it. And don’t stop untilyou’re done. THE BEST PART: questions 80-100 will end up being the mostinteresting.

Here's a really cool idea generating device from Project Renaissance called DEAM, which stands for Double-Entry A-Ha! Method.

The "Double-Entry" part of the title, the "DE" in DEAM,refers to the method's writing on two pieces of paper at the same time.On one sheet you write your brief topic-to-be-understood, or questionor problem. While you are writing that, though, you givepriority attention to whatever thoughts and perceptions you noticecoming to you during that problem-writing, and record these on thesecond sheet of paper. Often you'll fill the second sheet with suchcomments and observations before completely writing a single sentenceof your problem-statement on the first sheet.

The thoughts and perceptions and observations hadbeen there all along; they just hadn't been noticed before. Deciding tonotice them, and giving priority to them in your writing — and your actof writing them onto your second sheet — bring them into view for you.You may be amazed at how many ideas you have, and how many of thoseideas are relevant and even good, once you proceed to write downeverything that comes.

Here are the results from the Idea Market's "Connection Wall" I wrote about Monday.  Everyone drew themselves and we taped their "self-portraits" on the wall.  After every exercise, folks went to the wall and drew lines between themselves and their new connection, along with a word or two describing that person.  Look closely and you'll see some pretty interesting descriptions.  The nametags on the pictures come from this exercise.
..

Another exercise I'm going to try for the first time at the Idea Market tonight is a mix of drawing, knitting and conversation.  Here's how it will work:

1. People get a blank piece of paper (or a 5x8 note card) and a box of crayons. 
   
2. In groups of 3-5 (so they can share the crayons), they have to draw themselves.  No points will be awarded for artistic excellence, but ideally they'll draw a reasonable approximation of themselves and the clothes they are wearing that night.
   
3. We will post the pictures on a wall in a large circle, using painter's tape.
4. After every exercise we do during the evening, I'll ask people to use cut pieces of yarn to "connect" their picture with the pictures of the people they've just met.*
5. At the end of the evening, we'll have a graphical depiction of the interactions that took place where people can see (and remember) the folks they've met that night.

If this works like I think it will, it could be a great exercise to do in conferences, retreats or even in the corporate world.  Imagine if everyone inside an organization drew their picture and they were posted on a huge wall.  Every time employees "met" one another in person, they could literally add the "connection" to the company wall.  Managers could even use they yarn connections to map out who people should meet on a weekly basis.

I can't wait to try it!

* I may do this with markers and a grid of large post-it notes to make it work faster.