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...

Want to get your group outside of the box?  Begin by asking them to fill one.  Host a creativity kit scavenger hunt.  Here's how:

1. Divide a group into teams of 3-5.
2. Give each group $50-100 and a big cardboard box.
3. Send each team to a different store.  Possibilities include a book store, hardware store, art store, office supply store, thrift shop and toy store.
4. Require each team to spend their money, to the penny, on items that answer certain questions like, "What would inspire you to think about something new?" and "What item has a unique texture, shape, etc?" or other similar questions.
5. When they return with their "creativity kits," have each team explain to the others why their items fit the questions they were given.
6. Next, the teams exchange their kits with one another and work on some sort of brainstorming challenge, using the kit they've just received.

Keep the boxes around the office and pull them out when you need a creativity boost.

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.

David Maister shares a presentation tip that should be in every facilitator's tool chest:

No matter how much you want to convey, you should always give your audience the chance to react and ask questions as soon as you have covered your first main point - no later than 15 minutes into your talk.

You should ask something like "Does that fit your world?" "Do you all agree with that?" "Is that what you are doing now?"

By asking for immediate response, you can ensure that you are both relevant and that you are bringing your audience along in your chain of reasoning. If you wait until you have given 4 or 5 steps in your reasoning, you could suddenly get a question about your first point and have to retrace all your steps - you'll be scrambling to catch up.

And if you get a question that's about something other than where you are going, either use it to bring you back to your theme, or ask permission to come back to it later.

When you are working with a large or small group, get feedback early and often.  David's questions are a good place to start.

Seth Godin has a few ideas on meetings and name tags.  I particularly like this exercise:

One summer, I led 90 people, some strangers to each other, through athree-day training. Every single person had to wear a hat with his orher name on it until every person in the group knew every otherperson's name and could prove it. It took two days. Worth it.

Marshall Goldsmith shares an experiential exercise he calls “Feedforward.” 

In the exercise, participants are each asked to play two roles. In one role, they are asked provide feedforward —that is, to give someone else suggestions for the future and help as much as they can. In the second role, they are asked to accept feedforward—that is, to listen to the suggestions for the future and learn as much as they can. The exercise typically lasts for 10-15 minutes, and the average participant has 6-7 dialogue sessions. In the exercise participants are asked to:

1. Pick one behavior that they would like to change. Change in this behavior should make a significant, positive difference in their lives.

2. Describe this behavior to randomly selected fellow participants. This is done in one-on-one dialogues. It can be done quite simply, such as, “I want to be a better listener.”

3. Ask for feedforward—for two suggestions for the future that might help them achieve a positive change in their selected behavior. If participants have worked together in the past, they are not allowed to give ANY feedback about the past. They are only allowed to give ideas for the future.

4. Listen attentively to the suggestions and take notes. Participants are not allowed to comment on the suggestions in any way. They are not allowed to critique the suggestions or even to make positive judgmental statements, such as, “That’s a good idea.”

5. Thank the other participants for their suggestions.

6. Ask the other persons what they would like to change.

7. Provide feedforward - two suggestions aimed at helping them change.

8. Say, “You are welcome.” when thanked for the suggestions. The entire process of both giving and receiving feedforward usually takes about two minutes.

9. Find another participant and keep repeating the process until the exercise is stopped.

At the end of the exercise, Marshall asks the participants to complete the sentence, “This exercise was …” and says the most common response is “fun!” 

I love this suggestion, especially Marshall’s rule that participants are not allowed to comment on the suggestions as they are given.  Regular practice of response-free listening is a tremendous communication exercise that should result in better day-to-day communication throughout the organization. . 

Marshall’s technique could also be an exceptional thing for organizations to use on a regular basis.  Each month, an members of an organization would identify the one behavior they want to change and participate in a company-wide “Feedforward” session.  Members who share similar goals could have a regular “encouragement session” each week.  At the end of the month, each member would evaluate their success or failure in implementing their behavioral change.  Then, at the next Feedforward session, they could refocus their energies on that same change, or pick another one.  Organization members who’ve made the most positive behavioral changes would win recognition at the end of the year.

At the last two Idea Markets, I’ve used an ice-breaker (the poorly named Idea Speed Dating) to help people meet other strangers in the room.  Attendees would pair off with someone they’d never met and answer a question I’d posed.  After a few minutes, everyone would do it again with someone else (and a different question).  The questions I’ve used include:

• If you could give everyone in the world a super power, except for yourself, what would that super power be?
• What one question do you wish people would ask you when they first meet you?
• If you could become a child again, and play just one game with your friends of family, what would it be?
• If you had $1,000 to improve your business, how would you spend it? 

The conversations that follow are so much better than those I’ve seen at traditional “networking” events, where drive-by networking seems to be the norm.  Nevertheless, I think the process can be improved.  Though the conversations are great, and get people talking about themselves in a way that they never do in a traditional networking discussion, I think there is a better way. 

Here’s what I am going to try at the next Idea Market:

1. When attendees arrive, they get an large manila envelope marked 1, 2, 3, or 4.  Inside each envelope is one of four “challenges” posed by a participating not-fo-profit, or maybe even the evening’s sponsor. 
2. The envelope also includes four sheets of lined paper, each one a different color.
3. For the first five minutes, each attendee has to come up with as many solutions to the challenge as they can.  They write those down on the first sheet of paper.
4. Attendees are next asked to pair up with someone they’ve not yet met who shares their challenge (they are also a 1, 2, 3, or 4).  For the next ten minutes, the attendees trade “answer sheets” from the first five minutes, and then collaborate on new solutions.  Their new solutions are written on the second sheet of paper.
5. Next, both of those attendees will pair up with another pair who share their challenge.  These four attendees will repeat the process, this time for fifteen minutes, again collaborating on new solutions to their common challenge.  The solutions will be written on the third sheet of paper.
6. Finally, all participants facing a common challenge will join a facilitated discussion with representatives of the participating not-for-profit to share favorite solutions to the challenges.  Any more ideas get written on the fourth sheet of paper (and even on big Post-It notes).
7. At the end of the event, each not-for-profit gets to take home all of the ideas “solving” their challenge.

I’m still playing with this idea in my head, but I really like it.  Now, I just need to identify three or four not-for-profits who’d like to participate.  If you know any that would be interested, let me know.

What if your next retreat took place on wheels?  It might just look like this.

Business Week online has a useful article titled Eight Rules To Brilliant Brainstorming that sets out, as you might imagine, eight rules for groups to follow to get the most from brainstorming.  Here are the rules (read the article for the explanation of each):

1. Use brainstorming to combine and extend ideas, not just harvest them.

2. Don't bother if people live in fear.

3. Do individual brainstorming before and after group sessions.

4. Brainstorming sessions are wortheless unless ideas lead to action.

5. Brainstorming requires skill and experience both to do -- and especially -- to facilitate.

6. A good brainstorming session is competitive -- in the right way.

7. Brainstorming sessions can be used for more than just generating ideas.

8. Follow the rules, or don't call it a brainstorm.