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Learning & development

Training: the far side

by Personnel Today 19 Apr 2006
by Personnel Today 19 Apr 2006

1.The national anthem: if you have an international group, ask delegates to sing the first verse of their respective anthems. Throw a (soft) ball at a delegate and tell them it’s their turn to sing – or else.

2. Jello: tell delegates to shake their bodies to help loosen them up.

3. Ball-toss brainstorming: announce a topic then throw a ball at a delegate who must then shout out something related to that topic.

4. Animal behaviour: popular in Australia – ask delegates to act out characteristics associated with a particular animal.

5. Numbers: delegates stand in a circle and chant ascending numbers in turn. When a multiple of a given number – say five – is reached, that person claps instead of saying the number.

6. Mirrors: put delegates in pairs. One is the mime artist, the other the mirror who copies whatever the former does.

7. Sounding off: a delegate mimics a sound – for example, a plane taking off – and the rest of the group has to guess what it is.

8. Who am I? Write the names of well-known celebrities on pieces of paper and stick one on the forehead of each delegate. They take it in turns to ask questions about their person to find out who it is.

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9. Supermodel: delegates stand in a circle and adopt a posture they associate with a famous supermodel. Others must guess who they are.

10. Busy bees: delegates clasp their hands behind their back and mimic the wing movements of bumble bees. They may feel silly but it’ll wake them up.


Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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