Hey everyone!
I hope you're enjoying our posts! We've been diving into new tools, functionalities, and tech tips. Now, let's shift focus to the skills that bring these tech tools to life: facilitation.
We've picked out a few engaging activities for opening and closing sessions that you might not have tried before. How you welcome participants and wrap up the call can really shape their experience, so we're excited to share these fun games with you. Give them a try in your sessions and let us know what you think!
👋 Welcoming Participants: Activities for Connection
Connection calls are all about building rapport and making participants feel comfortable. Starting with a warm and enthusiastic activity helps people relax, smile, and connect with each other. Let’s take a look at these 3 we picked for you:
Emojination! 🗣️➡️😀
Turn any regular answer into a fun one by asking participants to reply with emojis, creating a space for creativity and fun! Imagine the responses to questions like: "Describe your week with 3 emojis" or "What are your weekend plans with 3 emojis?" As a facilitator, you can describe these emoji combinations in a creative and playful way. Your reading out loud might look like:
Martha's emoji story: Paperwork 📝, screen time 💻, and coffee breaks ☕.
Looks like Angela is having back-to-back meetings: 📅🔄😴
Seems like Lucy has been celebrating 🎉, diving into books 📚, and enjoying movies 🎬!
Why it matters: Using emojis encourages creativity and helps break the ice, making participants feel more engaged and connected.
Shazoom it! (When Shazam meets Zoom) 🎶❓🎤
Name credit: Espy Thomson, the Human-Centered Design Fellow at Dartmouth College.
This is a song guessing game! While playing music, participants race to identify the song in the chat. The first to guess correctly earns a point. Declare a winner when someone reaches a set number of points, like 3, or play until it's time to move on. Make sure to vary the genres of the songs to keep it fun!
Why it matters: A game like this one adds energy and excitement to the call, also making participants feel more relaxed, pumped and engaged.
Intromotions 🙋♂️📛🕺
We had a great time supporting the Transcend Network team for their program kick-off this month and were truly impressed by the intro game we played! 🤩
All the credit for this fun activity goes to Nareatech's long time partner Jenny Sauer-Klein, experience designer and founder of Scaling Intimacy / Play on Purpose, who designed the game originally called “Sound and Movement. It’s a fantastic way to make introductions and build group trust, especially compared to the usual, sometimes dull, group intros.
This is how it goes: participants say their names while performing a movement on camera, and others repeat their names while mimicking the movement. It’s a fun and effective way to remember names and encourage creativity!
Instructions:
Each participant says their name and performs a movement on camera.
The rest of the participants repeat the name and mimic the movement.
Recommendations:
Keep the group size no larger than 30 participants.
Ask everyone to turn on their videos so others can see and mimic the movement.
Have the participant list handy to call out participants or share it in the chat so everyone knows who’s coming next.
Why it matters: This method makes introductions lively and memorable, fostering a sense of community and making it easier to remember names.
Extra: 🧊🔨 Some nice icebreakers for you!
Icebreaker questions are always a quick way to kick off a session. Take a look at some ideas here:
👋 Goodbye!: Wrap up with energy and excitement!
End your sessions on a high note with these engaging activities ideas that can hopefully leave everyone feeling connected and valued!
Clap Along! 👏🎥👍
Credits again to the Play on Purpose team for the awesome design of this one!
Participants place their hands on-screen on the side of their video boxes. At the count of 3, everyone applauds simultaneously, creating the visual effect of virtual clapping between participants.
Why it matters: Promotes a sense of community and appreciation, visually acknowledging each other's presence and contributions in a fun and interactive way.
Group Narrative Jam 📜✨🤝
Start a collaborative storytelling game where each participant adds a sentence or phrase to create a story related to the session's theme or key topics. The facilitator can begin the story, and each participant continues where the last person left off. This game sparks creativity and reinforces group reflection among attendees.
Why it matters: Encourages creativity, collaboration, and reinforces key session themes in a fun and interactive way.
Memory Lane 🧠😄🔙
Prompt participants to share a memorable or funny moment from the session, whether it's something they learned, a joke that was shared, or a surprising discovery. This game encourages reflection on the session's highlights and reinforces key learnings in a light-hearted way.
Why it matters: Enhances participant engagement, reinforces learning, and fosters a positive wrap-up to the session.
⭐
We hope you enjoyed these activities and get a chance to try them out!
Setting the tone for welcoming and saying goodbye is crucial to ensuring participants feel valued and engaged throughout the entire session.
Have you tried these activities before, or do you have another strategy or game that has worked well for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below! We'd love to hear from you.
🎷 Alvaro's Monthly Mix
Check out Alvaro’s Monthly Playlist!
Feel Good Classics!
Playlist mood: Happy and vocal!
Top Genre: R&B
Top sub-genre: Motown
See you soon! 💫
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