Handshakes and Laughs

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Refer our High Quality Management Encyclopedia “Management Universe” at: http://management-universe.blogspot.com/

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Handshakes and Laughs

This is an excellent fun game and can be administered to a normal group size of 20 to 25 participants as well as to an even larger group. It is a great icebreaker and energizer. You as a workshop or seminar leader/coordinator can use it at the beginning of your program. It is a highly participative game or exercise. It is one good way for mutual introductions and fellowship.

Ask each of your seminar participants to choose a number to themselves from 1 to 3 if the group size is 20 to 25 (if the group size is large, you can ask them to choose from number 1 to number 4). They should not reveal their chosen numbers to anyone; they must keep it in their minds.

Now ask them to mingle around the seminar hall. Without talking each person should shake hands with each other. Number of shakes (of hands) should be done equal to the number the participant chose. And as the participant is shaking hands he should laugh the same number of times that is equal to the number he chose by saying, "Ha, ha, ha (If he chose number 3)." The shaking partners should exchange their names with each other as a part of getting introduced to each other.

If the two participants shake hands and laugh (ha, ha) the same number of times, they will stay together and move around to try and find others of like shakes and like laughs.

If the number of shakes and laughs are different, the participants go their own way to find their type of shakes and laughs.

Finally, the entire participant group will end up in maximum of 3 or less distinct groups.

That indicates the end of the activity.

Ask entire group to laugh out loud.

Thank them and move on to your next session.

Get Hold of the Related Books

You can order the following books on "management games and icebreakers" as printed books and eBooks from Amazon online:

1. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers (Volume 2)
3. Classic Team Building Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
4. 101 Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers

Related Reading: (Repository of a large number of articles in management and leadership): http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com and http://management-universe.blogspot.com

Flying Airplanes

For everything you wanted to know on building leadership and management, refer Shyam Bhatawdekar’s website: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/

(Refer our High Quality Management Encyclopedia “Management Universe” at: http://management-universe.blogspot.com/)
This management game is basically a fun game and acts as an icebreaker and warm-up session (energizer) of your training program, workshop or seminar. This is apt for a situation where the participants of the program are strangers to each other or know each other just slightly; they do not know each other’s names and other details. The game helps them to get introduced to each other at the beginning of the program.

You are the program leader or workshop facilitator. Give each participant a blank paper. Preferably the papers should be of different colors to make the event colorful.

Ask each participant to make an airplane out of the paper given to him. If any participant does not know how to make the paper airplane he can take assistance from his neighbor. Ask each person to write his full name in bold letters on the airplane made by him; let the participants use colored markers available in the seminar hall. Each participant should also write one of his favorite hobbies on it or any other message he wishes to write on it.

Now ask all of them to fly their airplanes throwing the airplanes made by them in the air in the hall. The participants will catch hold of one of the flying airplanes or pick it up after its landing. Then the participants keep flying the airplanes caught by them and this goes on for three to four rounds. No participant is allowed to keep his own airplane with him. So, finally each one will have someone else’s airplane with him after all the rounds of flying the airplanes are over.

Ask the participants to meet everyone in the hall, shake hands with each one and make introductions until each participant finds and meets the person whose airplane he is holding in his hand. The two now make a pair.

Each pair exchanges the introductions in detail to know each other’s organization or department, educational qualifications, schools/colleges/universities, hobbies/interests and any other relevant information.

All the participants take their seats such that the persons forming pairs sit together as a pair. Each pair is called upon by you in front of the audience and the persons in the pair give the introduction of the partner in the pair to rest of the participants and to you. You may like to read about a similar way of introductions in the management exercise titled "Innovative Introductions".

You can thank the participants for the excellent session you had with them and proceed towards your next session.

Get Hold of the Related Books

You can order the following books on "management games and icebreakers" as printed books and eBooks from Amazon online:

1. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers (Volume 2)
3. Classic Team Building Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
4. 101 Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers

Related Reading: (Repository of a large number of articles in management and leadership): http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com and http://management-universe.blogspot.com

Innovative Introductions

In any program or seminar, introduction of each participant of the program to program leader and to rest of participants of the program is a great etiquette and an appropriate program kick- off. It is also a pretty decent icebreaker.

Here we present to you an innovative way of these much needed introductions. The method of introductions suggested here can be used particularly for a group where most of the participants do not know each other or know each other only slightly. Also the group size should not be too large since this creative method of introductions may end up taking lot of time of the total program duration and you may be seen as whiling away the limited available time of the seminar.

In this method of introductions, rather than requesting each participant to introduce himself to the rest of the group as is usually done, you as the program leader will request one participant to introduce the other participant to the rest of the group.

At the beginning of the exercise, make pairs of the participants- each pair will consist of two participants. Make pairs randomly. For doing this, you may ask the participants to count themselves from serial number 1 onwards. First participant will shout out his count as 1, the person next to him will shout out 2, the next to him 3 and so on till all participants shout out their serial numbers. Instruct the participants to remember their own serial numbers. Then you will declare that the person with his count no as 1 will pair up with the person with count no say, 11. Serial number 2 will make pair with serial number 12, serial number 3 with serial number 13 and so on.

The persons forming one pair will sit together. Tell them that in each pair, the two persons will exchange information about themselves with each other. It will be preferable that they do not write that information but keep it in their minds. That way they will show more interest in each other and will be more attentive to what the other is saying. The exchange of introductions may include complete name of the person, his educational qualifications, names of the schools where he took education, about the other close family members, his achievements, hobbies and interests and any other thing that may be interesting.

When all the pairs are ready, request them to start the introduction exercise. Call on the two persons of the first pair to the dais or towards the front portion of the hall. Suppose the names of the two persons in the first pair are "A" and "B". Request "A" to introduce "B" to the rest of the group. Similarly after introduction of "B" by "A", now "B" will take the turn to introduce his partner "A" to the audience. After both the introductions are over, request the audience to clap for the pair and you will welcome them to your seminar.

All the rest of the pairs will carry out this kind of mutual introductions for the benefit of the audience and the program leader.

The seminar hall is sure to fill with a kind of dynamism that will prove useful for the rest of the seminar.

Get Hold of the Related Books

You can order the following books on "management games and icebreakers" as printed books and eBooks from Amazon online:

1. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers (Volume 2)
3. Classic Team Building Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
4. 101 Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers

Related Reading: (Repository of a large number of articles in management and leadership): http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com and http://management-universe.blogspot.com

Adjectives or Boast as Much as You Can

This management game or management exercise is an icebreaker. It also helps the facilitator or the program leader to connect himself well with the participants and the participants get introduced to each other in a very creative manner. It is a beautiful introspection tool and a motivator. It can be played at the beginning of any program.

You, as the program facilitator, will brief or instruct the participants to take out their note pads and pencils or pens and to start giving themselves some adjectives based on their strong points. Give them adequate time to scoop out their good qualities which they readily know and even those qualities which they possess but never thought about or cared about. Tell them to list out as many qualities as they can. Emphasize that here is a chance for them to boast about themselves as much as they want.

Some one in the audience may ask, "What about our disqualifications- the weaknesses?"

You should reply to clarify, "While everyone has weaknesses too, at this moment we do not wish you to remember them. If at all they interfere with your thinking about your strong points, jot them down on a separate page and do not mix up with your qualities."

Tell them that after each person has noted down all of his strengths and he has no more to add, he should put his pen or pencil down on the table. When you observe that all the participants of the program have stopped writing, instruct them to pick up the quality or strength that is best in them or which describes them the best. Give them some clues by explaining them that if some one feels that the major reason for most of his successes in life so far was his analytical capabilities, then he should pick out that quality as something special of him. Or say, other person thinks that his honesty has paid him in a big way, he could choose "honesty" as his adjective.

Once they tell you that they have picked up their best strength or adjective, tell them to write it on a name plate. Ask them to prepare a make-shift name plate by tearing out one page of their note pad and folding the paper so that it can stand on the table surface in a stable manner. Give them the colored markers that you have with you in the seminar hall to write down, in bold letters, their chosen adjective on the name plate along with their name- the name by which they would like to be addressed by you and other participants. They could choose their first name or surname (family name) or even their nick name if any.

Tell them to rhyme their names with their chosen adjective. Give an example that if someone has her name as Anita and she has chosen "good analytical capabilities" as her strong point, she could write on the name plate "Analytical Anita" as her title on the make-shift name plate. Other example could be: if person's "smartness" has been the major reason for his success and his name is Shaquir, his name plate could bear his title as "Smart Shaquir". Or say "Creative Katy" etc. Tell them to write their such titles without discussion with anyone and keep the title absolutely confidential unless you tell them to talk about it.

After all the participants finish writing their titles on the name plates, request the first participant who is nearest to you to show his name pate bearing his title or adjective to the rest of the participants and to you. Request him to shout out his adjective or the title and rest of the participants will clap for him and you will welcome him to the program. Carry this out with each participant.

The environment is sure to become vibrant and the participants start looking smart with beaming faces. A great start.

Get Hold of the Related Books

You can order the following books on "management games and icebreakers" as printed books and eBooks from Amazon online:

1. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers (Volume 2)
3. Classic Team Building Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
4. 101 Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers

Related Reading: (Repository of a large number of articles in management and leadership): http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com and http://management-universe.blogspot.com

Zodiac Signs

This could be the very first game you can start with in most of the programs. It is a good starter for fellowship among the participants of the program who do not know each other prior to this meeting.

Once all the participants have arrived and they settle on their seats, request them to gather in the ante room adjacent to your seminar or program hall. If another room is not available, let them come to the free spaces available in the same hall.

Now brief them. Instruct them to start mingling with each other. Each person should start circulating within the group and start shaking hands with each other. While shaking hands, exchange the greeting like hi, hello, good morning (good evening) and the full name with the other person. Each person will have to meet each and every person of the group. This takes care of the introduction part.

Now instruct them that each person should search out in the group the person(s) of his zodiac sign. Let each person meet the rest of the persons in the group to get this information.

After completion of gathering of this information, request the participants to take their respective seats.

Now, start with the first participant, the one nearer to you to introduce his name and zodiac sign to the entire group. Also ask him to tell the entire group the names of the other persons of the group whom he found as having the same zodiac sign as his own. He will request them to stand and wave to the rest of the group. These gentlemen can correct their names if the person introducing them is making any error in pronouncing their name or is giving out an erroneous name etc.

Then, you as a facilitator can ask the group whether any person of this particular zodiac sign has been left out by the the person introducing all the persons of his zodiac sign. If there is a left out person, he will volunteer to get up from his seat and introduce himself to all others.

You will have to ask maximum of first 12 persons to do this kind of introduction of the other participants since there are maximum of 12 zodiac signs and with that you can cover the introduction of the entire group.

Most of the times the participants may not include you (you being the group facilitator or seminar/program leader). In that case, just kid a bit by enquiring as to why hasn't anyone approached you or get introduced to you and enquire your zodiac sign. People will have a hearty laughter- join in their laughter.

Thank them all and start your next activity.

Get Hold of the Related Books

You can order the following books on "management games and icebreakers" as printed books and eBooks from Amazon online:

1. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers (Volume 2)
3. Classic Team Building Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
4. 101 Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers

Related Reading: (Repository of a large number of articles in management and leadership): http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com and http://management-universe.blogspot.com

Volleyball

It is a good energizer and even an icebreaker and can be played after the participants of a program start knowing each other a bit and start registering and remembering the names of their fellow participants.

Divide the group into two subgroups. For grouping, ask each participant to shout out his serial number. For example, the first participant will shout out his serial number as 1. Second one will shout out 2, third one 3 and fourth one 4 and so on till all the participants are covered. Then announce that all odd numbered participants will constitute subgroup 1 and all even numbered participants will form subgroup 2.

Give participants of each subgroup couple of minutes to give subgroup a nice name or title by way of an internal discussion. They will also appoint their captains.

Now the two subgroup start playing the game of volleyball in the conference room itself.

You will act as referee. You will start the game with toss of coin. The winning captain's team is awarded the first service. You will hand over the imaginary ball to the toss winning team.

A player of the toss winning team does the first service and throws the imaginary ball by doing an action of throwing the ball by shouting out the name of the player of the opposite team. If the name of the player at whom he is throwing the ball is correct, the service is judged as good service otherwise the player of team 1 is out of the game because he committed a foul.

The player of the opposite team 2 receiving the service ball takes the ball in his hand by doing the acting of catching the ball and has to pass the ball to any one player of his own team by doing an action of throwing the ball to him. If he directly throws the ball to the opposite team 1, it is treated a foul and he is out of the game. If he passes the ball to his own team player without shouting the name of the receiving player, then again it is a foul and he is out of the game. So, while passing the ball to his own team's player, he has to shout out the correct name of the payer of his team to whom he is passing the ball. If he does so correctly, he continues to play the further game or otherwise he is out of the game.

Thus, shouting out incorrect name of one's own team player or the team player of the opposite is always a foul. Not passing the ball first to one's own team player and sending it directly to the opposite team in the running game (except for the service ball) is also a foul.

Whenever there is foul by one team as mentioned above, the opposite team gets to serve. Only during the serve, the player does not pass the ball to his own team player and sends the ball directly to a player of the opposite team. In rest of the game, the ball has to be first passed on to one's own team payer and then in turn, that team player sends the ball to the opposite team by shouting out the name of the payer of the opposite team to whom he is throwing the ball.

At every foul, the player committing the foul has to leave the game and sit outside as an observer.

The team whose all the players get out of the game first, loses the game. The other team wins.

It's quite a fun game.

Get Hold of the Related Books

You can order the following books on "management games and icebreakers" as printed books and eBooks from Amazon online:

1. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers (Volume 2)
3. Classic Team Building Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
4. 101 Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers

Related Reading: (Repository of a large number of articles in management and leadership): http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com and http://management-universe.blogspot.com