Brainstorming — various techniques Brainstorming

CAN I COME TO THE PARTY?


Who: Small groups (separated into pairs)


Where: Enough room for the group to form a large circle


Objectives: To learn from observation
To communicate non-verbally
To motivate and energise the group


Leaders' Hints: Observe how participants react to the cues
Do those who don’t understand become frustrated, determined or “give up”?


Instructions: 1. The leaders need to decide the criterion for coming to the party. This can vary and have any degree of difficulty. You may invite:

• 
  Those who are wearing clothing ending with a consonant
  
• 
  Those who have their feet crossed when they are to be invited
  
• 
  Those who ask when you have your feet crossed
  
• 
  Those who ask you addressing you by name
  

2. 
   Sit participants in a circle and explain that you are going to hold a party to which they may or may not be able to come. Invite them to ask if they can come to the party. Use the criterion agreed upon, start the game.
   

2. 
   You can give hints, such as “No you can’t come wearing a bra, but you can come in suspenders” (!)
   

2. 
   When the criterion has been guessed, invite one of the group to be the “party host”.
   

Conclusion: This is another activity involving learning through observation. By exercising these skills, we become better at learning from those cues that people give us.


THE WORLD


Who: Small groups, no real limit on the total number


Where: A room


Aids Large sheets of paper
An atlas (for the judges)
Pens for each group
Score Sheet


Objectives To informally test people’s general knowledge of world geography


Leaders Hints Nil


Instructions Draw a map of the world, showing the borders of each country and the location of the capital, but not the names of the countries or the capitals
See how many countries and capitals each group can identify in a given time period (say 10 minutes)
Award 1 point for each country, 1 point for each capital (accuracy is up to the judges)


Conclusion A good game for breaking a large group up into small teams. Particularly useful for AIESEC, since at the end of the exercise you can identify which of the countries are AIESEC Member Countries.