Icebreakers are a good way to get an event started but you need to keep your group motivated especially after lunch or breaks when energy starts to dip. Energisers can be a useful way of doing this especially if you think about offering a small prize!
Some of the best energisers involve getting the group up and moving or vocal so here are a few examples that you may find useful:
The colour test
Create a document that lists colours – the text is the name of the colour but the colour of the text is a different colour. For example, black or red . You need approx. 20 words on a piece of paper with different text and colours, you can repeat the text a number of times but make sure that you change the colour of the font each time. You then ask participants to read from the paper but instead of reading the text they read the colour of the text – each participant repeats the exercise a few times trying to improve their previous time and the number of correct answers. The winner gets a small prize.
The drawing challenge
This exercise is intended to get the participants used to asking questions and the importance of asking the right type of question – particularly good for a training session. For the first part of the exercise the group are not allowed to ask any questions at all, think of an object (a cat is a good example) and ask them to draw various parts of the object on a piece of paper for example, two triangles (the ears), a circle (the body), a smaller circle (the face). You normally end up with a lot of shapes on the paper. Repeat the exercise but ask the group to ask questions about how big the shape should be and where it should be placed on the paper. At the end of the exercise check how many came up with the same shape as you (obviously you never tell the group what the shape is until the end)
Guess the person
Give each person a list of approx. 10 questions such as ‘What is your ideal job?’, ‘Where is your favourite holiday destination?’, ‘Favourite film etc. on a piece of paper – stress the importance of keeping the answers secret. Collect the papers back and then read the answers to a few of the questions and ask the group to try and guess the person.
Who am I?
Stick a post it note with the name of a famous person onto the backs of each member of the group. The group then mingle and ask other members of the group 5 questions to try and guess who they are. This is a good exercise for getting the group up and moving and mingling.