LKF: Little-Known Facts

People enjoy learning little-known facts (LKFs) about each other. They also enjoy revealing such facts--perhaps because it makes them feel like celebrities.

Here are some LKFs that participants announced about themselves:

  • I have a twin brother.

  • I always need to know which direction North is.

  • I am addicted to soap operas.

  • I read one murder mystery each week.

  • I always check with my son for answers to computer questions.

In one of my workshops in Vancouver, two teams developed and conducted activities that involved the use of LKFs. Here is an LKF opener designed by David Scott and his teammates.

Synopsis: Participants guess the authors of a few anonymously written LKFs.

Participants: Any number

Time: 20 minutes

Supplies: Index cards

Flow

Distribute index cards to each participant. Ask the participants to write a little-known fact about themselves and keep it hidden from the others.

Divide the participants into two equal-sized groups. Collect the cards from one group and give them to the other group, one card per participant.

Ask a random person from one group to read the LKF on the card given to him. Ask everyone to jot down their guess of the name of the participant who wrote this LKF. After a suitable pause, ask the author to identify themselves.  Congratulate the participants who guessed the author correctly.

Continue the activity by alternating between members of the two teams. Stop after four or five LKFs. At random intervals throughout the training session, repeat the activity with new LKFs.

Debriefing

Since there is something intriguing about what facts people choose to reveal about themselves, I conduct a quick debriefing using the questions listed below. Although the questions ask about people in general, they are designed to encourage participants to reflect on their own individual behaviors:

·       What facts do people reveal about themselves? What facts do they hide from others?

·       What facts do people reveal to friends, acquaintances, and strangers?

·       Which is easier: to write anonymous LKF statements or to talk about them in a face-to-face situation?

·       Would some people distort or make up facts about themselves? Why?

·       How would the types of LKFs vary between extroverts and introverts? Between men and women? Between younger and older people?

·       Do you think that this activity would produce similar results when used with people from other cultures?