Why?

An opener is an activity conducted at the beginning of a training session. It serves several useful purposes.

Synopsis

Each participant writes a list of reasons why openers are useful. Pairs of participants consolidate their lists. Participants organize themselves into teams and once again consolidate the lists. Each team receives a list prepared by a panel of experts. They compare this list with the team’s list and select five important reasons for conducting openers.

Purpose

To discover important reasons for conducting an opener at the beginning of a training session.

Participants

2 or more.

Time

15 to 30 minutes

Supplies

  1. Countdown timer

  2. Whistle

  3. Paper

  4. Pens or pencils

    Handout

    Purposes of Openers

Flow

Individual task. Define an opener.. Ask the participants to work independently to write a list of reasons for conducting an opener. Announce a 2-minute time limit.

Pair task. Pair up the participants. Ask the pairs to compare their lists and prepare a joint list. Announce a 3-minute time limit for this task.

Team task. At the end of 3 minutes, organize participants into one or more teams of 2  to 8 members. Tell the member of the teams to share their lists and prepare a longer list to contain all different reasons for conducting an opener. Announce a 5-minute time limit.

Consolidate with expert’s list.  At the end of 5 minutes, distribute copies of the handout to each participant. Explain that this list is prepared by a panel of experts. Ask the team members to compare this list with their own list and select five most important reasons for conducting an opener.

Conclude the activity. After about 5 minutes, ask the teams to review their final list of 5 important reasons and select the one that they should focus on in the next training session.

Handout

Purposes of Openers

  1. Preview the workshop objectives and content.

  2. Learn about fellow participants.

  3. Build teams.

  4. Increase collaboration among participants.

  5. Establish ground rules and guidelines.

  6. Set individual goals.

  7. Focus attention on the workshop.

  8. Provide a common experience.

  9. Encourage appropriate levels of self-disclosure.

  10. Energize the participants.