Here is an activity that encourages the participants to share their personal feelings and values by making self-disclosure statements.
Synopsis
The participants take turns to pick a card with a relevant or random stimulus word and make a personal statement related to the word. The other participants use a 3-point scale to rate the level of personal revelation.
Purpose
To encourage the participants to make self-revealing statements.
Time
15 to 20 minutes
Supplies
Stimulus cards. These cards contain words or phrases for the participants talk about. Create your own packet of about 20 cards to suit your participants and your topic.
Example: Here are some of the stimulus words that we used in a workshop on teambuilding: lemonade, followers, income tax, freeloaders, my role, groundrules, goal, waste of time, computers, budget, beeper, midnight, window, money, short people, and leadership. Note that some words are related to the topic and some are irrelevant; some are bland and some are potentially embarrassing.
Paper and pencil for keeping score.
Participants
3 to 7. If you have more participants, divide them into roughly equal-sized groups of 3 to 7 and have the groups play in a parallel fashion.
Flow
Shuffle the cards. The stimulus cards are shuffled and placed face down in the middle of the table.
Make a statement. The first player picks up the top card, reads the stimulus word, and shares a personal statement related to the word, revealing something about themselves. This statement should be succinct and not exceed a minute.
Example: Greg a card with the stimulus word “lemonade” and says
“When I was around 9 years old, my mother always asked me to get lemonade for my grandfather. I used to spit in the glass before pouring the lemonade because, I suppose, I didn't like my grandfather. Surprisingly, when he passed away recently, he left me a substantial inheritance. I carry a lingering guilt for my actions during those lemonade days.”
Decide on the level of personal revelation. For each statement, the other players hold up 1, 2, or 3 fingers, indicating the perceived level of personal revelation. A light or flippant statement earns 1 point, while a heavy, emotional, or embarrassing statement gets 3 points. Other statements belong to the medium category and get 2 points. Statements falling in between are considered medium and receive 2 points.
Example: Four other players found Greg's statement heavy, awarding him 3 points, totaling 12 points.
Continue the activity. If a player prefers not to discuss a particular stimulus word, they can pass, earning no points for that round. The next participant can either use the skipped card or draw a new one.
The activity progresses as each player takes turns picking up new stimulus cards. All players keep a running tally of their total scores.
Conclude the activity. The duration of the activity may conclude after the third, fourth, or fifth round., depending on the available time. It is important to ensure that all participants have equal number of turns.