Placards

This opening activity encourages the participants to share their expectations at the beginning of a workshop.

Purpose

To identify and discuss participant expectations for a workshop.

Participants

  • Minimum: 5

  • Maximum: Any number

  • Best: 10 to 30

Time

20 to 30 minutes

Supplies

  • Blank sheets of paper

  • Felt-tipped markers

  • Timer

  • Whistle

Flow

Prepare a wish list. Ask participants to independently prepare a “wish list” of the features of an ideal training workshop. Although the participants work alone, they should think of positive features that would appeal to most of the other participants.

Prepare a placard. Distribute a blank sheet of paper and a felt-tipped marker to each participant. Ask each participant to write the most desirable feature of an ideal training workshop on the sheet of paper using big, bold letters.

Take a walk. Ask the participants to hold up their placards (the sheets of paper with the desirable training workshop feature) and silently walk around. Participants should read each other’s placards without making any comments.
Persuade each other. After a few minutes of the walkaround, blow a whistle and ask participants to stop wherever they are. Give these instructions to the participants:
Pair up with the participant standing nearest to you.
Read and discuss your placards. Try to persuade the other person that your placard contains a more desirable training workshop feature.
Jointly decide which placard contains the more desirable workshop feature. Keep this placard and drop the other on the floor.
Walk around with your partner. After a suitable pause, blow the whistle and ask each pair to make their final choice. If any pair has not chosen the placard, ask them to flip a coin to force a choice. Now ask both partners to hold the selected placard by the opposite ends and silently walk around the room, studying other placards.
Form a team. After a suitable pause, blow the whistle and ask everyone to stop. Give these instructions:
Join another pair of participants and discuss the two different placards.
As before, try to persuade the other pair that your placard contains a more desirable training workshop feature.
Jointly decide which of the two placards to keep. Drop the other placard on the floor.
Persuade other teams. Blow the whistle after a suitable pause. Give these instructions:
Locate other teams with the same (or similar) workshop feature as yours on their placards. Invite them to join you.
Persuade other teams to join you by explaining why your placard contains a superior feature.
You have 2 minutes to persuade the other teams to join your team.
Prepare a commercial. At the end of 2 minutes, blow the whistle and ask the expanded teams to move to convenient corners of the room. Ask each team to prepare a 30-second announcement to persuade the participants to agree to your choice of the most desirable training workshop feature. Announce a time limit of 3 minutes.
Persuade the masses. Blow the whistle at the end of 3 minutes. Ask each team to come to the front of the room and make its 30-second presentation. At the end of all presentations, ask participants to indicate their personal choice among the different presentations through a show of hands.
Respond to the inputs. Thank the participants for sharing their desired expectations for the training workshop. Briefly describe your workshop and discuss how it matches the participants’ wishes.