Openers are activities that introduce the content and format of a training workshop. Unlike generic icebreakers, openers directly initiate the learning process.
An opener may achieve one or more of these purposes:
• Preview the workshop objectives and content.
• Learn about fellow participants.
• Increase collaboration among the participants.
• Establish ground rules and guidelines.
• Set individual goals.
• Provide a common experience.
• Encourage appropriate levels of self-disclosure.
• Energize the participants.
Our new book, Interactive Techniques for Learning, gives detailed instructions for conducting six different opening activities. Here are brief descriptions of the activities presented in the book:
Hello
This opening activity relates the participants expectation and entry knowledge to the facilitator’s plans. The participants are divided into four teams. Each team is assigned a different question related to the workshop.
Here are a couple of sample questions related to a workshop on leadership:
What is an example of an effective leader in your workplace?
What is an important characteristic of a business leader?
Each team is instructed to collect the answers to their team’s question from all the participants in the room. This creates chaos because everyone is trying to get the answer to their team’s question. The teams analyze and present the answers they collected. The facilitator relates these answers to their plan for the workshop. Also, the facilitator uses the relevant examples collected by the participants.
Poll and Predict
This opening activity involves empathetic extrapolation. The participants select a preferred alternative to a poll question. Before reviewing the results, each participant makes a prediction of the most-preferred alternative, along with a justification of this prediction. The results of the poll are revealed and compared with each participant’s prediction.
Concept Analysis
The facilitator briefly explains a training concept and asks a series of questions to analyze it. The participants discuss and analyze the definition, critical features, examples, and other such factors. The facilitator comments on the participants’ analyses and shares relevant information from experts.
Read My Mind
This playful telepathic test combines the opinions of experts and the wisdom of the group. The facilitator presents an open-ended question and proclaims that he or she has a secret list of five high-frequency responses. The participants are invited to share their guesses of these responses. Later, they compare their responses with the facilitator’s responses and reconcile the differences.
Timescapes in Thirty
This opening activity focuses on the application of new skills to future training projects. After listening to a preview of the workshop and reading a list of training objectives, the participants work independently to imagine how they would apply what they learned to a training projects 30 years from the end of the workshop. After sharing brief presentations of these applications, the participants repeat the process to another training project 30 months from now. They repeat the activity for applications after 30 weeks, 30 days, and 30 hours. Finally, the participants imagine their applications to 30 minutes from the end of the workshop.
1-2-3 Clap
This is a jolt (a brief experiential exercise) used as an opening activity. It dramatizes the principle that people do what a leader, manager, or teacher does rather than what these authority figures say. The facilitator begins the activity by giving these instructions:
When I say ‘one, two, three, clap,’ clap your hands simultaneously. Remember to wait until I say ‘clap’”.
The facilitator then says, “One, two, three” and claps the hand. After a suitable pause, the facilitator continues by saying “Clap!” During the subsequent debriefing discussion, the participants discover the futility of expecting people to do what they say and ignore what they do.
A Bonus Opener: Placards
The next article gives instructions for conducting an opener called Placards. This is not included in our Interactive Techiques for Learning book.