This exercise can be used as a very energising icebreaker, or even as a team exercise to suit the context. I use it in both contexts and have found to be effective either way.
The exercise consists of distributing a set of sequential pictures to the participants. Every participant gets one picture which depicts a small situation of the entire story. Care should be taken to balance the number of pictures so that each participant gets at least one(ideally) and not more than two. The objective for the group is to connect the sequences in the right order to frame the story.
Explain that participants may only look at their own pictures and must keep their pictures hidden from others.
Encourage participants to study their picture, since it contains important information to help solve a problem.
The challenge is for the group to sequence the pictures in the correct order without looking at one another's pictures.
Participants will generally mill around talking to others to see whether their pictures have anything in common. Sometimes leadership efforts will emerge to try to understand the overall story.
When the group believes they have all the pictures in order (usually after ~15 minutes), the pictures can be turned over for everyone to see.
Works with any age group, including corporate groups.
Can be done indoors or outdoors.
Once the challenge is finished, allow everyone to see the pictures and encourage participants to sort out any mistakes in the order (can be done on a table or the floor), then let everyone walk around view the pictures in sequence so they understand the full story
To use this as an icebreaker, use the following variation.
Give each participant a picture on arrival. When everyone has arrived, explain that each person is holding part of a story and that the group task is to find out what the story is by putting their pictures in sequence.
Use a time limit to increase difficulty and enhance focus on teamwork.
Team performance can be measured (e.g., for a competition) by counting how many pictures are out of sequence.
For smaller groups, try disallowing talking. This increases the difficulty and creates the need for expressive sign language. In general, allow large groups to talk because there is enough complexity sorting out all the pictures.
Another way to increase complexity with small groups is to give each person more than one picture.
One important thing to remember is regarding the creation of pictures. The storyline, whatever be it or however silly it is, should have frequently changing situations. For example, the story may begin a village jump to the city, then to a ship and so on so that the sequences become very significant. If not, it would be like giving a jigsaw puzzle. Every piece of picture should be an important link so that without a picture the story dosent connect properly.
Another suggestion is to have different sets of pictures with different stories so that the plot dosent get familiarised. It would also be useful to have different numbers of pictures such as 10,15,20 to suit different group strengths.
Try this out in your next training session.
cheers
Rajeev.V
From India
26The exercise consists of distributing a set of sequential pictures to the participants. Every participant gets one picture which depicts a small situation of the entire story. Care should be taken to balance the number of pictures so that each participant gets at least one(ideally) and not more than two. The objective for the group is to connect the sequences in the right order to frame the story.
Explain that participants may only look at their own pictures and must keep their pictures hidden from others.
Encourage participants to study their picture, since it contains important information to help solve a problem.
The challenge is for the group to sequence the pictures in the correct order without looking at one another's pictures.
Participants will generally mill around talking to others to see whether their pictures have anything in common. Sometimes leadership efforts will emerge to try to understand the overall story.
When the group believes they have all the pictures in order (usually after ~15 minutes), the pictures can be turned over for everyone to see.
Works with any age group, including corporate groups.
Can be done indoors or outdoors.
Once the challenge is finished, allow everyone to see the pictures and encourage participants to sort out any mistakes in the order (can be done on a table or the floor), then let everyone walk around view the pictures in sequence so they understand the full story
To use this as an icebreaker, use the following variation.
Give each participant a picture on arrival. When everyone has arrived, explain that each person is holding part of a story and that the group task is to find out what the story is by putting their pictures in sequence.
Use a time limit to increase difficulty and enhance focus on teamwork.
Team performance can be measured (e.g., for a competition) by counting how many pictures are out of sequence.
For smaller groups, try disallowing talking. This increases the difficulty and creates the need for expressive sign language. In general, allow large groups to talk because there is enough complexity sorting out all the pictures.
Another way to increase complexity with small groups is to give each person more than one picture.
One important thing to remember is regarding the creation of pictures. The storyline, whatever be it or however silly it is, should have frequently changing situations. For example, the story may begin a village jump to the city, then to a ship and so on so that the sequences become very significant. If not, it would be like giving a jigsaw puzzle. Every piece of picture should be an important link so that without a picture the story dosent connect properly.
Another suggestion is to have different sets of pictures with different stories so that the plot dosent get familiarised. It would also be useful to have different numbers of pictures such as 10,15,20 to suit different group strengths.
Try this out in your next training session.
cheers
Rajeev.V
From India
Hi Rajeev, That was a highly useful exercise good enough for various contexts. I am looking forward to introducing this in my next training session. Thanks a lot.
Can you give me a clue regarding the story cards you have made?
thanks in advance
Suresh
Can you give me a clue regarding the story cards you have made?
thanks in advance
Suresh
Hi Suresh, Nice to know that you found my icebreaker exercise useful. I had been using it for the last three years in various training contexts and have found to be very effective. The stories I have created are really silly to put down here. I have sent one story thread to your private mailbox. You could definitely improve on that. The idea is to have as scattered sequences as possible.
Any more help required, please feel free to ask me.
regards
Rajeev.V
From India
Any more help required, please feel free to ask me.
regards
Rajeev.V
From India
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