Humans are predictable. Magicians have taken advantage of this predictability for generations. Knowing how to read people helps you significantly in your negotiations, persuasions and overall communications. This ability to predict human behaviour is often related to our evolutionary past. As we have evolved to survive in our environment, we have acquired a lot of “hardwiring” in our brain which now simply dictate our behaviour. We are all too familiar with some of the common behaviours such as seeking water when thirsty or wanting to leave the meeting room when we can no longer hold it.

However, some of these hardwiring and their consequences are more subtle and a careful observation can give the observer a significant advantage in predicting the eventual behaviour.

In this article, a particularly useful body language technique is presented that helps you read people and understand what they are likely to do before they do it and to use this knowledge to your advantage.

We are exposed to many brands every day in our environment as well as direct advertisement. It is estimated that an average American sees as much as 16000 brands every single day! What does each brand mean to us? How do we respond to each brand? How should brands be marketed to have the highest impact? How do brands compare?

This is where marketing comes into place. With so many brands competing for attention, we have little time to notice them all. We have learned to filter out a lot form our complex environment so we can focus on what matters to us. Only a select few brands can stand out and become memorable or at the extreme end of the scale, come to define a particular way of life on a global scale.

This engaging exercise is designed to kick start a discussion on branding for delegates who attend a course on branding, marketing or a similar topic. It can be used for:

• Branding
• Logo design
• Brand familiarity
• Analysis on use of colour, shapes and common patterns in logos
• Typography
• Social trends
• Behavioural patterns

The exercise requires a pre-course activity where delegates have to prepare materials and bring them to the class.

This exercise helps delegates to understand the importance of focusing and concentration when they are in a fast changing environment.

This exercise helps delegates to understand the importance of several key principles, such as “Parkinson’s Law” as well as managing their performance in the face of change or increasingly challenging environments. It is also useful for teamwork, decision making, leadership and creativity. You can use this exercise to teach “Parkinson’s Law” in a time management course.

You can use this exercise to explore teamwork, leadership and the ability to work under pressure and cooperatively to solve a problem.

We all deal with lists almost on a daily basis. However, as we all have discovered, lists can be difficult to memorise and remember. Research shows that we have significant problems remembering a list as the list becomes longer and longer. The problem is mainly to do with the linearity of the list and its inherent lack of detail. When memorising a list we mainly use our left-side brain to make logical connections and improve our chances of recall.

In addition to our left-side brain, we can also employ our right-side brain to significantly increase our ability to memorise and recall successfully. This exercise demonstrates the significance of right-side brain abilities and how to employ it.

This is powerful exercise in helping people to think out of the box and become more creative. The setup primes people to think creatively about everyday objects and design their own version. This however may not lead to a lot of creative activity as most people will use what they already know or have seen. Next, you will give them a creative task that they are totally unfamiliar with and hence are forced to be a lot more creative and use their imagination to interpret the requirements.

This exercise helps delegates to practice focusing, paying attention to detail and memorising. It can be easily customised to suite specific needs or even turned into a competition to address team work and leadership skills (see variations). It is ideal for all ages.

The purpose of this exercise is to help delegates examine their non-verbal senses and build their confidence in sensing others. It demonstrates the power of our conscious and unconscious ability to sense other people.

The purpose of this exercise is to help delegates practice memorising and paying attention to detail. Repeated exercise can increase focus and help people to become more aware of their surroundings. It also highlights the importance of using all senses, such as touch to increase memory retention and recall. The exercise is also useful for teamwork and leadership skills.