Handling Unfortunate Events

Purpose

This is a fun activity which encourages delegates to be more optimistic and find positive points about some situations often perceived negatively. This exercise works best as an energiser and generates some laughs.

Objective

Delegates to state some positive points about a negative situation.

What You Need

Flipcharts

A prize for the winner such as a box of chocolate

Setup

• Divide the group into two teams
• Distribute two flipcharts to each team.
• Ask groups to write down 3 sentences that describe a negative situation. For example,
  • “My car broke down this morning on my way to work”
• Allocate 5 minutes for this phase.
• Ask the groups to stick their flipcharts to the wall.
• Now, ask the groups that they must find as many positive points as possible about the negative situations on both flipcharts.
• Each group should work on its own in a competitive fashion.
• Ask them to record their positive remarks on another flipchart.
• The team that comes up with the most number of positive points in 5 minutes wins the prize.

Timing

Explaining the Test: 5 minutes.

Activity: 5 min + 5 min = 10 minutes

Group Feedback: 10 minutes.

Discussion

Was the competition close or was one team capable of making a lot of positive remarks? If this was the case, why did it happen? What does this exercise teach you?