Purpose
Use this icebreaker to help delegates get to know each other better. You can also use the training exercises as a test to see who knows most about others. It is fairly easy to run. You can customise the exercise by changing the questions provided in the “About Me Form”. For example, you can increase the number of work-related or project-related questions to bias the exercise towards a specific direction.
If you run this exercise for people who don’t know each other at all, it would work like a test on stereotyping and first impressions. In other words, the person who identifies most people’s qualities correctly, when he has never met them before, must have a sharp eye in paying attention to detail and a good judgment in placing people in society with respect to their interests. This can be a fascinating training topic to explore at the end of the exercise.
Objective
Fill in a form about yourself and guess who filled which form.
What You Need
- A copy of the “About Me Form” provided below for each delegate.
- A copy of the “Identification Form” provided below for each delegate. This must have enough number of entries as you have delegates. For example, if you have 8 delegates, you must have from A to H.
Setup
- Distribute a copy of the “About Me Form” to each delegate.
- Ask them to follow the instructions and fill it in.
- Explain that delegates should not show their filled-in forms to each other.
- Allocate 10 minutes for this part.
- Collect all the forms from all delegates.
- Shuffle the forms.
- Write a unique letter on the top corner of each form (A,B, C, …)
- Distribute a copy of “Identification Form” to each delegate.
- Pick the form designated as “A” and read through the answers written there. You may accompany the answers with questions so delegates know which answer belongs to which question.
- Once you have read all the answers on the form, ask delegates to individually identify which person wrote those answers. They should write the name of the person in their forms next to the letter “A”.
- Pick the next form designated as “B”, read through the answers and expect delegates to identify the person.
- Delegates should not share any information with each other as this exercise should be run like a competition.
- Continue until you have gone through all forms.
- At the end, reveal the correct names for each fill-in form and expect delegates to score their correct answers.
- Ask each person to reveal how many people they got right and declare the winner who had the highest score.
- Follow with a discussion.
Timing
Explaining the Exercise: 2 minutes
Activity: 10 min filling the “About Me Form” + 15 min filling the “Identification Form” = 25 minutes
Group Feedback: 5 minutes
Discussion
Where you surprised that the winner could get so many answers right? How did he manage that?
About Me Form
Instructions:
Answer the following questions in a way that describes you to others in the group. Aim for short and brief answers.
Your Name: _____________________
1. My favourite holiday is:
_____________________________________________________________
2. My favourite actor is:
_____________________________________________________________
3. My favourite fiction is:
_____________________________________________________________
4. My favourite non-fiction book is:
_____________________________________________________________
5. A perfect workday for me is to spend my time on:
_____________________________________________________________
6. My favourite singer is:
_____________________________________________________________
7. My favourite subject in school was (is):
_____________________________________________________________
8. My favourite hobby is:
_____________________________________________________________
9. My favourite sport to participate in is:
_____________________________________________________________
10. What I don’t like the most at work is:
_____________________________________________________________
Identification Form
Instructions:
As the trainer reads through the answers for each person (identified with a letter), write the name of the person next to the corresponding letter below.
A.
_____________________________________________________________
B.
_____________________________________________________________
C.
_____________________________________________________________
D.
_____________________________________________________________
E.
_____________________________________________________________
F.
_____________________________________________________________
G.
_____________________________________________________________
H.
_____________________________________________________________
Total Names You Got Right: ______________________
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