Title Challenge – Free Energiser

A short competitive energiser that helps participants consolidate key learning points from the training course can be downloaded for free from the link at the bottom of this page, or you can follow the notes below.

Purpose:

This is a competitive activity to help consolidate key learning points at the end of a course.

Instructions:

There is a small amount of set up work to do. You will need to produce an activity sheet like the example in the free download at the bottom of this page. The idea is that you provide delegates with a grid showing the title of the course in the left hand column. Our example is ‘negotiating skills’, but the activity works well for any course.

Arrange participants in to teams of 2 or 3 people. The activity works best with a minimum of three teams and a maximum of five.

Provide each team with one activity sheet.

Explain that their task is to come up with a word or sentence for each row of the grid. This must represent a key learning point arising from the course. They should aim for their word or sentence to start with the letter of the alphabet in the left hand column. If this is not possible they must make sure that the letter is contained in their word or sentence.

Now explain the scoring system. You might want to prime a flip chart with this information.

• 2 points for a learning point commencing with the correct letter of the alphabet
• 1 point for a learning point that does not commence with the correct letter of the alphabet but does contain it.
• 2 bonus points if the learning point is unique (i.e. not given by any of the other teams.
• 0 points if the team have already raised the learning point in another row.
• 0 points if the learning point is successfully challenged by the other teams.
• 0 points if nothing is entered for the row

Set a time limit for the teams to complete the grid. This could be 5 or 10 minutes, but whatever you choose, you must adhere to it strictly.

When time is up teams compare answers one at a time. So, in our example they start with the letter ‘N’. If the majority of teams accept that the learning point is a valid one then points are allocate per the scoring system above.

Teams may challenge each others learning points on any grounds. For example:

• You already made that point for an earlier letter.
• What you have said is wrong.
• Your point is very weak.

You should encourage challenges as the ensuing debate will help to consolidate the learning. You will also need to keep close watch on time to ensure that participants do not spend too long debating any one point.

At the end of the discussion the teams tot up their scores. The team with the highest score wins.

You may wish to offer a small prize for the winning team.

For best results you should allocate a reasonable mount of time for the training energiser. This should be at least 30 minutes but could be as long as an hour.