Staff meeting activities

**conradd** · #1 11-13-2003, 07:23 PM

Our staff meetings usually include some fun but quirky activity - past meetings have included making a totem pole, identifying rocks (one employee is a budding geologist), trying to play a song on various musical instruments that we've never learned to play, etc., etc.

I'm supposed to come up with an activity for next week's meeting and I have no time to plan. Anyone have a team-centered idea?

Deb

CurtisEdmonds · #2 11-13-2003, 07:41 PM

Hey, you have all those lateral thinking puzzles here on EA.

Or you could have them make fun of Jeff.

If you have a website, you could run an accessibility check. That would be instructive.

jenninca · #3 11-13-2003, 08:21 PM

Well, at our staff meeting yesterday, we made "diffy boxes" and played Factors Four in a Row. But they aren't so great for teambuilding.

Cindy

**jgibson2**[$] · #4 11-15-2003, 09:52 PM

Got a crock pot? I had my cub scouts make no-bake cookies at our last den meeting. The oatmeal/cocoa/peanut butter kind -- but you can leave out the peanut butter and add about an extra half cup of oatmeal if anyone is allergic to peanuts. You have to use real butter or they're just not the same, though.

I had each kid put something in and stir, then I spread out aluminum foil and had them take turns spooning it out onto the foil to make cookies. We let it cool while we did the rest of the den activities and had a snack at the end -- it was fun and I got to send them home with a sugar high.

quasar · #5 11-15-2003, 10:36 PM

How about playing buzzword bingo? That's always popular during staff and other business meetings

Janice

brian_igo · #6 11-18-2003, 01:07 AM

Don't forget orgies!

magenta321 · #7 11-18-2003, 01:23 AM

It's corny, but, one of the most meaningful activities I did was with a ball of yarn. One person starts, and picks any one person in the room and says something nice about that person. They hold the end of the string, and throw the ball of yarn to the person they said something nice about.

Person 2 says something nice about someone else. They hold on to a piece of the string, and then throw it across the room to someone else, saying something nice about them...

Keep going, until everyone in the room has had something nice said about them.

With a teambuilding type thing, you could have them say "You are an asset to the team, because..."

But... this works best for large groups. Dunno how large yours is.

When the whole room has been included, you point out how each person is connected to all of the others, and how much their contributions mean, etc.

**conradd** · #8 11-18-2003, 01:25 AM

LOL, Brian, we've played golf, we've built virtual communities, but no one in my office has ever suggested an orgy. That would probably remove me from planning any more meeting activities.

I like the Buzzword Bingo activity - that's something that could be done ongoing through the meeting, but traditionally we do a teambuilding activity up front. I'm still checking resources - meeting is Thursday morning.

**conradd** · #9 11-21-2003, 03:44 AM

The staff meeting was this morning. I don't think they'll let me do any more activities.

I taught them a nonparametric statistical test. Chi square is my favorite and is usually a hit with my students, so I thought my co-workers might enjoy it too. LOL, buzzword bingo would have been preferable, I think. Ah well. I had fun anyway.

Deb