Serious Play
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Serious Play
All about fun, imaginative learning and training.
Curated by Ariana Amorim
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Four Ways to Make Boring Meetings (read classes) Better with the Torrance Incubation Model

Four Ways to Make Boring Meetings (read classes) Better with the Torrance Incubation Model | Serious Play | Scoop.it

Paul "Torrance pinpointed 18 cognitive skills that are part of the creative thinking process. They include humor, imagination, originality, and synthesizing. For the sake of simplicity, let’s take humor as an example.In what ways might I incorporate humor to heighten my team’s anticipation about our upcoming strategic planning meeting? "

[4 Ways to Incorporate Humor in a meeting/class]

1. One way to incorporate humor is by sending a funny video in your meeting email confirmation:

“Hi All, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at 10 am at our strategic planning session. In preparation for the meeting, please watch this quick, three-minute YouTube video. Cheers!”

Your team members will quickly realize that the video is Tripp and Tyler’s parody of “Every Meeting Ever,” hilariously accurate with all the usual suspect personalities. You’ll have them surprised and laughing, and at the meeting tomorrow you can open with a confession and that you are turning over a new leaf on boring, unproductive meetings.

Videos are effective to stoke humor but there are so many other possibilities.

2. Another way to use humor is to draw on your own strengths. For example, I can imagine my punster father writing this email to his banking colleagues:

“A wealth manager, an operations technician, and the CEO walked into a bar. Come to tomorrow’s meeting at 10 am and I will reveal the punchline!”

This is setting the tone. It’s what teacher Emily Hyland likes to call “making a pitch.”

3. Another possibility to engage humor and originality is to pose a question:

“As you prepare for tomorrow’s strategy meeting at 10 am, think about the following question: In what ways might we incorporate productive humor into this and future meetings? The funnier your response, the better. See you there!”

Take just 3 minutes at the start of the meeting to share and have a laugh.

4. When you connect humor to the very topic of your meeting, you will get right to the next stage of Torrance's model and dive deeper into the topic.

If you are discussing the development of an online financial portal, your email might look like this:

“In preparation for tomorrow’s development meeting at 10 am, please consider the following question: What tweaks might we make to the product so that customers experience a smile or a laugh during their user experience? The wackier the ideas the better, as crazy ideas can help us break out of the current predictability of our thinking.”


Via Jim Lerman
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Ask These 9 Questions Before Every Meeting To Avoid Wasting Time

Ask These 9 Questions Before Every Meeting To Avoid Wasting Time | Serious Play | Scoop.it

A lot of meetings are pointless. But they don’t have to be. 

Before you get your team together for another pointless meeting, ask the following questions to ensure that it’ll be the most productive use of everyone’s time.


1. DO I REALLY NEED TO HOLD THIS MEETING?

2. WHAT IS THE GOAL?

3. HOW CAN I MAKE THIS MEETING MEMORABLE?

5. WHO REALLY NEEDS TO BE AT THE MEETING?

6.HOW CAN I TURN THE AGENDA ITEMS INTO ACTIONS?

7. HOW CAN I MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE IS INCLUDED?

8. WHO IS THE BEST PERSON TO SPEAK ON EACH AGENDA ITEM?

9. HOW CAN I ENSURE THAT THIS MEETING IS THE BEST USE OF EVERYONE’S TIME?

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Facilitation Tools – Do's and Don'ts! | North Star Facilitators

Facilitation Tools – Do's and Don'ts! | North Star Facilitators | Serious Play | Scoop.it
10 categories of facilitation tools you should self assess regularly to ensure you are serving your groups needs best.
Ariana Amorim's insight:
Share your insight
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15 Techniques to Implement Decisions – Ava S. Butler

15 Techniques to Implement Decisions – Ava S. Butler | Serious Play | Scoop.it
The 15 Techniques for Implementing Decisions demonstrate how to efficiently move a meeting group toward action. These techniques ensure agreement on actions, clarify roles and responsibilities, and formulate plans for review and follow-up. 

Techniques include: 

1. Chart Actions 
2. SMART Goals 
3. Test for Support 
4. Individual Action Planning 
5. Force Field Analysis 
6. Goal Plan Go 
7. Transformation Maps 
8. Project Charters 
9. Project Teams 
10. Project Plans 
11. Executive Steering Group 
12. Progress Reviews 
13. Roles and Responsibility Charting: RACI 
14. Stakeholder Identification and Planning 
15. Sustainability Analysis
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9 common-sense rules for getting the most out of meetings

9 common-sense rules for getting the most out of meetings | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Veteran financier Ray Dalio has been in every kind of meeting: the good, the bad and the ugly. Here’s how he keeps his meetings focused.
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Create Your Online School with a Great Virtual Classroom

Create Your Online School with a Great Virtual Classroom | Serious Play | Scoop.it

As well as sharing links to websites, the link sharing feature allows you to share links to videos from the web and collaborate on Google Docs, Google Slides or Google Spreadsheets. This takes Webroom beyond the usual presentation and chat type class and enables teachers to do work on writing skills too.


Via Nik Peachey
Nik Peachey's curator insight, October 13, 2017 2:40 AM

A really great platform for creating synchronous virtual learning.

Juanita Amiel Townsend's curator insight, October 13, 2017 4:41 PM

A really great platform for creating synchronous virtual learning.

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7 Ways to turn any meeting into a fascinating experience | Personality Test

7 Ways to turn any meeting into a fascinating experience | Personality Test | Serious Play | Scoop.it
In a crowded, busy, distracted world… how can you design an experience that your audience will never forget? How can you inspire even the most jaded audiences
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Building Culture On Remote Teams

Building Culture On Remote Teams | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Company culture isn’t about having a fancy office. It's about having a team that works well together. Here are some tips to build culture on remote teams.
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Doodle – Silly Name, Powerful Tool (for Finding Times to Meet, Work)

This Free, Easy Application Makes it Snap to Find Times and Dates When Everyone in a Group is Available
Ariana Amorim's insight:

"Have you ever found it frustrating trying to get a group together and not being able to find a date and time that works for everyone? Have you had to run around in circles chasing emails all over and trying to hunt people down to offer times they can meet? Well that stops now."

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4 Steps To Transform Your Meetings - Fast Company

4 Steps To Transform Your Meetings - Fast Company | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Fast Company4 Steps To Transform Your MeetingsFast Company--David Sibbet is the founder and president of The Grove, a company whose leading-edge group-process tools and models for panoramic visualization, graphic facilitation, team leadership and...

Via Dave Wood
Dave Wood's curator insight, December 19, 2012 10:27 PM

More from David Sibbet about the value of using visuals.

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8 Important tips to help you waste time in meetings - Make bad meetings worse! (Teamwork and Leadership Bloggings)

8 Important tips to help you waste time in meetings - Make bad meetings worse! (Teamwork and Leadership Bloggings) | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Since most of us need time to waste, I thought it would be beneficial to my blogging audience to provide eight tips you must, must, must incorporate into your meetings.

 

Really, really serious play... Enjoy your next meeting!

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Four Principles For Planning Brain-Friendly Annual Meetings

Four Principles For Planning Brain-Friendly Annual Meetings | Serious Play | Scoop.it

What if associations tore down old traditional conference models and started over?
Here are four brain-friendly principles from brain scientists that association leaders and meeting organizers should consider when planning their next annual meeting. (There are many more!)

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Techniques to Evaluate Meeting Effectiveness – Ava S. Butler

Techniques to Evaluate Meeting Effectiveness – Ava S. Butler | Serious Play | Scoop.it
As with any product or service, meetings need feedback from their customers (in this case participants) in order to continually increase their effectiveness. I plan to share four techniques that give meeting facilitators specific processes to obtain accurate information about the effectiveness of their meetings.

These four techniques include: 

1.  What Went Well/Opportunities for Improvement 
2. Once Around the Table 
3. Team Effectiveness Chart 
4. Written Questions
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8 Meeting Purposes -What Tasks Are You Asking Groups to Complete?

8 Meeting Purposes -What Tasks Are You Asking Groups to Complete? | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Consequently, using meeting time to determine the meeting deliverable indicates unclear thinking and weak methodology.  As a result, see the eight most common reasons or meeting purposes and benefits and problems associated with each.
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20 Techniques to Improve Meeting Productivity – Ava S. Butler

20 Techniques to Improve Meeting Productivity – Ava S. Butler | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Over my years as a meeting facilitator, I have identified twenty fundamental techniques for facilitating successful meetings. These essential productivity techniques provide specific, uncomplicated processes to define meeting behavior, keep meetings on track, improve the clarity of communication, and maintain maximum energy.

These 20 techniques include: 

Specific techniques for defining and controlling meeting behavior include: 
1. Introductions 
2. Clearing 
3. Ground Rules 
4. Pulse Check For keeping your meeting on track, use: 
5. Parking Lot 
6. Verbal Warnings 
7. The Bell 
8. Three P Statements 
9. Shredded Questions 
10. Self-Management 
11. Go/No Go 

 For improving the clarity of communication, apply: 
12. Charting 
13. Art 
14. Analogies and Metaphors 

 When you want to stimulate and maintain high energy, utilize: 
15. Breaks 
16. Movement 
17. Toys 
18. Music 

 When you want to increase participation, employ: 
19. Writing
 20. Small Groups
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19 Techniques to Gather Information – Ava S. Butler

19 Techniques to Gather Information – Ava S. Butler | Serious Play | Scoop.it
My next blogs give the meeting facilitator nineteen options for accumulating maximum information in record time. Some of these techniques can be used to gather information before meetings; others are designed for use within meetings; and one technique, the Delphi Technique, is designed specifically for use in place of a meeting. The broad range of these techniques ensures that they cover almost every potential situation. 

 The nineteen techniques include: 

  1. Open-Ended Questions 
  2. Individual Interviews 
  3. Focus Groups Questionnaires
  4. The Delphi Technique 
  5. Expectations Survey 
  6. Passing Notes 
  7. Skits
  8. Is/Is Not 
  9. Nominal Group 
10. Process Process 
11. Flowcharting 
12. Content Experts 
13. Prouds and Sorries 
14. Keep/Throw 
15. Working Break 
16. New Shoes 
17. Five Whys 
18. SWOTs 
19. Road Shows
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5 Strategies for Team Brainstorming to Use in Your Next Meeting

5 Strategies for Team Brainstorming to Use in Your Next Meeting | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Planning a meeting for your team? Make sure you abide by these 5 rules to ensure it's actually productive.
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Tips and Tools to Facilitate Great Meetings - find 7 tips and dozens of tools!

Tips and Tools to Facilitate Great Meetings - find 7 tips and dozens of tools! | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Lochner shares 7 tips that will keep you out of Meeting Hell and in Meeting Heaven and Landay gives you the tools to help you facilitate great meetings.
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ap­pear.in Reviews | edshelf

ap­pear.in Reviews | edshelf | Serious Play | Scoop.it
Create a room and invite up to 8 friends for free. No login required — no installs. HOW TO GET STARTED Create a room – Choose any name for your room. Or let us generate a cool random name for you. Copy & share the link – Copy the link to the room and send …
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3 Ways To Use Polls In Meetings - Zoom Blog

3 Ways To Use Polls In Meetings - Zoom Blog | Serious Play | Scoop.it
3 Ways To Use Polls In Meetings - Poll questions are a great way to get an audience engaged. Set aside a couple minutes for each poll in your meetin
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The Art of Facilitating Meetings with Sticky Notes

The Art of Facilitating Meetings with Sticky Notes | Serious Play | Scoop.it
What's in your facilitation toolkit?   Mine includes markers, sticky notes, index cards, and flip chart paper.   But wait, paper???   Yes.  And, I'm not alone.  Take for example my colleague Eugene Eric Kim who shares his facilitation toolkit which includes links to his favorite P
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» How to Conduct High-Impact Focus Groups

» How to Conduct High-Impact Focus Groups | Serious Play | Scoop.it

Focus groups are an interactive way to get cross-functional perspectives on a single issue and can prove very helpful during the course of an organizational change program. They require only moderate effort to conduct and can yield loads of valuable information in real-time. Focus groups can be used to:

 

- Encourage discussion that generates opinions, beliefs, and attitudes about a specific topic of interest


- Learn about how and why a particular group of people approach an issue


- Build excitement and generate new ideas

 

For example, focus groups can be used to help define key roles and responsibilities for new processes, determine customer needs, and identify solutions to specific problems.

 

In this post you will find a six-step process to conduct high-impact focus groups.

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Six Shifts From Meetings Logistics To Designing Experiences

Six Shifts From Meetings Logistics To Designing Experiences | Serious Play | Scoop.it

Today there is a shift from our traditional thinking to one of strategic design thinking. The focus is on designing experiences and programming that leads to connections, collaboration, engagement, learning, sharing and networking. Here are six meeting planning shifts from conventional thinking to strategic design thinking.

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