One Car – Two Siblings
** [note - if you've got a better name for this activity, please leave a comment here] **
Sitting in a train on my way to open a conference this week, looking for a novel opener, I came up with this fantastic idea (a twist to the wonderfully successful Commonalities) … and it worked a treat, so I wanted to share it with you.
It’s always tough to ‘break the ice’ when people are seated in rows, or in a lecture theatre, or round a table – hard to move people about. And this is exactly what I had to work with. Here’s what I did…
I asked people to partner up with one or two other people sitting close to them. After quick introductions are exchanged, I invited each group to have a conversation in which they sought out all the “things” they (all) had in common … but with one proviso. Starting at one, and moving through the numbers as high as they could go within three minutes, their object was to find that number of things / objects / experiences they had in common. As this explanation was met with a few blank faces, an illustration followed.
For example, starting at one, the group may discover that they all own ONE car. Then they might discover they all have TWO siblings. Moving on, they have all taken THREE overseas holidays, and all have FOUR letters in their first names, and so on.
On this particular morning, one group of three people got as high as EIGHT – apparently, they all had the numeral eight in their street address (which, maybe, is stretching the framework of the game – but who cares – they were talking and interacting and, best of all, along with 100 other people, were laughing and generating TONS of energy….)
… and voila – a new ice-breaker!
Try it out, and tell me what you think …
Comments
8 Comments on One Car – Two Siblings
- Heidi Smith on Fri, 18th Feb 2011 5:34 pm
I actually love the name!! It works for me…maybe I’ll change it after I play it in a week’s time!
Thanks mark, Heidi
- Wendy on Fri, 18th Feb 2011 11:00 pm
‘Mr Idea’s Man’ strikes again – I like the sound of that and will try it sometime 
- Tim Stewart on Sat, 19th Feb 2011 11:31 am
Top Gear slightly stolen, but could be a great name, sounds like it matches with the enthusiasm created.
- Sheryn Mitrevics on Mon, 21st Feb 2011 10:38 am
You could call it One Car, Two Toilets!!!
- Brian McAleer on Wed, 23rd Feb 2011 4:59 pm
Hey Mark, Great idea for an ice breaker. Mind if I use it at some info sessions…?
In regards to a name, the one that popped into my head was “Three Wheel Drive”. Have a Good Day
Brian
- Brett Sinnett on Fri, 25th Feb 2011 12:36 pm
Hi Mark, A great new game – I like it.
Maybe you could call it.. ‘Number Cruncher’ or ‘Numeral Networking’ Just a couple of ideas that sprang to mind.
Good luck. Brett
- Merryn Weekes on Wed, 2nd Mar 2011 10:53 am
The game looks great and I actually used it on my year 9 class the other day. They struggled with it a bit and most groups only got 2 or 3 things on their list, but it generated conversation, which I guess is the aim of the game anyway! I’m not very creative with naming things, so can’t really help you out there!!
- Mark Collard on Wed, 2nd Mar 2011 10:55 am
Hey Merryn, thanks for the response. Yeah, I’m thinking that perhaps younger people may struggle with thinking up stuff, but it may also require some better front-loading with a few ‘younger’ Gen X and Gen Y examples?
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