Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

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Anyone can use ice breaker games to bring fun to an event, liven up proceedings and quickly disperse that awkward getting to know you stage.  Whether you find yourself in charge of organising a wedding, family reunion, meeting , function or charity event, ice breaker games are an invaluble way of helping people to feel relaxed more quickly and comfortably. Use them at the beginning of a gathering of people and help people socialise quickly.

Use ice breaker games as energizers part way through a conference or meeting. They help maintain interest and excitement within the meeting and help people keep focussed. They keep people's attention and prevent boredom from setting in.

Think also about using them for youth groups, schools events, charity meetings etc. - in fact anywhere people are coming together for a common purpose.

Take a look at our great selection of ice breaker games to enhance any event

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What makes for a memorable teenage party?

When I think back to my childhood, the things I remember most vividly are the times we did things I loved that were in someway unusual or outdoors: campfires, cooking breakfast on the open moors; picnics, camping, beach days and lazy river days.

Times have obviously moved on a pace from then, but looking at my list , my most memorable experiences have all been simple and low-cost. It got me thinking - are we missing a trick here- thinking that we always have to provide something new, novel, exciting and costly?

Certainly for teenagers - it may be the time to get back to basics with a few ideas thrown in. Why not pack your teens up with a surprise picnic/party hamper and take them to an idyllic beach, park/spot for a couple of hours? Part of the excitement would be in opening the picnic/party hamper and viewing its contents. Apart from great food, birthday cake and drinks you could use your imagination and add:

• some cool ice breaker party games instructions
• a treasure/scavenger hunt
• a quiz about the party girl/boy
• party poppers, balloons etc.
• games stuff - bat, ball, soft ball, frisbee, cricket bat etc.
• And anything else that you can think of!

Then leave them to it for a couple of hours and arrange to pick them up at a set time. Always keep in phone contact in case of emergencies. This is all about giving them a memorable experience and a bit of independence for a short while.

There is a massive amount of trust involved here, so keep the party small and manageable and don't forget to lay down a few guidelines too such as:

• No rubbish to be dropped
• Everything to be packed back into the bags at pick-up time
• Always stay together
• No wandering off
• Behave in a mature and responsible way

You can find great party ideas from this author at ice-breaker-games.com

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When I was in my twenties I had several jobs working with youth groups: camp counsellor in the USA; youth worker in London and Outdoor Activities Instructor in Wales. In all these jobs I used ice breaker games extensively, because:

• they were so fantastic at getting the group to gel and me to gel with them
• they are fun, and quickly get people laughing and smiling
• they really set the day up well and you can then ease your young people into the rest of the day's session

I had hundreds of icebreaker games and I could literally pull them out of a hat at a moment's notice.Over the years, neglectfully, I had forgotton many of these games until now .  With a lot of persuasion from folk who know me, I've compiled as many as I could remember into my ice breaker games book for youth, but sadly there are a few that, annoyingly, I can't quite remember.

 Can you help me?

Does anyone remember an icebreaker game called "Jenny Bloggs" or "Owl and the Pussy Cat?" If you do let me have the details and I'll send you some great ice breaker games that you can use for your youth groups. Or if you have any other great games that I can add to my collection I'll do the same. Please leave me as much detail as possible in my comments box - thanks

For more great ice breaker games and ideas for youth groups visit  ice-breaker-ideas.com

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Here's a neat little ice breaker that can be done in pairs or in small groups. It's a getting to know you exercise which will accelerate that introductory phase.

 Ask participants to share, as a child, what they wanted to be when they grew up. Spend about 5 minutes sharing and asking questions and then swop over.

This can be a very powerful exercise for people who have not re-visited their childhood ambitions. Were these goals reached? When did they change? How many achieved their childhood goals?

Ask if anyone would be willing to share with the rest of the group?

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2 Minute Review of The 80 Minute MBA

  

 This week I attended the 80 minute MBA at the B F I IMAX, London.

 Leaving at 7am, 20 of us, from various businesses around South Wales, travelled by coach through snow blizzards and rain for 4 hours to reach London. Arriving at the BFI for midday there was just enough time to take a quick trip on the London Eye, and have noodles at Wagamama – both excellent. I highly recommend a trip on the London Eye, midweek in January – there were – hurrah - no queues which made up for the slightly dingy weather. Nevertheless we had the capsule to ourselves and the views were good enough.

 Onto the institute , and I have to confess I had signed myself up to this trip with absolutely no prior knowledge whatsoever about what I was about to experience though I had assumed the title to the event pretty much gave it away.

 The crowd looking mainly young business types and the auditorium was packed perhaps with upto a 1000 people – there were barely any spare seats

 The start was rather underwhelming; a film clip and a bit of music, no brash lights and a crash, bang wollop of an entrance for the rather staid looking middle-aged presenters: Richard Reeves and John Knell. I thought they looked rather nervous and started quite shakily. With a packed audience at £150 a head they needed to pack a punch

The presentation started with a lot of banter between the 2. They went through areas they would cover and gave quick dismissal to the areas they perceived of lesser importance; economics and accounts. A massive digital clock was counting down the precious 80 minutes.

 Part way through, I couldn’t decide whether I was being entertained or educated. I guess it was a bit of both but the entertainment side lacked any kind of “punch” or “sock it to them” statements. It was quite a gentle meander through various aspects of the MBA.

 The areas to whch they gave the greatest weight and respect were to:

 ®     Sustainability

®     Leadership

®     Culture

 At least the first 10 minutes was spent on sustainability and how they predicted that all companies would really have to pay attention to this is the coming years. M&S’s Stuart Rose was hailed a hero for bringing this to our attention.

 There was a good section on leadership. We were told that there are 5 books on leadership published everyday, and after Charismatic, Balanced, Living, Courageous, Spiritual, Resonant, Primal, Servant, Liquid, Strategic, Down to earth, Authentic and Coaching leaders, what on earth would we need next? After months of studying successful leaders we are told to forget about the above and focus on the 4 areas below:

•  Where we’re going (strong direction and vision)
•  What’s going on (know your business and staff inside out)
•  Who am I? (successful leaders know their strengths and weaknesses and are often humble about themselves but intensely ambitious for the   business)
•   How to build a strong team ( Knowing their limitations they build a strong talented team around themselves)

 The section on CULTURE rand many bells:

   People work best when freer and with more flexible working arrangements

   People stay at a company because of their colleagues and leave because of their managers

   People are most productive when happy

 So this is what I came away with in 80 minutes, plus the 80 minute MBA certificate! Did I come out buzzing, inspired with all guns blazing? Definitely not, though I was slightly reassured that if the above was true, then there didn’t seem to be any magic ingredients in the must-have MBA.

 Did I think it was value for money? Well if I’d paid £150 out of my own pocket , then NO. I think I’d have been rather disappointed

 Anyway see for yourself http://the80minutemba.com/

 or get their  International Bestseller “The 80 Minute MBA”