Catalyst Ranch’s
Creative Juice Blog
Supplies: Paper and pencils Many people don't realize that 70% of communication comes from non-verbal cues such as tone of voice or facial expression. According to the SunSentinel there are “80 muscles in the face that can create more than 7,000 expressions. Facial expressions are so much a part of our lives that it is easy to [...]
We know that good ice breakers will help get meetings, training and team building off on the right foot, but remember to be flexible when using them. They don’t necessarily need to be at the start of a meeting, sometimes adding it later in the agenda may prove to give a boost to lagging energy levels [...]
Paper straw races! Here is an exercise that will bring out the “kid at heart” from your meeting attendees. I think almost everyone at one point in time has played with their paper straw wrappers at a restaurant, fighting the urge to shoot the wrapper at the person seated across the table. Divide the group into [...]
Here is a project to bring out the “creative mastermind” within your next meeting’s attendees. In order to complete this project, team members will need to be innovative, creative, and able to think fast on their feet. It's a great jump start for getting problem solving ideas floating around the room, as well as group brainstorming. [...]
Holding a puppet is empowering, puppets can allow you to explore new ideas and create endless different situations. Here is an excellent energizer to spark people’s imagination and get your meeting started in the right mind set. It is also an icebreaker getting people to laugh and work as a team. With a puppet, your meeting’s [...]
Re-creating yourself as a cartoon character could be the perfect icebreaker for your next meeting and a great way to catch your audience off guard and give them a good laugh. Humor is a great way to make your training or meeting more memorable! Assignment: Create a mask that shows how you would like to [...]
What are some of your favorite memories? Many of us have childhood memories that stand out more than almost any other. Remember some of those old games you played as a kid with a bunch of your friends? Why not bring some of those back to light and incorporate them into work. The Blob!, gets you [...]
We’ve all attended multitudes of networking events throughout our working careers. Some have been more successful than others. Sometimes it’s easy to meet people, other times it feels awkward starting a conversation with someone you’ve never met before. I think few of us have considered the full effect that the choice of venue has on how well [...]
Sometimes you want to get people in a completely different mindset before you get to the meat of the business at hand. This is a great exercise to get them thinking about everything but your business - specifically a business they know nothing about. It’s also a great way to level the playing field amongst meeting [...]
I wanted to share with you this posting from Beth at Daily Grommet about this fantastic new game called The Storymatic. I think there’re some great possibilities here for application to exercises during meetings. What happened to the amateur boxer who couldn’t get down from the roof? Or the neglected sibling who’s being followed by someone? [...]