At critical points during the conference an energiser or icebreaker will re-invigorate your delegates and focus everyone’s attention. At the start of your meeting or opening of your conference an icebreaker will set the tone for the whole event.

Icebreakers and energisers keeps energy levels high and focuses attention throughout your conference. Your audience will absorb more information when you hold their interest and keep their attention. Physical movement is proven to awake interest by changing people’s mental state plus the more interaction at your meeting the more participants will remember and take away from the experience. People also retain the information you’ve given them for much longer when they’ve become involved in the delivery itself. People take more ownership when they see themselves as an integral part of what’s going on around them.

Whenever you’ve got a group of people together, whether it’s a couple of dozen or a couple of thousand people, an icebreaker or energiser that is professionally organised achieves much more than leaving things to happen by chance.

What A Balls Up!

What a balls up is an energiser that lasts from approx 10 - 25 minutes. The format involves hand to eye coordination without being strenuous and its versatility means that it works inside with guests seated in cabaret style or outside in the fresh air. The game involves everyone in an amusing and simple common-goal activity plus the addition of a hint of competition adds an element of excitement and anticipation.

A lively facilitator organises your group into circles of small teams. If guests are already seated indoors in cabaret style then either this would naturally form the teams or guests can be moved around to create extra interaction.

Each small team stretches a net out between them in their circle. It looks a bit like a fireman’s net. Everyone in the room grasps their own handle on the net and together the team can stretch or relax the net. This produces an effect like a trampoline.

When a ball is placed in the middle of each net teams are directed to bounce the ball in the air by stretching their net in unison. With practice teams bounce the balls in time to a rhythm beaten out by the facilitator.

Then teams must develop a controlled fling in order to exchange balls with other teams and demonstrate their prowess and ability to work together.

The energy and unity of your delegates can be directed towards a purpose that reflects your conference message.

For example, the balls that are bounced can be branded to your product that is at the centre of your conference message. Or the co-operation between the teams can highlight the importance of inter-departmental communication.

By incorporating your message into this simple activity you trigger people’s interest, you capture their attention and you make a lasting impression.

Matching Pairs

Matching pairs is an icebreaker and energiser activity that lasts from 5 – 15 minutes at any time of the day. The game requires people to ask each other a few specific questions to find their match. This creates a hive of activity as people talk to each other and move around the room.

Each of your delegates is given a card (similar to a playing card or business card). Each card depicts an item with a word and a picture that is one half of a matching pair. For example, one card might be salt and one card might be pepper. Delegates must find their colleague in the auditorium who holds the matching card so that they form a pair together.

The cards are either handed out on arrival, hidden under the seats or placed behind your name badge.

Matching pairs are deliberately geared to be funny and sometimes ambiguous. This means that delegates must communicate clearly.

The result is an excited group of people who know each other better, who’ve shared a joke together and who’ve accomplished something together.

Comic Strip

Comic strip is a flexible and fun energiser that lasts from 20 minutes to 1½ hours. Delegates make a storyboard using Polaroid photographs, speech bubbles and an array of props based around a pre determined theme. You can also choose the topic for each story if you want it to reflect your conference message and this can give you an unparalleled insight into your delegates’ interpretation of the meeting topic.

The comic strip also promotes creative thinking and helps selected teams of people get to know each other much better by working closely together. The game can also reveal hidden individual talent and demonstrates the importance of teamwork

You can choose how long you want to devote to this energiser. The more time you have the more involved your participants become.

Your group is split into smaller teams who work together to tell a story. This may simply be a fun topic suggested by us, or you may prefer it to be pertinent to your conference. Teams need to brainstorm, discuss and decide on the way their Comic Strip will look and what it will say.

The materials you are given allow you to be creative – by dressing up and taking Polaroid photos of particular scenes, by writing amusing quips in speech bubbles and by assembling them both on a storyboard.

The result is that your audience has become physically, mentally and emotionally involved by participating and contributing to your conference. Everyone has also had a break, had a bit of a laugh and the storyboards act as a positive reminder of how everyone’s involved, because they can be visible for the rest of the conference and into the evening too.

Mexican Railway

Imagine for a minute a Mexican Wave and the way that it livens up a crowd. Instead of simply throwing your arms in the air now imagine that the whole audience is holding a railway track in the air above their heads.

This is a railway track that everyone at your meeting or conference has built together. Once you’ve put your parts together you each hold up part of the railway. Each part is connected to the person on either side of you. When you raise and lower your arms together you recreate the movement in the style of a Mexican Wave.

Now the train is added to the railway track. The train takes the shape of colourful balls that roll up and down the track across the room or auditorium when your audience raises and lowers the track in a synchronised movement.

As well as an energiser that unites everyone your “train” can reflect the key business message at your conference. The balls can be branded to represent a key product, an in-house process that might be changing or a group of people making a particular journey. This can be as intricate or simple as you wish.

The effect is like a giant moving rollercoaster controlled by all the individuals at the conference under the guidance of a professional facilitator and crew. Your Mexican Railway experience will be tailored to the time you’ve got and the impact that you want to create. It can involve a number of different races, configurations and directions.

An element of competition together with a running commentary from the facilitator creates an exciting atmosphere. Mexican Railway is always a huge success because it involves everyone each completing a couple of simple tasks that combine to create a dramatic demonstration of team effort.

The energizers and icebreaker programmes can vary in duration according to your requirements and are suitable for 16 – 1000 guests for corporate events, and team building, meetings and conferences.

Cost Guide: £ 50.00 + Vat pp