50 Activities to Kickstart Your Meetings

11GROUND RULES

This game exposes participants to several ground rules for conducting an effective meeting. Instead of merely reading and understanding the ground rules, this activity requires that participants compare and evaluate these rules both individually and in teams.

Synopsis

Different participants get different lists of ground rules for conducting an effective meeting. Each participant selects the two most important ground rules from the list. Later, the participants organize themselves into teams, discuss their choices, and come up with the two most important ground rules.

Purpose

To review a set of ground rules and select the most important ones

Participants

Minimum: 10

Maximum: 50

Best: 16–24

Time

10–20 minutes

Handouts

Eight different lists of Ground Rules

Supplies and Equipment

• Timer
• Whistle

Room Setup

Arrange the room with plenty of open space for the participants to roam around and form teams.

Flow

Distribute different lists. Give a single list to each participant.

Brief the participants. Explain that each list contains several ground rules for conducting effective meetings. Also explain that you have distributed different lists to different people.

Assign independent work. Ask each participant to review all the ground rules on the list and select the two most important ones. Announce a three-minute time limit.

Assign teamwork. Blow a whistle to announce the end of the three minutes. Ask the participants to organize themselves into teams in ...