Icebreaker: Pointing out the Obvious

This icebreaker is intended to get people to understand how they are perceived by others and to demonstrate to all participants that what we think or assume about others may or may not be correct. Before you begin this exercise, be sure you stress to participants to be positive and not point out any negative or hurtful things to others. You'll need about 2-3 minutes per participant for this activity.

You start by seating everyone in a circle with one chair in the center. You choose who will go first or the instructor can go first. The first participant sits in the center chair.

You pick a starting point for round one and the first person in the circle has to say, “It is obvious that . . . “ and add something that is obvious about the participant in the middle. This must be obvious not an assumption, like “It is obvious that you are wearing a yellow shirt.” Then each person in the circle points out an obvious conclusion about the person in the center.

That ends round one. Round Two, the sentence must start out with, “I assume that . . . “ and then must add something they assume based on the “obvious” fact they pointed out in round one. Now they can say, “I assume that you like yellow.”

That ends round two and the fun round begins. In round three the sentence starts with, “I imagine that . . . “ and adds anything they think is a good guess about the person in the center. The person in the center is free to voice up at any time and say things like "Yes, that's right," or "No, that's not correct." Each person gets to be in the center once for three rounds.

This icebreaker teaches people in the center how they are perceived by others based on outward observations and teaches those in the circle how observations about people based upon what they see may or may not be true. This is a great inclusion and diversity exercise. Enjoy!

Workplace Toons can help you to jazz up your presentations with hand drawn training cartoons. Please see the ever-growing library of titles here. Custom illustrations are also available and more affordable than you think. Visit the website at www.WorkplaceToons.com today!