5 Favorite Movies
If you’re about to lead a group through a facilitated discussion that will involve brainstorming ideas and grouping them into categories, here’s an energizer to get your participants into the right headspace.
Have participants think of their five favorite movies in one minute or less: any longer than that is overthinking it.
Participants write down their favorite movies. If it’s an in-person meeting, each movie should be on its own separate sticky note. If it’s online, they type their movies into Chat.
Invite participants to group the movies into categories. They’ll most likely start with genres, like drama or western or horror. Pay close attention to how they decide on categories: did one person decide, and the rest follow? Did everyone agree on those categories? Was there any debate? What happened when certain movies transcended categories: is Jaws an action/adventure or a horror? Did they pick the best fit, or duplicate the movie and place it in more than one category?
Once the participants come to closure on the activity, invite them to make observations about the process they just experienced. And fill in the gaps with your own observations.
5 Favorite Movies is a great way to prime participants to come up with ideas, decide on categories, and practice categorizing ideas in a low-stakes activity BEFORE they do it for real. The purpose is for the participants to explicitly agree on best practices for categorizing ideas and become aware of the pitfalls they may face.
5 Favorite Movies is a variation by Dean Meyers on the Livestorm icebreaker “Five Favorites.”
If you’re interested in other ways you can make group processes and decisions that much easier, let’s talk. https://calendly.com/brian-lizardbrain/45-min-discovery-call
