Podcast
Let's Debate
More content about less content.
Memories Contradicting an Expert Offensive or helpful?
US Workshops Next Stop: Atlanta For the last time in 2013.
International Workshops Workshops outside the USA Workshops in Singapore, Hong Kong, and
Switzerland.
Matt's Workshop An Innovative Workshop by Matthew Richter Matt jazzes it up.
From Brian's Brain Photo Jolts by Brian Remer A link to the latest issue of Brian's
newsletter.
Online Survey Content is King? Content or activities?
Survey Results The Name Game A summary of your responses.
Masthead
THIAGI GAMELETTER:
SERIOUSLY FUN ACTIVITIES FOR TRAINERS, FACILITATORS,
PERFORMANCE CONSULTANTS, AND MANAGERS.
Mission
To increase and improve the use of interactive,
experiential strategies to improve human performance in an
effective, efficient, and enjoyable way.
Editorial Roster
Author and Editor
: Sivasailam (Thiagi) Thiagarajan
Assistant Editor
: Raja Thiagarajan
Associate Editors: Tracy Tagliati and Jean Reese
Contributing Editors: Brian Remer and Matthew Richter
Copyright Info
The materials in this newsletter are copyright 2013 by The
Thiagi Group. However, they may be freely reproduced for
educational/training activities. There is no need to obtain
special permission for such use as long as you do not
reproduce more than 100 copies per year. Please
include the following statement on all reproductions:
For any other use of the content, please contact us (
thiagi@thiagi.com ) for permission.
Subscription Info
To sign up, or to donate and help us continue this
newsletter, please see the Online
Newsletter page on our website (
http://thiagi.com/pfp.html ).
Feedback Request
Thiagi believes in practicing what he preaches. This is an
interactive newsletter, so interact already! Send us your
feedback, sarcastic remarks, and gratuitous advice through
email to thiagi@thiagi.com . Thanks!
This month, we have installed a new platform (Disqus) to
start and sustain a conversation among you, me, and other
TGL readers.
In the new system, all comments will be publicly visible.
(Comments will no longer be anonymous.)
You can comment on the articles and games.
You can comment on other people's comments.
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comments.
And I can respond to your comments.
TGL is an exercise in co-creation. Please
participate in this exercise. If I don't get at least 25
comments, I will lose my bet with the tough pessimists among
my friends.
How To Do It
Click the comments link below any of the articles. You will
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Click where it says “Leave a message…” and type
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Before you can post your comment, you will be required to
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An anagram is a collection of letters that can be rearranged
into a regular word. For example, ELPUZZ is an anagram for the
word PUZZLE. In this jolt, we embed an anagram puzzle to
explore important learning points about competency and
trust.
Synopsis
Participants are given sample anagrams to review. One
participant receives samples that are later presented as
test anagrams. As a result, this participant appears to be
smarter than the others when solving the test anagrams.
Purpose
To explore the effect of competency on trustworthiness.
Training Topics
Credibility
Trust
Expertise
Participants
Minimum: 6
Maximum: Any number, divided into groups
of three to five
Best: 15 to 30
Time
15 to 45 minutes
Handouts
Sample Anagrams, one copy for each
participant
Special Sample Anagrams, one copy for one
member of each team
Test Anagrams, one copy for each
team
Equipment
Timer
Whistle
Room Setup
Round tables with chairs around them to facilitate
teamwork
Preparation
Prepare the Sample Anagrams
handout. Create a handout with this list of
anagrams and answers:
Anagram
Answer
AALST
Atlas
ADEGINR
Reading
AEHTW
Wheat
ORSTY
Story
ABDER
Bread
IKLM
Milk
Make enough copies for every participant.
Prepare the Special Anagrams
handout. This handout should look just like the
Sample Anagrams handout, but the anagrams are
different:
Anagram
Answer
AABLLD
Ballad
ABEKST
Basket
ACEEMN
Menace
ADLNOU
Unload
AEFLM
Flame
AHORTT
Throat
Make one copy per team.
Prepare the Test Anagrams
handout. This handout should look just like the
Special Anagrams handout, except that the
answer column is not filled out:
Anagram
Answer
AABLLD
ABEKST
ACEEMN
ADLNOU
AEFLM
AHORTT
Make one copy per team.
Flow
Organize participants into teams. The
teams should be the same size, but it does not matter if a
few teams have an extra member.
Review sample anagrams. Distribute copies
of the Anagrams handouts to each participant.
Secretly make sure that one participant—and only one
participant—in each team gets the Special
Anagrams handout. Do this unobtrusively. Ask the
participants to independently review the anagrams and the
answers. Suggest that they cover the answer column and
practice recalling the solution to each anagram. Suggest a
1-minute time limit.
Work in teams to solve anagrams. Collect
all the Anagrams (and Special
Anagrams) handouts from the participants and give a
single copy of the Test Anagrams to each team.
Ask the team members to work jointly and solve as many
anagrams as possible within a 1-minute period. (The anagrams
you give to each team are the same as the anagrams in the
Special handout, but without the answers.
This will enable one member of each team to appear to be
smarter than the others.)
Conclude the anagram solving activity. At
the end of 1 minute, blow your whistle and announce the end
of the activity. Find out how many anagrams each team has
solved and congratulate the team with the highest number of
answers.
Select a team member to solve a Sudoku
puzzle. Tell the participants that you are going
to have a puzzle-solving contest. Explain that the team
representatives will be involved in solving a different type
of puzzle, called Sudoku. Ask each team to nominate one of
its members as its representative to this contest
Conduct a debriefing discussion. Ask the
representatives from each team to stand up. Tell the
participants that before you proceed to the next activity,
you would like to conduct a debriefing discussion about what
happened so far.
Why did you select this person as the team
representative?
Competency contributes to increased trustworthiness.
What made you trust your team representative?
Competency in one field does not necessarily guarantee
competency in a different field. Did you ask your team
members if anyone is familiar with Sudoku puzzles before
nominating the contestant?
Explain that one participant in each team had an advantage
because he or she was given the test anagrams on the
Anagrams handout.
Now that you know that one person had the answers for
the test anagrams, does it reduce his or her
credibility?
Who would you trust more: The person who has the
correct answers or the person who has expertise to find
the correct answers?
Follow up with the next jolt. You can
conclude the session after the debriefing discussion. Or, if
you want to, you can continue with the Sudoku jolt that uses
another type of puzzle-solving activity to drive home a
related point about comparing your performance with those of
others. We will explain how to play this Sudoku jolt in a
future issue of TGL.
I like activities that involve all participants in the entire
group, roaming around, mingling with each other, and working
in pairs. In this card game, you create a teaching and
learning frenzy among constantly regrouping pairs of
participants. You can use this game with any of our decks of
Practical Advice Cards—or your own deck.
Purpose
To share a piece of practical advice to as many others as
possible.
To learn as many pieces of practical advice as
possible.
Participants
Minimum: 4
Maximum: 100
Best: 20 to 30
Time
20 to 30 minutes
Supplies
A deck of Practical Advice Cards
Countdown timer
Whistle
Flow
Assign roles to the participants. Divide
the participants into two groups of equal size. Tell the
members of one group that they will play the role of
teachers. Participants in the other group will play the role
of learners.
Brief the participants. Explain what
happens during the activity: Each teacher will receive a
practical advice card and study the advice printed on the
card. Later, this teacher will teach the advice to as many
learners as possible, one person at a time. The learners
will attempt to learn as many different pieces of advice as
possible. At the end of 10 minutes, the teacher who taught
the most participants and the learner who learned the most
pieces of practical advice will be declared winners.
Ask the learners to get ready. Tell them
to talk among themselves and come up with strategies to
rapidly learn as much as they can.
Ask the teachers to get ready. Shuffle the
deck of practical advice cards and give one card to each
member of the teacher group. Warn the teachers that you will
take the card back at the end of 3 minutes. Ask the teachers
to study the piece of advice on the card, take notes, and
come up with a plan for explaining the advice to individual
learners in such a way that they will be able to easily and
accurately recall the details.
Start the frenzy. After 3 minutes, blow a
whistle and collect all the practical advice cards from the
teachers. Tell the participants that there will be a frenzy
for 10 minutes during which individual teachers and learners
will pair up with each other. The teacher will explain the
piece of practical advice. The learner will listen
carefully, take notes, and ask questions, trying to
understand the piece of advice so he or she can recall it
later. When the task is done, they will part company. The
teacher must find and pair up with another learner and the
learner must find and pair up with another teacher.
Keep track of the number of pieces of advice taught
and learned. Ask the teachers to note how many
different learners they have taught. Ask the learners to
note how many different pieces of advice they have
learned.
Conclude the session. At the end of 10
minutes, blow the whistle to stop the teaching and learning
process. Ask the members of the learners group to state the
number of pieces of advice they have learned. Identify the
winners who have learned the most pieces of advice. Now ask
the teachers to state the number of different people they
had taught. Identify the winners who taught the most
learners.
Debrief. At the end of the activity,
conduct a debriefing discussion about the behaviors of
effective teachers and learners. Also ask the learners to
recall and explain the pieces of practical advice they had
learned.
While I was a high school science teacher back in Chennai,
India, I published a couple of articles on my use of
programmed instruction for teaching Chemistry. As a
consequence, I was invited to meet Dr. Douglas Ellson, an
American expert who was providing technical advice to the
National Educational Research Center.
Somewhat reluctant, I bicycled to the hotel where Dr. Ellson
was staying and got into a bumbling conversation. After about
5 minutes, my shyness disappeared as I started talking about
the experiments in my classroom.
Dr. Ellson talked about some recent advance in programmed
learning. He gave me a quick demonstration of substitution
programming for teaching a second language. He named a
psychologist who had come up with this technique. Without
thinking, I immediately contradicted him by pointing out that
Dr. Waldo Sweet had used this technique several years earlier.
I even rattled off the citation to a research abstract
included in the book, Teaching Machines and
Programmed Learning, complete with the page
number. I was not trying to show off or anything; I just
wanted to be helpful.
Dr. Ellson looked strangely at me and went on to talk about
his recent conversation with Dr. B. F. Skinner.
Back home, I was worried that I might have offended Dr.
Ellson by abruptly correcting his statement. Maybe I'd never
hear from him.
I did hear back from Dr. Ellson a week later. He sent me a
cable that simply said, “You were right, I was wrong. Would
you like to work as my research assistant?”
That's how I ended up in Bloomington at Indiana
University.
Right now, I am in Dallas, Texas conducting my 3-day
workshop, Interactive Techniques for
Instructor-Led Training.
The next time this workshop will be offered in Atlanta,
Georgia, on November 5-7, 2013. That's the last time this
year.
Here's the good news: As a reader of the Thiagi
GameLetter, get $200 off the registration fee by
entering coupon code TGL-WS13 when you
register online.
Here are brief details—and links to brochures.
Interactive Techniques for Instructor-Led
Training: A 3-day workshop
FOR WHOM: Trainers, facilitators,
instructional designers, performance consultants, and
managers
HOW MUCH: Regular registration rate: $1600.
As a reader of the Thiagi GameLetter,
get $200 off by entering coupon code TGL-WS13 when
you register online.
We are thrilled to announce
Jazz Up! Your
Communication, a brand new innovative
public workshop. Jazz
Up! is a 1-day workshop that goes beyond
traditional communication skills courses to dive deeply into
the complexities that make up human connection and provide
approaches and skills to effectively navigate them.
Jazz Up! engages
participants in a compelling journey through sound and
music—exploring how some of the fundamental concepts in
jazz can guide us to be better at listening, conveying
meaning, and relating to each other. We will explore how the
principles of jazz provide guidelines and practical tools for
better human interactions that translate effectively to
business and personal relationships.
This fully interactive session will include live musical
performances and audience participation. Acclaimed jazz
guitarist John Stowell joins Thiagi's colleague Matt Richter
as they offer participants an innovative and practical new
model that synthesizes art with communication.
Location
The Grand Hyatt Hotel Grand Central Station New
York, NY
Date and Time
November 12, 2013 8:00 Breakfast 8:30-4:30
Workshop
Registration Fee
Regular registration rate: $500. As a
TGL reader, get $100 off by entering coupon
code TGL-JAZZ when you register
online.
Even if you already use pictures to enhance and inspire
learning, you'll appreciate this resource with fifty-one
activities and over 300 variations that capitalize upon the
expertise of two great authors, Glenn Hughes and Sivasailam
“Thiagi” Thiagarajan. Find out what a Photo Jolt is,
learn why they are so effective, and download an activity you
can use tomorrow by reading the September 2013 News Flash.
Power Tip: Foster lasting learning by
asking participants to invent their own analogies rather than
telling them yours.
A recurring theme: We should reduce our obsession with
creating and presenting content in our training sessions.
Instead, we should spend more time in designing and conducting
training activities.
This month's online survey is about the actual allocation of
your training design time.
Poll Question
How do you allocate your training design time?
More time for locating and creating content
materials
More time for locating and designing training
activities
Equal time for content creation and activities
design
(The poll opens in a new window.)
Open Question
What are your thoughts about the relative importance of
training content and activities? What factors (such as
your subject-matter expertise and the type of
participants) influence the amount of time you spend in
content creation and activities design?
(The survey opens in a new window.)
You may include your name along with your response, or if
you prefer, keep it anonymous.
In the September 2013 issue of
TGL asked you if you avoid using the word
game when talking about a training activity.
Thirty-nine people responded to the poll. Slightly more
than two-thirds of the respondents (69 percent) said,
“Yes”.
Open Question
As a follow up to the poll, we asked this open
question:
What term do you use instead of “game” when you
refer to a training activity? What is your justification
for using this term?
Many of the respondents recommended the word
“activity”. Here are some of your responses:
I use “simulation” most often. Sometimes,
depending on the audience, I add that it's a competitive
sim. Oddly it's only the word “game” that seems to
generate a negative response, and that typically with more
senior audiences. Once the game/sim has started however,
everyone seems to get right into it and all hesitancy
disappears. Quite often the more senior audiences are the
ones who exhibit the most enthusiastic gaming
behavior!
I generally use the words “Activity” or
“Exercise”. The word game may trivialise the point
being discussed and participants may not take it
seriously. But on occasions, I have deliberately used the
word “Game” to lighten the mood and to keep
participants interested. —Arshad Nadamal
Learning activity - because I believe that's also an
accurate description, and because game sounds like
something that's only done for fun and is not applicable
to work, while learning activity is exactly what I want it
to be.
Activity, Exercise - for exactly the reason mentioned
above i.e. some clients ( actually mostly potential
clients ) feel that games trivialize serious topics !
—Paul Stuart, Singapore
Thanks to everyone who responded.
You Can Still Participate
This survey is still open. Feel free to add your comments
by visiting the survey page.
Author and Editor
: Sivasailam (Thiagi) Thiagarajan
Assistant Editor
: Raja Thiagarajan
We are thrilled to announce
Jazz Up! Your
Communication, a brand new innovative
public workshop. Jazz
Up! is a 1-day workshop that goes beyond
traditional communication skills courses to dive deeply into
the complexities that make up human connection and provide
approaches and skills to effectively navigate them.
