I loved this energizer that Mural proposes to activate the participants of a long online Design Thinking session.
Recognize the sound:
- Ask everyone to turn off their webcams.
- Say someone’s name and ask them to imitate a sound (for example: an old dial-up modem, the sound of a printer, Christopher Walken, a lightsaber from Star Wars, ocean waves, a sports announcer, etc. ) .
- Have others guess what sound you are imitating.
Here is a link to a free BBC sound file:
http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/
And for the warm-up, I prefer:
a) For teams that are not previously known:
Draw your neighbor:
1) Assign each team member someone else’s name and send them a direct message to let them know; it’s important to send it privately so others can’t see the names.
2) Share the link of the wall with the participants in the call. Give everyone 1 minute to silently draw the person they identified on the board (tip: play music during the quiet moment in the background and make sure participants can hear the sound through their microphone).
3) When everyone has finished drawing, take turns guessing who drew who. Mural has a template for this (sketch your neighbor) that works well for them to become familiar with how the platform works. But it can also be done on paper and ask to be shown on camera.
b) For members of the same company, I prefer:
Trivial:
The facilitator must previously find out about the company and prepare the questions
1) Explain that you are going to start a quiz about the company and that everyone should choose a different colored sticky note to use for the warm up.
2) Guide the participants through the questions. Give them 30 seconds to add sticky notes to answer each question (use the timer on the board to time the exercise). For example:
– When was the company founded?
– Who has worked more in the company?
– How many nationalities/languages are there in the team?
– Who came up with a product feature/idea?
3) After each question, have a quick discussion on the topic to reveal more
historias.
Alternative: turn it into a game with MURAL Jeopardy!
I have used a similar technique that has worked very well for me, since it generates a very relaxed atmosphere. For example, for a bakery manufacturer:
1) Say your first name and the company product that best describes your personality (and why)
2) For example, I would be a chocolate croissant because I am very sweet
Or tb with a famous person with whom you identify by the way of doing it (curious as da Vinci).
And this warm up is also great!
Get fit:
Facilitator: Before you start, select ‘gallery mode’ for your video conferencing tool so you can see everyone’s thumbnails in a grid format (all thumbnails should be the same size).
1) Say a shape (for example: triangle, heart, square, the letter “A”, tree, house, …)
2) Ask people to move their arms and hands up/down or left/right to recreate the shape in gallery mode you are viewing.
3) When the team has made the shape, ask them to hold it up so you can take a screenshot.
4) Share it with the team and try to make another shape, making them more and more complicated.
I leave you the Mural link for more examples:
