A method to get everyone sharing
An example of a very simple go-round often used for introductions is to have each person share their full name and where it comes from. It’s an easy, low-risk tool. Yet it can be powerful. For a group of 10 to 15, it can be facilitated to take up to an hour if people give the full context of where their names come from, how they picked/were given them, and what the “hidden” meaning is. Groups sometimes need a little bit of prompting, e.g.: Were you named after someone? Is your name misspelled often? Do people mispronounce your name? Is your name a nickname i.e. different from your birth name? Does your name mean something in a different language?
This exercise helps everyone to remember names, using the stories as a memory hook. (See “Where your name comes from“.)
You can adapt a go-round in many ways, for example asking each person to share:
- (Introduction) What is your name and where you are from?
- (Personal commitment) Based on the conversation today, what’s one thing you are committing to doing to make our action happen?
- (Learning about the group) What is a fear you have about learning how to fundraise?
- (Sharing about differences) What is one thing I like about my culture? One thing that concerns me about my culture?
- (Action planning) What’s one thing—that hasn’t been mentioned—that we should be considering for our next action?
- (Personal sharing) What’s a way that your life has been impacted by climate change? How does that influence you being here?
- (Decision-making) What do you think of the current proposal?
- (Artivism uses this warm-up:) Folks say their name and then a gesture expressing how they are—everyone else then copies the gesture—and then it continues around the circle.