Five-Ten-Five

Time:

15 minutes

Materials:

Flipchart, markers, pens, paper

Participants:

Any number

Procedure:

Ask participants to call out words related to your session topic. Generate a list of five words and post them on the flip chart. Next, ask people to call out five more words that have nothing to do with the workshop and are unrelated to each other. Post them on the flipchart also. This becomes the list of ten key words.

Invite people to choose a partner or make a team of up to four people. Challenge them to write five sentences related to what they have learned using all ten key words in five minutes. They can mix and match the key words in any way they see fit as long as all ten key words are used.

Start your timer!

At the end of five minutes, have teams or partners share their statements. As they do, check off the key words they use.

Award prizes or applause for humor, wit, practicality, lasting impact, or ease of recall.

Discussion:

  1. What new insights did you gain about the topic by writing your ten statements?
  2. What statements were most surprising? " Which key words were most difficult to use?
  3. If you were to play this game again, what different words would you add to the key word list? (Be prepared to distribute the statements to everyone as a follow up.)

Variations:

  1. Ask each team to generate a list of ten key words. Have them trade their list with another team then write five statements with their new list.
  2. Use Five - Ten - Five at the beginning of your workshop to surface expectations.
  3. Have teams post and illustrate their statements on newsprint.
  4. One month after the workshop, send the list of key words to participants in an email. Ask them to send their five statements to you. Post the statements on your website.
  5. Market your workshop. Send the key words out ahead of time. Ask, "What connection do these ten words have with the session topic? Come to the workshop and find out!" At the workshop, invite people to write sentences with the words and use the result as a needs assessment for your training.