Changes
→Directions
Begin by randomly dividing participants into small groups and organizing the groups in different areas of the room. Pass out one bag of supplies to each group.
You should then introduce them to the activity by simply saying "This is an activity to work on communication and collaboration, and the goal is to build the tallest free standing tower you can with the supplies givenin the bags. There will be prizes (or bragging rights) for the winners." You should be careful to introduce it without giving too much contextor answering too many questions. Again the key here is that each group will have a different set of supplies but the facilitators should make sure this is not immediately obvious, and once it becomes more obvious, the facilitators should neither discourage or encourage collaboration and sharing. The vast majority of participants when divided up in groups, will assume they they should be competing against the other groups but you should not specifically say it is a competition. You will address this in the debrief questions based on the groups choice to collaborate or compete.
Answer any questions at this point, and then announce that the representatives will return to the groups, and once they return, the facilitators will not answer any questions.