The style of the day was described as ‘speed dating, but with ideas’. We set up in a booth in the incredible Spiegeltent and for an hour and a half, every 20 minutes, a new group of people 4-6 were sent our way to sit and engage with us.
Before the session began I quickly flitted around the other tables to see who else was talking and met a wonderful myriad of people from a rainforest professor, to an archaeologist, to an enthusiastic bee lady, and a Concertina repairer.
The Benefit of Games
We had decided, naturally to share examples of the games we have created over the last few years, which included the K2 game suite, the FutureSCAPE game, and our flagship board game Race to Your Rocket.
We both love games (that should be clear to anyone who knows us), and we were really keen on showing how adaptable games can be and the benefits they can bring to any type of group at any age, from primary school kids through to executive education.
We’re all part of a group
Whether you’re a member of a gym, a choir, a school, you have a job, you’re in a mums and bubs group, or you spend a lot of time with your family. These are all little groups that we’re a part of in our lives and this was a theme we wanted to highlight in our presentation. Regardless of what type of group you’re in, or how many – games can help you in so many different ways.
Increase engagement
Ice breaker for new teams – bring laughter and reflection
A connection-builder for remote teams – feel more connected regardless of distance
Training and upskilling – use of imagination and collaboration
Just a bit of fun
Games are Adaptable
Race to Your Rocket is designed for kids aged 7-11, and this was NOT the audience expected at the Cabaret of Ideas, but to prove the impact and adaptability of games, we took the question cards, and adapted them for a more mature crowd. Funnily enough we did keep in some of the kids’ questions in, and these proved to be the most popular ones within each group that we played with on the day!
Would you rather a giant pet snail or a tiny pet giraffe?
Hard hitting stuff! Our hope was to prove that games have a unique way of bringing people together, even if it is bonding over tiny pet giraffes, that not many other activities can achieve. And that with a little bit of imagination, you can bring games into any group you’re a part of, and bring people together.
There was a lot of laughter and discussion at our table as we encouraged players to challenge themselves and think of ways in which games could benefit the groups they belonged to, and to be open and honest with their responses to the hard-hitting questions about tiny giraffes.
It’s interesting to see the gender split with some of the answers. When asked “would you rather help people for a whole day or have a whole day where others do everything for you?” Females predominantly chose the former, while males chose the latter.
Cabaret of Ideas participant
What We Learned
Some interesting insights arose about how different people would answer the same question, as well some engaging discussions as to ‘WHY’ you would choose spaghetti hair over marshmallow toes, or why you would choose to eat cereal for a whole day. These all helped to build a certain kind of rapport between 8 complete strangers and a sense of collegiality within our short time together.
I must admit I was sad to say goodbye when our allocated 20 minutes was each time up and our group had to move on, but I was always keen to learn more from the next group. To me, this just goes to show that it doesn’t always take much to find commonality within any type of group, and that by adding fun through games, you can create a sense of community in a short period of time amongst a host of very unique and wonderful people.
If you’re interested in the question cards we created, you can download them for free here. Or if you’d like to collaborate on customised game cards, please get in touch!
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