As a first-day seminar or workshop participant, don’t you just hate the opening few minutes where you’re thrown together with a group of strangers for the first time? You know it’s coming…everyone knows it’s coming, you just don’t know what form it’s going to show up as for this session. I’m talking about the ubiquitous and often dreaded Ice-Breaker. This is the part where the instructor has spent hundreds of seconds rifling through books that have titles that sound like, “Session-Opening Games that Will Make Your Audience Cringe and Ensure that theirs Standards are Low Enough for Your Lame Content.” (OK, that was a bit harsh. Sorry to the authors of bad Ice-Breakers and purveyors of lame content!) Well, I've finally found one that I like and that works...

As regular readers know, I’m kind of an education junkie, both as a receiver and as a giver. I spend my days developing and delivering leadership and marketing training programs and coaching individuals and groups, and I spend as many evenings as possible in front of a class somewhere, working hard to learn what it means to become an effective educator. I have not found the magic formula yet, but as I embark this evening on teaching an 8-week course on Global Business to a group of motivated professionals, it helps to review my basic approach to developing a great class. Additional advice welcomed and encouraged!

OK, this might seem like an odd one, but ask most people what they do and what do you get? “I’m an accountant,” or, “I work in marketing/customer service/support” etc. Attend a business-networking event and listen to the introductions. “We’re a leader in…” or, “We make…” or, “We’re a software company... ." Boring. Hard to stimulate interest with an answer that makes someone want to reach for the bacon-wrapped water chestnut and shout, “Next!”