Good for 

• Energizing the group
• Induction or On-boarding
• Repetition of key messages
• Communication Skills
• Reducing the "ums" and "ers" in speech patterns
• Focusing attention
• Participation and focus
• Listening skills
• You understanding the points they are learning.

You can use this training activity as an energizer or to get people to summarize their learning after a session or an exercise.

If you are working with good sized groups (say 6 – 12 people ), you can split them into two teams, as there is an element of competition which encourages participation and focus.

Length

Allow 5 minutes per person.

This activity can run as an energizer between other sessions.

You will need

Stop watch, whistle for you to signal the end of one minute, whiteboard to keep score Optional. Something for the participants to make a noise with – rattles, whistles, bells ( you could just ask them to shout their name, or clap ).

Instructions

You explain that the objective is to speak for one minute on a topic which you will give them, without deviation ( going away from the point ) hesitation ( um’s, er’s, pauses )or repetition ( of any word ).

If people on the opposing team observe a deviation, a hesitation, or a repetition they challenge by blowing their whistles, or shouting their names out. You must stop the clock when a challenge takes place.

You will need to keep score, one point is awarded for a correct challenge, and the person challenging ( if they are correct ) takes over and continues to speak without deviation, hesitation or repetition. This continues until the minute is up.

If the challenge is incorrect, you award a point to the speaker, and they are allowed to carry on.

It’s often worth having a practice round before you start scoring, start on something simple for people to get the gist of it. Something like,

• where I live
• my favourite food / sport / film / song
• my journey to work
• what I would save in a fire
• my dream holiday
• the view from the window

Then give them subjects related to customer service, such as

• the customer is always right
• dealing with angry customers
• when something goes wrong
• the customers shoes
• going the extra mile
• good customer service
  

This can put real energy in the training room, if you run it after each input or exercise, so that the teams compete with each other. It focuses people’s attention during exercises because they know they will be playing for their team.

You can get them to play for prizes, individually or as a team.