Interesting Introductions

1 October

As a facilitator of workshops and training programmes, I have always wanted to find out new ways and techniques of making people at ease on the first day of a training programme or a workshop.

I have seen various techniques of self-introduction. One of those which has impressed me was introducing oneself through his/her wallet. In one of my workshops, I asked everyone to pull out their wallets. Of course, all the participants were surprised.

Then, I asked each one to speak for one minute and share with the whole group information on what their wallets contained. Surprisingly, we found different things of people inside their wallets - receipts, business cards, coins, bills, pictures of love ones, telephone numbers, plaster, and many other things. Others have items were were just as old as ten years ago and have not gotten rid of these. After one has shared the information concerning the contents of a wallet, I would ask them to relate these to their personalities. And true enough, the contents of the wallets and the way these were arranged or placed reflected one's personality.

For example, one said that he is a person who is disorganized. Truly, the contents of the wallet speak for this trait. Another person said that she has a plaster inside her wallet as she is one who anticipates things. And when something happens, for example, she accidentally cuts her finger, or gets a wound, she has a plaster ready at all times.

Of course, at the end of one's turn, one tells his/her name.

It was really a nice way of introducing oneself and sharing a part of one's personality to others.

You may try this. It is fun.

Cheers.
Sylvia