Help!
I need quick activity ideas for BORING and highly technical subject. I have only have an hour to get through alot information but I really need some activities that are quick but will keep them engaged. Any ideas? Thanks

At the risk or garnering the wrath of the entire T&D community by not pointing out the folly of letting the time allowed drive the methods and media....here's a thought:

Send out all that information in advance. Turn the hour you have into a Late Show event, and focus on the TOP X reasons why....then focus the conversation on gaining clarity on those key points.

This is, of course, presuming you are doing an informational type event...and not skill building. If the latter is the case then you need to completely rethink the design.

quote:

If the latter is the case then you need to completely rethink the design.

AMEN!!!

Ah, let us not forget that for anyone not in the field of training, time is simply an abstract concept.

Entropy seems to have it squared up. You might like to visit the free resources on my website for some inspiration also.

Failing that. Right a really good workbook or set of top tips and spend the hour extolling it's virtues.

Does anyone know the topic of this boring hour of stuff? I may be wrong, but I think it is a FEMA course on Emergency Preparedness. If I'm wrong, then forget this post from this point forward. But..........if that is the topic, do you think it needs activities to keep people engaged? Being involved in our high-rise condo emergency preparedness committee (we're expecting earthquakes here in Seattle), I can tell you that the training I've had on the topic is not boring. Why can't adults be expected to sit for one hour and attend to a serious subject without having to be entertained? For that matter, why couldn't they sit for one hour and attend to any subject without being entertained? I just don't get it.

College students can sit in classrooms and be lectured to for one hour and actually learn something - and they are still doing it today. They do it often enough and eventually get an education. Why do people in the workplace learning arena unilaterally throw lectures down the drain as no good? Why are we so obsessed with games and entertainment?