I'm a seasoned trainer looking for fresh training activity ideas. I want to get the energy moving and get away from so many table activities and role plays. Any ideas? The topics I'm working on are: Respect in the workplace, Collaboration, Communication basics, EI and Influencing skills.

Bottom line: I just need the activity framework -- I can tailor it to fit the content.

Any ideas?

Maybe...but this brought up a lot of mental health stuff too...hard to sort through. And "group activity framework" brought up exactly 6 references, most from mental health. That's why the question was asked...

The point was - whether it's just a framework or a full-blown activity, there is info out there. That was ONE possible search phrase to get info from ONE possible resource (the internet). The library and book store also work well.

One other resource is to hire someone who can do this for you (rather than, for example, expect them to provide their intellectual capital for free).

Google is your friend. Look for such terms as game framework, framegame and since there must be a group for this: simulation gaming association. OK, I kinda knew what to look for. But those searches produce lots of useful information. You can also do what many marketers do: search Amazon or other book sites. Look for the publisher's comment part of pages for the books that sound closely related and google on terms and phrases in those. The text is written to attract searches so those are commonly searched-for phrases.

As you undertake this you will develop the intellectual capital of which SSFN speaks. You will find what phrases find good stuff and what activities are appropriate. I have much more of the former than the latter.

Now, welcome to the ASTD discussion forums (fora?)! The questions that get you the most information here and on most other boards are those that are specific. If you want pointers to activities for a particular topic, like intercultural communication for food service workers, people here or on the NASAGA site you found with the search above would likely be able to provide good pointers. Or if you want to know whether BARNGA works as well as you've read, you'll probably get good answers here. In fact, if you ask on the NASAGA list, Thiagi himself might answer: he sometimes does.

One final thought. This board has a search function (in the bar at the top of the content). If you search on games, a term often used for training activities, you'll find references to frameworks and specific games alike. When I did it just now I found that result number three was a post about Thiagi's book Design Your Own Games and Activities (That one is on my Amazon wish list, BTW. I have Framegames and Simulation Games by Thiagi along with other books about activity design.).

PS. There are at least a dozen starting points for searches in this message.