How We Do “Rock, Paper, Scissors”

Author: Ric Cengeri

Last month, in our profile of Victra, we mentioned an icebreaker/team building exercise that utilizes the classic game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Well we teased you with it and didn’t fully explain what that was all about. And we just hate to tease. Much.

Melissa Swakow, our Senior Manager of Meetings and Events, will explain the logistics of what has become a fan favorite with our clients. Melissa?

“Okay, here’s how it works. You start with a one-and-done match (sudden death, not best of 3). The loser becomes the winner’s cheerleader and follows them to the next competitor. This continues so each competitor will gain a significant amount of cheerleaders each time they win. It becomes louder in the room with all the cheerleaders. For a group of 250, the final competition will be two people cheered on by 124 cheerleaders each!”

Oh this is getting good. Keep going.

“Okay. So, at the Victra event, they ended up bringing the final two competitors on stage for a best-of-three final. They had a lot of donated items that were going to be used for a raffle, but decided to give one of the items – a big screen TV! – to the winner of the competition. That ‘surprise’ prize also increased the excitement level in the room.

The main ‘lesson’ of this exercise is the importance of supporting your team. It also was perfect for a Monday morning opening session because it got people out of their seats, loud and energized.”

Looking for ways to energize your meeting? Let us know. We’ve got more ideas.