Engage a Sleepy Group With an Energizer: Juggling!

When conducting a multi-hour workshop it is always a good idea to add an activity—also known as a group energizer—to the event to the enhance engagement and energy level of the participants. The best energizers involve two elements:

• Some type of physical activity

• Something that causes participants to focus and think.

Here’s an energizer you can try the next time you are conducting a B2B sales training session—it is called Group Juggling! This energizer works best with 10-12 people, but it could work with smaller groups as well. If you have a larger group split into groups of 10-12. You will need 6-8 Koosh balls for each group of 10-12 people.

Here are the instructions:

1. Ask everyone to stand in a circle.

2. Have them hold their hands out in front of them.

3. Start with one Koosh ball.

4. Tell them the goal is to toss the ball around the circle so that everyone catches it once and only once and that it makes it back to you after everyone has done that. Participants can only touch the ball once.

5. They need to remember who throws the ball to them and who they throw it to.

6. Once they catch the ball and toss it to someone else, they should put their hands down so everyone knows who has had the ball already.

7. Encourage them to throw it to someone in a clear line of sight if they can, not to the person next to them.

8. If they drop the ball, they should try to pick it up and keep it going.

9. After everyone touches it, throw it back to the facilitator.

10. Ask if they have any questions after you give the instructions.

11. Once they take practice cycle, tell them they don’t need to put their hands out in the future, but you want the ball to go around the circle again, in the same order. They are to throw it to the same person they threw it to last time.

12. Once they accomplish a cycle via a coupe of practice rounds, tell the group to repeat the order every time and that you are going to throw the ball again, but this time you are going to add some more Koosh balls. Add 6-8 balls during the next cycle,

13. You want to see how many they can keep in the air at one time.

14. If one drops, they should try to pick it back up and put it into play.

15. Let’s go!

This energizer is a great thing to do to start a workshop if participants show up drowsy or grumpy in the morning. It is also a great thing to do after lunch to get people into the groove of learning.

B2B salespeople learn more when their minds are engaged!