It’s more fun than a velociraptor in a prom dress unicycling across the Danube River.

Earlier this week, I led a Facilitation Skills & Activities workshop for orientation leaders at a local university. The aggressively silly competition during our session reminded me why Noodle Ninja is my fourth-favorite teambuilding game.

Group leaders seek team building for one of four reasons. To connect, to discover, to develop, or to overcome. What does each category mean?

I started to explain the game, and I completely forgot the name of the activity.  What did I do when I was overconfident and (I believed) the details did not matter? I improvised. I looked at my audience with complete assurance and start explaining the instructions.

“What does a good facilitator think and do?”  I would love to hear from other professionals where you would rank these ideas or what might be missing from my list.

As part of university orientation week activities, I asked a hundred first-year students the same icebreaker question. I was impressed with the creativity and the level of depth in many of the answers.  Here are some of the most memorable responses.