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wafflejs
People meet people
We get recurring feedback on how it's hard for new people to meet other people. Or really just meet new people in general. I want to brainstorm ideas on how to make this easier.
from @maxogden: bring back name badges with write-in-able areas so people have an ice breaker on their name tag. a cheap and custom name tag idea: https://www.flickr.com/photos/reidab/5881424741/in/photolist-88eZAZ-9XHQER-9XJRgb-9XH3XR-86PLTd-86PLQ7-8SaSMv-86LeWH-9XLGPC/
or let people make paper hats and write badges on there...
Did a little brainstorming today with @obensource and @ungoldman on this! We came up with some weird ideas:
- some sort of ridiculous/unexplained puzzle at the beginning on the tables or something that people can casually try to figure out before the event starts
- an easter egg hunt because why not
- big construction paper on the wall with half a drawing done on it, encourage people to fill in the rest
Dumb questions to ask as icebreakers or things to put on your name tag as convo starters:
- conspiracy theory you kinda believe/wish was true
- favorite donut
- if you were a horse where would you roam
- if you were a cat what kind of cat would you be
Pro tip: googling "ice breakers that aren't cheesy" is a great way to find really cheesy icebreakers :flushed:
@ungoldman @emily-plummer @visnup 👋
I think the main point here about ice-breakers is that coming up with something new/creative each time keeps things fresh for both new/veteran attendees. No repeat performances and always engaging.
I think Ice-breaker no.1 in @emily-plummer's list is gold, and could be done differently multiple times even.
Version 1: Disperse many seemingly unrelated modular components of hardware with a sticky-note riddle attached to each throughout the room, each leading to the piece it attaches to. This way one person holding a module-riddle will find the person with the next one, and they will continue on until all the pieces are connected. When connected there should be a payoff like music starts up and a projection of a donut or waffle animation starts with the words "Welcome to Donut/Waffle.JS!" circling around it.
- Modules could be a microcontroller, wires, Little Bits, a tiny projector, etc.
I'll put up more ideas/versions here soon. 😎
@visnup those are pretty sweet looking badges. It would be fun to make some ironic vintage tech badges or something.
Those ones are from The World's Greatest Conference: http://opensourcebridge.org/
CascadiaJS/Fest/? has knocked it out of the park in the past with badges but they are probably not practical for smaller non-conf events:
RealTimeConf 2013 made everyone passports from fictional countries and gave everyone a stamp with the emblem of their country and their twitter name. And holy crap I was looking up an image for an example and it's got my name on it!
Anyway these are just a couple ones that have really stuck out to me for inspiration. I will try to think of something that would be fun and work for donutjs.
Looking through old conf badges in my closet I am thinking a badge with a name and a neat doughnutty design and lots of space for drawings or stickers or whatever you want would be pretty awesome and not too hard to pull off. Lots of great art from @paulcpederson on http://donutjs.club/ to draw from already. :art: :art: :art:
I am down to do more illustrations or really any type of design you guys end up needing, as well.
@ungoldman HA! I love you found yours!!
Totally! One idea based off yours: could be rad to have a vintage tech looking version of @paulcpederson's donut logo with the attendees name and a ridiculous fake corporate title on it.
Drawing from stuff like this maybe:
I like your idea @obensource! I've always wanted a badge that says I went to the snaxpo, maybe this is the right time to make that real.
(edit: perhaps that's too real)
some sort of ridiculous/unexplained puzzle at the beginning on the tables or something that people can casually try to figure out before the event starts
@emily-plummer ooh, I really like this idea. it jives with my want to do trivia too!
on the puzzle idea: super-easy to execute way would be to get maybe 10x low-piece-count puzzles from a toy store and jumble up the pieces and put them on the table. and yeah, maybe leave them unexplained and let people figure out that they need to go between tables with their pieces to find matching sets. if people don't figure it out on their own, can mention it during intros.
wonder if there are other sets of things that work out that way too?
so, previous problem with custom-print name tags was that the pulling of tag off backing experience super-sucked with the ones we had. it was pretty easy to print them and we could jumble up the ice breaker on them each time, but we didn't luck out with quality of name tag...
I'll check amazon again for maybe a different brand. cc @billyroh
Haha not sure if this is what you meant by having the ice breaker on them, but one idea could be to give everyone a random persons name tag then make people look around for theirs once everyone get there. It could be kind of difficult factoring in no shows
@emily-plummer a rif on that idea is as people show up they create two name tags. One they put on and one they leave on the name tag table. As people come in they pick up a name tag of a previous person to find and say hello to and maybe leave a second one too. Could still include write-in questions on both name tags too so people can target a person by some interesting subject matter.
hey folks! Just happened by this thread as I'm thinking of speaking. I have a bunch of networking ideas on this website: http://projecticebreak.com/ I also have some supplies for my tips there -- like hundreds of name tags that say "My name is ___ and I like ___". I'd be happy to donate those, if you're still looking for name tags that encourage networking.
