Remember When...?

Purpose

• Focuses people to start thinking in stories and subscribing to a growth mindset. “If that is true, what else can be true?”
• Great way to build a “Yes, and…” frame of mind as we work with others.
• Does not require additional tools or technologies.

Facilitation Instructions

• This activity allows us to reminisce about shared, but fake, memories.
• You will get into groups of two or three and be assigned your own breakout rooms. In each group, one person will start a story by saying, “Remember when…”. They will fill in the beginning of a shared memory. (e.g. “Remember when...the campus was invaded by aliens?”)
• The next person in the group continues the story by building on the memory with “Yes, and then…” (e.g. “Yes, and then we hid in the Research Commons?”)
• Keep on adding details to this memory for two minutes. At the end of two minutes, we will come back together as a large group and share your shared memories.

Products Generated

• A fun collaborative story

Time/Commitment Needed

• Icebreaker / Warm up activity

Reference

Stokes for Design Thinking

Facilitator notes

• A way to wrap up the activity: I wanted to show my appreciation to you all for trying this activity with us today. Hopefully, it has helped us think about how we can think outside of the box and generate ideas that are related to concepts and build upon the great thinking that others have started. Quick temperature check: how does everyone feel?