• Tabloid Tales Handout
Time
30 minutes
Helated Activities
• ALikely Story [15]
• Fairy Tale Time [40]
Procedure
1. Distribute at least two tabloid publications to each group.
2. Distribute the Tabloid Tales Handout, review the example with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
3. Instruct each group to list four key facts about their problem, product, service, or process.
4. Tell them to distort one aspect of each fact and make it sensational or more provocative by stating it as a tabloid headline.
5. For inspiration, suggest that participants thumb through the tabloids.
6. Have them use the distorted facts and review of the tabloids to generate practical ideas.
7. Direct them to write their ideas on Post-it® Notes and place them on the flip chart for evaluation later.
Debrief/Discussion
This can be a fun exercise for the participants. As some research has suggested, humor can enhance the creative output of groups. And many tabloid headlines and stories certainly can provoke mirth. However, the ideas in this exercise, while facilitated by humor, mostly will emerge from the headlines. This is because they typically are unrelated to the problem and thus capable of triggering unique ideas. Because of these two elements, be sure to encourage the participants to have fun (although they may not need much encouragement).
Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?
Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity
