Ice breaker - personal object - what sort of thing to take

[DayIntarnishedarmour]

I’ve never been to a formal meeting with this activity. The item is supposed to say something about you. I don’t want to take anything too personal or shows my softer side , as I’m not wanting to reveal that in this setting as I don’t know anyone and all who are attending are senior posts to me. I literally have no clue what to do take. All ideas welcome

"My suggestion is to use a gimp mask. Just place it on the table and say absolutely nothing. Sometimes, a little mystery or unexpected twist can speak volumes without uttering a single word."

It's not meant to be serious just a bit of fun. Just choose something you like and say why. They're not looking for anything deep that you'd be uncomfortable sharing.

But they are.

If it's something you'd talk about in normal conversation there'd be no need to set you up in a special 'choose something' situation.

If they just want people in the room to talk about something and interact with each other, they'd either bring something along or choose something in the room.

It is an exercise specifically designed to confront and upset and control those attending the (compulsory) meeting or training session. That is the whole point - scare us, soften us, leave us vulnerable to the 'good cop' follow on.

If the person delivering the training or chairing the meeting doesn't understand what they are doing then we really are in trouble.

I really agree with this, having suffered some of these ‘courses’ when they were frightfully novel ( and so fewer people had experience of them , and there was less healthy cynicism, as evinced by these replies).

Some of the people running them were not capable of managing the (inevitable) embarrassment and distress which were often evinced.

If you really have to do something of this sort, ask people their favourite colour. That’s not a bad way of giving a very little less work based information about yourself, and can actually spark off some neutral and not too boring discussion.

That's an interesting metaphor! It sounds like you were expressing how work felt draining or uncontainable. Do you feel like this course has helped you find ways to 'patch up the cup' and manage your work life better?