aibu regarding icebreakers

[ovaryhill]

When you've to stand up and tell a bunch of strangers all about yourself and your background, oh and and tell a funny fact about yourself on a training course
Would I be unreasonable to say 'it's none of your bloody business, '?

I'm thinking of sharing this thread with my line manager. I've found it to be very informative.
Trainers/facilitators ought to be able to take constructive feedback. After that it's up to them whether they do the sensible thing or not.
Maybe it's time for a career change now!!

I also think its unfair to quieter people to put them on the spot like that, its precisely the kind of group activity /being put under the microscope task that will make them squirm and ensure they retreat for the rest of the session

I wonder if some trainers get a kick out of it.

At my new place the trainers just get with the course. Hooray!
Sounds like heaven.

I think Trainers would do well to scrap the embarrassing introductions and cut straight to the main bit.
I never remember anybody's name anyway, or where they're from or what they do, I'm too busy worrying about my turn coming up. The whole introductions business is wasted on me.

Anyway, it's an outdated, pointless exercise that causes unnecessary anxiety and puts people in the the wrong frame of mind for learning.
A relaxed mind absorbs more information than a stressed mind.

The ideal situation would be to hand a piece of paper around and get people to write
a) Their name
b) Place of work
c) Role.

Paper comes back.Instructor would then say:
''Welcome! My name is blah de blah.
Ah, I see from this paper that we have a few people from ........., and a few of you are .......''

And then get on with the course.

People will join in, especially the quiet ones, because you haven't stressed them out and they will have started to relax.

JOB DONE