8 Training Activities For Reporting Back After Discussions

A common feature of many training events is where people go off into small groups to discuss some point and then come back to report on their thoughts or ideas. 

If you set up these discussions, it’s very important to think about how you’re going to handle the reporting back, when you get the groups to share what they’ve been discussing.   

Here are 8 suggestions.

1. The most usual method is to ask the groups to write down some bullet points on a flipchart and then get someone from each group to present the information to the others.A couple of points about this, though. First, if you want people to write points on a flipchart, remember to tell them before they go into their groups, don’t just tell them you want them to report back and assume they’ll write things down.

   Secondly, this method can become rather repetitive if you have several such activities. Also, you have to guard against the same person being the presenter each time. In this case, you may want to insist that groups rotate their presenters.

   Some variations on this approach – one problem you get is that, if you ask the first group to report back their thoughts, the other groups may have nothing left by the time it comes to their turn.

   One answer is to get each group to give you one point, then move on to another until everyone has contributed.

   Another approach is to give the groups different questions to consider around the same topic, so they are covering different aspects.
    

2. Instead of making a presentation, get the groups to write up their key points clearly and put all the flipcharts up on the wall as a display. Then let everyone walk round the ” gallery ” and ask questions if they have any, rather than everyone reporting back.
    
3. Instead of bullet points, get groups to prepare large visual aids which summarise their thoughts and, again, create a gallery where the visual aids are displayed and let people ask and answer questions about them.
    
4. Ask groups to prepare a summary of their key points in the style of a newspaper or magazine, with a headline and short article. They could type these and print them off or create them on flipcharts. You could allocate styles, e.g. The Financial Times, The Sun, or let them choose their own.
    
5. Ask groups to prepare a short sketch or play which conveys their key points. These could be good/bad examples of behaviour or common situations they come across at work.Another approach would be to get them to choose a popular TV programme and prepare a sketch in the style of that programme.
    
6. Groups could report back in the form of an interview, with one person acting as the interviewer and another ( or all the others, depending on numbers ) acting as the guest being interviewed.
    
7. The report back could be in the form of a Press conference, where one or more members of the group would give a short statement, followed by questions ” from the floor “.
    
8. Ask groups to prepare a short song or poem to perform. 

Those are just 8 ways to add variety to your training if you are using small group discussion – I’m sure you can think of some more and you probably have your own favourites ( if so, please feel free to share them! )