networking – Christopher Malapitan

Curious Islands card game

networking, team building, team building

Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to connect with the people you work with from the place of imagination?

Welcome to the Curious Islands!

We believe you can spark curiosity and meaningful connection in a safe and fun way!

It is with our utmost pleasure and excitement that we are inviting you to test our new, team-connection card game, The Curious Islands!

In this game you get to create your very own, true to yourself, magical island. Rich with all the features you desire. You will also learn about other islands and your fellow islanders.

The goal of this game is simple. Build, explore and connect your islands. What hidden gems will you discover within the people you will meet along the way?

“(After playing the game I feel) open, relaxed, at ease, familiar. I learned about people through how they related to activities as much if not more than by what they said. Just getting people talking opens connections and some familiarity.”

This game, self-explanatory and not needing facilitation, is designed to foster psychological safety and connection and spark curiosity for further conversations and explorations between participants.

Who is the game for?

The game is for groups of people who know each other or who are just forming. The tone is set by the depth of connection. It is for extroverts, introverts and ambiverts. The game is set up to be experienced while being physically present in a location.

What do you need for the game?

a comfortable quiet space
a flat space for the cards
4-12 participants (16+ of age)
2 hours of your time
curiosity

We’re looking for teams based in Brussels (10-15 persons) to test it.

Curious to learn more and schedule a session? Click here

We are looking forward to meeting you and your group!

Game developed by Christopher Malapitan and Kasia Skuratowicz

Creativity Lab

creativity lab, experiential learning, networking, team building, team building

I created the Brussels Creativity Lab in beginning of 2020 because like any skill, creativity needs practice too. The monthly meetup is open to anyone interested in exploring new possibilities, questioning assumptions and discovering their creativity.

It is very important to establish a safe and supportive environment to foster learning in a collaborative way. To be able to encounter one another and learn from our varied expertise. Creativity thrives on diversity.

The first edition of the meetup (29.1.2020) was titled, “Seven Deadly Sins of Creativity” – through a series of collaborative activities we explored various barriers preventing us from connecting to our creativity and how might we overcome them. By moving beyond barriers of our creativity we enable unimaginable possibilities to emerge.

At the start of the session participants were invited to activate their explorer’s mindset:

to invite curiosity
to expect resistance and push forward
make connections
be flexible and open to possibilities
share stories of our understanding of the world

The Approach

Drawing inspiration from Logotherapy by Victor Frankl , participants were encouraged to approach all activities with “paradoxical intention” which is to demonstrate the opposite of what you are aiming to achieve.

So instead of trying to find a “way out” which typically suppresses a barrier, with a paradoxical intention approach, we exaggerate the barrier to a point of irony making it look seem ridiculous thus reducing it’s “power” over us. Using humour helps reverse our attitude towards it. Therefore resistance is reduced or disappears.

Activities

I created a deck of 39 cards with a single barrier on each card such as ego, fear of rejection, impatience, distraction, conformity, complacency, and over thinking, to name a few. Before each activity participants received a single card, then were invited to take part in a creative activity such as:

Generate 5 tips to promote the barrier
Create a personification of the barrier
In your group create a human sculpture representing the barrier
Create a unique dance move of your barrier. Everyone replicates the move

The meetup continues to nurture and grow creative behaviour within ourselves and with others. Join in the fun, tap into your creativity and meet some awesome folks.

We are creative beings, our lives become our work of art
– Julia Cameron

Closing activity: Tree of Strengths

Activity, closing, networking, opening

TREE OF STRENGTHS

Duration 10-15 min
Number of Persons 20+

Description
Before you kick off your end-of-day cocktail drink of your event, this simple closing activity helps participants meet others that they did not get a chance to interact with throughout the day.

Goal
To help participants to get to know each other at the beginning or ending of a session. To help participants identify their personal strengths.

Materials and preparation

A5 green colour card cut into “leaf-like” shapes
Thick multi-coloured markers
Large room with a large table in the centre

Instructions

Have everyone stand in a circle.
Pass around a leaf-like card to each participant.
Invite everyone to grab a marker and write in bold letters on their leaf-like card the ONE THING people come to them for help.
Once everyone has their word written on their card, ask them to hold it up to their chest.
Instruct the group that they now have 3 minutes to get into groups of 3 – with people they have not interacted with throughout the day – and share how they practice their word.
When time is up, invite them to create another group of 3 persons and share how they practice their word for another 3 minutes.
When time is up, get everyone back into the circle and invite them, one-by-one, to call out the word on their card and place their card on the table in the middle of the room.
Once everyone has placed their leaf-like cards on the table, close the session by pointing out that the tree represents the strengths of our community that shelters and nourishes us.

Background
I designed this activity as a closing session at an education hackathon organised by Ashoka Belgium – Education Innovation Programme “Education Shakers”