Speed Meet-and-Greets

 OTHER TIPS: SPEED MEET-AND-GREETS

Speed Meet-and-Greets

Shared by: 

Stefanie Drew, Psychology

Materials needed:

Even number of occupied rows of desks for smaller class so students can be paired up by facing one another* (for larger classes, need to decide on a way of pairing, e.g. starbursts that have different color wrappers paired up for each round).

Learning challenge addressed/predictable outcome:

Community building 

Best used for:

Smaller classes (can be done in larger classes, but pairing method needs to
be modified)

Learning objectives/skills fostered:

  • Increases students’ comfort with each other
  • Creates a positive classroom environment with instructor as facilitator
  • Encourages student engagement

What to do/how to do it:

  1. Explain the concept of speed-dating, and explain this is a modification.
  2. Assign every alternate (e.g. Rows 1, 3, and 5) of chairs to be the stationary participants. Remaining rows will be “moving” participants.
  3. Set timer for 3 minutes (or desired round length). At start of round, students turn to face their partners (Row 1:2, 3:4, 5:6) and have 3 minutes to discuss anything they wish (e.g. their major, where they’re from, what they had for breakfast).
  4. At the sound of the timer, the moving rows stand, and advance one seat (the person in the front seat moves to the back of the row).
  5. Repeat process for as many rounds as desired.
  6. At the end, have students return to their seats, and discuss why they think this was a relevant exercise (answers may include getting to know one another, forming potential study groups, etc.)

Tips for implementing:

If conducting for a large class in a lecture hall, ahead of class prepare materials such as colored cards or candy, making sure there is an even number of each type. Have students each come up and take one of the items, and explain that they are going to be moving around. At the start of each round, shout out a particular match up (e.g. red candy meet someone with a yellow candy). Instead of assigned rows moving, everyone moves to find an appropriate match.