Diversity Workshop Activities

Participants naturally want to form groups with common characteristics. This exercise illustrates how diverse groups have access to more resources and provide a greater variety of solutions. Each person is given an index card with a letter on it, and then asked to form a group of five people. Participants assume that they should get into groups with others who have the same letter. However, when the facilitator asks them to form the longest word possible with the letter cards, they realize that it would have been more beneficial to have created a diverse group.

This is an exercise to build up relational and communication skills. While creating paper flyers in teams, you learn about your group members one-on-one as you build paper planes with them. Afterwards, you get to know more about the rest of your group when you play a personality-matching guessing activity.

Here's a closing activity that combines awarding certificates and giving advice. Each participant picks up someone else's certificate. She hands over the certificate along with a piece of personal advice.