could use some help coming up with fun, offbeat discussion-topics for a weekly office staff-meeting

In My Humble Opinion
1

It’s a corporate environment, a group of ~15 of us (ages 30 - 62) gather in a conference-room every Monday afternoon, and department-head goes through 30 minutes of “what’s going on with the company”, that she has gathered from her Monday-morning management meetings.

Afterwards, we try to end with a little bit of levity (celebrity-birthdays-today, “this day in history”, shit like that), but it always seems to be the same three or four people who participate, and everyone else just zones out or discreetly starts jacking around on their phone.

What we’ve derived is a format where going-forward, going in alphabetical-order by last name, one person is going to draw a slip from a jar on Monday, and then the following Monday, that’s going to be their own “discussion topic” to end the meeting with. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Department-head is looking for suggestions of ideas to put on these slips of paper, and I’d like to toss a few in (honest truth, I’m one of the few people who currently “participate” in the meetings - and it does get a little old - so I do have a little bit vested in getting this idea off the ground).

A couple of the suggestions I came up with were “tell us about your celebrity ‘crush’”, “tell us about a ‘brush with greatness’ (i.e. a celebrity run-in) you had”, “tell us how you landed here at the company, and how you felt through the interview process”, etc).

My first thought was that I could just browse the IMHO forum and get tons of ideas (I am gonna ‘steal’ the “what’s one piece of advice you’d give your teenage self” one), but others such as “what if Hitler was your Uncle?” and “Could you love a (former) professional killer?”, while interesting reads, I don’t think that’s exactly “playing to my audience”. :smiley:

Any ideas come to mind as far as goofy, offbeat topics that people (who normally wouldn’t participate in a team-meeting) might not mind giving a 2-3 minute dissertation on?

Thanks for any additional ideas!

2

I know this isn’t what you are looking for, but I’d take the quoted part above as a hint and just end the meeting after the business is taken care of. Drop the forced levity.

3

How do you wipe?

(The topic right before this one when I viewed the forum tonight.)

4

Please don’t do the celebrity crush question. Not everyone is out of the closet with regard to their sexuality. Not everyone has a celebrity crush. So instead of saying saying the truth, they’ll make up a lie just to be a good sport. Lies, even light-hearted innocent ones, can make it hard for people to just be themselves.

When I first started working in my current position, I tried to pass myself as a cool kid. It was important to me to feel like I belonged. So when the girls would ask me about my celebrity crushes, I would lie just so I could continue to be included in the conversation. One day it would be Prince. Another day it would be Anderson Cooper or David Bowie. For some reason, Anderson Cooper stuck in everyone’s head. I had somehow convinced them I was madly in love with the guy just by saying I liked him. Someone even taped a picture of him on my door as a gag gift.

Seven years later, people occasionally bring it up in conversation. It embarrasses me every time. I’d love nothing more than to go back and tell everyone who asked me that question to ask me about something else. Something analytical maybe–like what’s my favorite statistical test. Or what’s my favorite waterbody, since I’m a water resources scientist and I have water on the brain. So I would recommend keeping the light-hearted topics as work-related as you can. Your coworkers can still gain insight into each other’s personalities without asking personal questions.

5

Topic: Our company staffmembers. Who would you:

  1. Marry
  2. Sleep with
  3. Kill

and why. Hilarity will ensue.

6

If there is a big sports game over the weekend or one coming up, ask them to ponder which mascot would win in real life.

Like, Cornhusker versus Badger (do Cornhuskers carry guns?) or Padres versus [Trolley] Dodgers.

7

Honestly, if people are zoning out already, just stop wasting people’s time and end the meeting.

8

I’d like to add my vote to the “just end the meeting.”

It might make more sense as an icebreaker to start the meeting, but I’d rather return to my office to get work done, so that I can go home at a reasonable time, than tell you what kind of tree I want to be and why.

(But, if I had to provide actual questions, I’ll suggest this two-parter: 1) If you were on a camping trip and woke up with a condom in your ass, would you tell anyone? and 2) Want to go camping?

I guarantee you’ll have shorter meetings after that.)

9

Oh God, yes. Just let the people leave after the business meeting. This kind of thing does NOT create a warm & fuzzy corporate culture.

10

Another vote for just end the meeting.

We do five minute discussion at the opening of most of our meetings here, usually on safety or environmental topics (it’s pretty much mandatory). If it’s at a formal scheduled meeting, we rotate responsibility.

I usually talk about a close call I’ve recently had as a pedestrian or cyclist, or a wildlife-related topic (I work in Environment, so I’m keyed in usually). Or something related to changing conditions, like sun exposure, 72 hour survival kits for home (flood and thunderstorm season), winter driving safety, etc. Most often it’ll generate at least some discussion, and the topics are varied enough that they usually resonate with different people at each meeting.

11

I read the thread title and my immediate response was “stahp”. Meetings are to exchange information and get everyone who needs to know on the same page. Some days all the time I spend at the meeting is time I have to make up before I can leave. Making me listen to Gerald’s experiences interviewing at the company are only going to annoy me.

I don’t even like it when meetings involve company-related stuff that is not relevant to everyone else. My manager always includes 5 or 10 minutes of sales info at the end of our department’s weekly status meeting and the truth is, we don’t need to know anything unless one of the potential clients has a sandbox and may need technical support so we’re not surprised or confused when Jane Doe from Company I’ve Never Heard of Before calls complaining that she can’t log in. I appreciate the effort to make us feel less like corporate drones, but really, it’s not necessary.

12

I agree with the others, meetings are bad enough as it is…people are zoned out because they just want to go back to their desks and do their job. End the meeting as quickly as possible - fewer and shorter meetings will improve morale much better than forced socialization.

13

There is nothing more morale-destroying than enforced “fun.”

OTOH there’s nothing quite so team building as the hours of mockery such events produce. So if you’re going for that “make them hate us so they work together” approach…Knock yourself out with the forced faux amusement.

14

Another vote for just ending the meeting.

Thinking through why prolonging the meeting for this stuff seems like SUCH a horrible idea-- it’s not just the “forced frivolity” aspect. It’s also the fact that at the end of meetings, I feel urgency to get back to my desk and take care of the things that came up at the meeting. The thought of being forced to sit there playing truth or dare while my brain is going 'okay, I need to get Bob the TPS report ASAP, and I need to check whether I listed that contract correctly and I need to make sure Accounting knows to send me an updated XYZ report on Tuesday…" makes me really stabby.

15

Weekly meeting? Can this not be replaced by a concise informational email memo? I have work to do, stop wasting my time…

16

Go the other way with the topic, “today’s topic is abortion and tomorrow Tammy is bringing a sheet cake shaped like Iraq so we can try to divide it into stable (and delicious) members of a coherent federal state.”

17

Toilet paper roll – over or under?

Kirk or Picard?

Imperial star destroyer or USS Enterprise?

Darth Vader or Voldemort?

Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt?

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter or Teddy Roosevelt?

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter or Teddy Roosevelt, werewolf?

What was the best Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercial?

Are the lyrics to Louie, Louie as performed by the Kingsmen really dirty?

Was Puff, the Magic Dragon really about marijuana?

Go around the table and everyone name their favorite Teletubbie/My Little Pony/Ninja Turtle/chapter from Fifty Shades of Grey.

Who would prevail in a last man standing knife fight in the C-suite?

18

Don’t go too off-beat, this is your job!

While you can certainly make it fun and be creative, topics like celebrity crushes, Hitler is your Uncle, and “how do you wipe” are clearly inappropriate.

The advice to your teenage self could be a good one, but I think the people who are zoning out will probably resent being forced to sit through something that is completely unrelated to their jobs.

What about covering topics like your 401K plan, health insurance, your time sheet software, or other things that are work related?

Education or training opportunities that are available within your company would be worth covering.

I would stay far away from anything too light hearted or silly.

In my experience, those people who are zoning out and playing with their cell phones want the hell out of that room. If you make them listen to someone’s celebrity crush, you’ll piss them off.

Give them useful information or let them out of that room early.

19

Seriously: how about discretely-and anonymously- writing on one of the slips of paper:
"Dear Ms Dept head–only 3 or 4 of us enjoy participating in these shenanigans. The other 11 or 12 of us obviously feel very uncomfortable with the whole idea. People who feel uncomfortable together do not work well together. "

20

“What we’ve derived is a format where going-forward, going in alphabetical-order by last name, one person is going to draw a slip from a jar on Monday, and then the following Monday, that’s going to be their own “discussion topic” to end the meeting with. Lather, rinse, repeat.”

It was said but I’m saying it again: If I worked for a company that did this (celebrity crush? What is this, 8th grade?) I would quit and find someplace more professional. If people aren’t interested, and I’d be stunned if they were, dispense with it and move on. Or you know, you could force them to stand and do the Wal~Mart cheer or some other equally humiliating exercise. (anyone out there have to do the Wal~Mart cheer?)