This activity has gone over well every time I've used it. I let participants come up with 3-4 questions about me, type them up on a PPT slide as they speak, then leave a few minutes for them to discuss answers in small groups. I keep it short, joking that I'm not very interesting and that we have much more interesting things to do. I think it's gone over well because it's so unexpected and because it allows participants to be active and to get to know each other right away through a mini problem-solving task without having to divulge their own personal info. It also sets the tone -- whatever comes next will be interactive -- and gives them some grounds for feeling more at ease with the people around them when I next ask them to work in groups.    

Dr. Basma Ibrahim DeVries and her husband Jon DeVries demonstrated a virtual activity for getting to know them as facilitators during their "Experiential tools and activities for intercultural/DEIB agility & effectiveness" workshop, which was part of the 2022 Step Up Zone virtual conference sponsored by Purdue University's CILMAR: Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment and Research.

Basma and Jon used a series of PowerPoint slides, each with a statement upon it, and the participants were asked to guess in the Chat whether the statement was true of Basma, Jon, both, or neither of them. In this way we learned ways that they were similar and different. Together they served as faculty members and Intercultural Learning Circle Coordinators aboard the inaugural semester-long voyage of The Scholar Ship, Jon taught piano, Basma taught swimming, but neither can...(oh, I forgot!). Anyway, it was a fun way to get to know our facilitators.