Author : Jason Hall Date : October 26, 2018

Purpose:  Create the opportunity for individuals to discover hidden expertise and make new connections while being a conduit for longer mentorship.

 

Supplies

 

(for as many people will be attendance)

 

  1. 4×8” heavy weight paper or cardstock
  2. 4×8” XL badge holders
  3. Lanyards
  4. 3×5” note cards
  5. Pens

Figure 1 All Supplies needed

Voting box (not pictured)

 

 

Prep

 

For the 4×8 paper, you can either leave blank or pre-print with the following (see pic):

 

  • Name
  • Super Power
  • Skills/Expertise
  • Below the line skills/Expertise
  • Things I’m interested in Learning/growing In

 

 

 

Outline

 

Time needed depends on whether food/drinks are being provided.  Roughly 1.5-3 hours depending on food & drink options.

  1. As people come in invite them to grab all the supplies and fill out their Market Place of Skills card (ref Figure 3)
  2. If food is provided, recommend people eat before the start.
  3. Convene.
    1. Introduce the Purpose of the night (or day depending on when you do this).
    2. Mention that at the end of the night if an individual has made a connection they’ll be asked to write down the name of the person(s) they plan on reaching out to for a 1on1 session.
    3. Open the session with an icebreaker. I had everyone do a quick name + super power introduction (this will serve as the individual ice-breaker later and ensures everyone actually list a super power).
    4. Speed- Mentoring.  5×7 Minute rounds
      1. Have everyone pair up (or get into groups of 3 max)
      2. Swap Market Place of Skills cards
      3. Have a conversation (the super power can be used as a quick mini-group ice-breaker)
      4. At the conclusion of the 7 minute round each person jots down the name of the person(s) they talked to with something memorable about them on the 3×5 card.
    5. Unstructured Re-connection time .5 hour – 1 hour
        1. Participants can use this time to follow up with people they made a connection with or meet with others they didn’t get a chance to meet.
        2. As people leave (this event has a soft close), ask that they write their name and the name(s) of the people they plan on reaching out to on a 3×5 card and drop it in the voting box.
  4. Post Event
    1. After the event follow up with individuals that made a connection and remind them about the next step (the 1on1). When we ran this 65% of attendees said they planned to follow up with someone.
    2. In 2-3 weeks follow up again.