Come in, welcome! We have arrived at our session.

In this section we look at the importance of kicking everything off with a warm welcome to promote a sense of warmth and positivity. Having a check-in and games in a circle help to create connection.

‘If you’re having a bad day, you should come. If you’re having the best day, you should come’

— Rosie MacPherson

Why?

This section begins at the start of a session - how we welcome people into the room is very important for creating an environment to allow people to feel comfortable, to engage and try new things. The welcome and the check-in are key ways to kick things off with a fun, positive and engaging start every time.

What?

The act and art of Welcome means…

Provide a warm, cheerful greeting - we literally cheer and clap as people enter!
Speak individually to people as they enter, anyone who wants a big hug gets one!
Ensure individuals know that expenses will be covered and food provided, they should never have to ask
Make sure everyone knows what is going on in the room
Allow time at the start to just chat with each other, this is a social space

Open

Welcome incorporates not having expectations around attendance or capping numbers - this is discussed more in Section 4 ‘Flexibility’.

Everybody is involved - The Circle:

The circle helps to challenge hierarchies and to disrupt inequalities, creating connection. Everyone in the room is involved in the circle, and the activities or games.

Everyone takes part in all activities – this helps to dissolve hierarchies and build ownership
Facilitators are present and engaged with the group from start to finish
Don’t ask anyone to do anything you aren’t doing yourself
Keep organisational work outside of sessions

Games

Starting a session with games provides a relaxed but controlled way to welcome latecomers - join our game! Games where we work together but offer an element of competition feel most engaging. Games can help a group coalesce and relate directly, without language. Games help people embrace chaos and encourage team work providing a direct way to accept that there are no mistakes, just a process.

In this section we describe two of our favourite games: ‘Ball of Hope’, and ‘Heads Up Heads Down’. These games are great for:

Being easy for people to join in if arriving at any time
Being easy to follow without verbal explanation
Brings people into the moment, leaving thoughts from the day behind
Building unity and collectivity, working together
Preparing for performance - if you ‘drop the ball’ on stage, pick it up and carry on
Embracing silliness, adults very rarely have space to play but we all need it at every stage of life