Stand Up-Sit Down Meeting Energizer

If you’ve ever hosted a day-long meeting or workshop, you know that even the best gatherings sometimes experience a dip in energy.  To reboot the vigor in the conference room, here’s a quick and easy  meeting energizer that helps revitalize people without being too cheesy. It works best with a group of at least ten people. It’s called Stand Up/Sit Down and here’s how it works.

 

1. Announce that you’re going to lead a 90-second stretch break. Explain to the group that you will read a series of 12 statements and that they will be standing and sitting based on whether the statement applies to them or not.
2. Read the first statement and say, “If this applies to you, please stand. If not, remain seated”.  Give folks a moment to look around the room to see who is standing.
3. Read statement number two and say, “If this applies to you, please stand. If not, remain seated, or if you’re currently standing, sit down.”
4. Read the remaining ten statements, allowing time for people to sit and stand.

The great thing about this activity is that it can be easily tailored to fit the group. For example, if you have a group of sports enthusiasts, add several statements about local sports teams.

Here’s a sample that I’ve used recently:

Please Stand Up If…

• You have a cat
• You have a dog
• You love Mexican food
• You’ve seen the movie “____________” (name a recent popular movie)
• You are a fan of “___________” (name of popular network/streaming service show)
• You’ve worked for [name of your company] for more than 10 years
• You like Thai food
• You have children
• You like to ski
• You enjoy gardening
• You golf
• You can name all of the 7 Dwarfs from “Snow White” (Answer key: Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, Lucky, Dopey, Doc, Bashful)

For you cynics out there who think people will not play along—believe it or not, most people are OK with this activity because even if they despise meeting energizers, they are looking for a way to move their bodies. And I’ve found once they start looking around at what other people’s hobbies are, they actually start to like it a little bit.

What’s your favorite meeting energizer?

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Updated 2019

photo credit: istockphoto.com © Tadej Zupancic