Using a video clip exercise to spice up debriefs
Overview
If you have a debrief and you want to get your participants to take ownership of your findings you might want to try the following exercise.
The exercise invites everyone to look for evidence for themselves by splitting into groups, watching a collection of clips (already curated) and then presenting back what they have discovered.
Setup
Divide the room into 4 teams.
Each team receives...
- A laptop.
- 3 Participant video interviews (10 minute duration); These are highlight videos only.
- A printed profile page for each of the people shown in their clips.
- Large format paper, pens, posits.
Instructions
- Read the Profile Card for your first video participant.
- Watch the 10 minute video interview for that participant.
- While watching, note down anything significant.
- After watching the video, spend 10 minutes createing a visual that summarises what you have seen.
- Repeat for the next 2 videos.
Sharing 'their' findings, 15 minute presentation
After they have spent an hour watching and discussing, they present back to the room what they discovered. The idea is to get everyone to own and absorb the findings, rather than passively watch.
TIme allocation
Watching video + analysis: 3 x 20 minute = 60 minutes
Present their findings: 4 teams x 15 minutes = 60 minutes minutes
Total time = 2 hours
Practicalities
- Have enough space to operate. People need space to listen to their video and discuss findings.
- Make sure the 4 laptops have the correct software to run the video files.
- It's best to have someone to steer each group, so they don't miss the point.
Dangers
- Senior people might only want to absorb the research 'on a plate.'
- Time might be tight.
- There is prep time involved.
Benefits
- It's more fun
- It's more engaging
- People are more likely to pay attention
- People have to be active and engage their reasoning abilities
- It will be remembered, both the evidence, but also our session
- It moves away from passive consumption and towards active participation
- It's not just us telling them things, which may be disputed, but about them coming to their own conclusions, albeit heavily editorialised.
