Facilitating a Terrific Innovation Game Session

Basic Materials Checklists

Room

Bigger rooms are better. In general, ask for a room that is 50 percent bigger than the number of total participants (customers and members of your team). Room setup can take anywhere from three to six hours, so it is best to have access to the room the night before the event.

Basic Materials for All Games

Table 3.2 shows the basic materials that you will need for all games described in this book. Game-specific materials are described with each game and described further here.

Table 3.2. Basic Materials

Item	Purpose
Pens and pencils	Allows customers to take notes
Note pads (one per person)	Allows customer to take notes
Easels (min two)	Allows you to capture shared notes for the group
Post-It Easel Paper	Excellent choice because you can stick it to most walls without tape and without harming the wall. Easel paper is also a good substitute for plain butcher paper when you need to cover a wall or a table quickly. When hanging easel paper, do it as shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2. Put easel Paper on Wall Surfaces

These items are typically provided by the hotel or place that is hosting the event (such as a meeting or conference center). If you're holding the event at your company, you'll need to provide them.

You need to supply the items from Table 3.3.

Table 3.3. Materials You Will Need to Supply

Item	Purpose
Thank you gifts for participants
Prizes	Optional item. Helps get creative juices flowingsuch as a prize for the best product box.
Place cards	Place cards contribute a sense of purpose and elegance to the event. More importantly, they are a subtle way to let you control seating. Prepare place cards as shown in Figure 3.3. Figure 3.3. Prepare Place Cards
High-resolution digital camera	Enables your Bad Wedding Photographer to take lots of photos.
50 5"x8" cards per observer	Provides your observers with everything they need to capture their observations.
Markers	Provides your observers with everything that they need to capture their observations.
Masking tape (various widths)	You'll want to tape things to the wall. Having a variety of widths makes it easy to choose the width that you need.
Clear tape	Note that you'll need to bring more tape for certain games, such as Product Box. Err on the side of caution and bring more than you think you need.
Clear super glue
Clear white glue
Small package of push pins
Music speakers and CDs	Theaters use "house lights" to signal when it is time to take your seat. You can use music in the same way. At the beginning of the event, during breaks, and during lunch, music can impart a special energy to the session.
Air sanitizer or air freshener	Meeting rooms can sometimes acquire a musty or unpleasant odor. Having a can of air sanitizer or air freshener can help make the game experience more enjoyable.

Product Box Materials (per table)

• Two or three product box props (for example, old cereal boxes)

• One blank bright-white product box for each participant

• Sharp-tip felt markers

• Large gold "star" stickers

• Three pairs of scissors

• Three rolls of Scotch tape

• Colored markers

• Yarn in assorted colorsred/blue/green

• Stickers of various kinds (if you provide them, people will use them!)

• X-Acto knife for cutting the box

• Stapler

• Toyskoosh balls, fun stuff, to keep the mood fun

Buy a Feature Materials (per table)

• Sample products (having a real product makes the game more effective; in the preceding example, you'd have a Blendz blender)

• Sufficient play money in prepackaged envelopes for each participant

• Lists of features

Start Your Day Materials

• Calendars in both normal and large-print formats