Looking for a quick-hitting creative exercise that takes 2 minutes to set up and only 5 minutes to complete? Look no further.
Step 1: Print out three funny/interesting/weird photos.
I went with 1) a melting snowman holding a sign that reads “I’ll Be Dead Soon,” 2) a dog’s butt that had sunglasses on it (making his butt look like a face), and 3) a dude with a nose ring and face tattoos.
Step 2: Label the photos (1, 2, 3) and give each participant three sticky notes. (Instruct participants to label their sticky notes 1, 2, 3 as well.)
Step 3: Hold up each photo and have participants jot down one word (on the corresponding sticky note) to describe that photo. Make sure participants don’t peek at each other’s words!
Step 4: Collect all the sticky notes, shuffle them up, and read the words aloud. After reading each word, have participants guess which photo (1, 2, or 3) the word is describing.
What’s the point?
- Condensing your thoughts: It’s easy to describe something well when you can use a bunch of words, phrases, sentences, etc. But describing something well using only one word is a whole different ball game. This exercise forces you to condense your thoughts and succinctly describe an object’s true essence.
Erik Devaney 
Nice!