Chain of associations

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Activist | Advocacy

The method allows participants to come up with a series of words associated with a designated topic. You can use them to create a slogan or a name – primarily, it stimulates your brain to think more deeply about a given topic.

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Target group

Preferable age 12+, though the method can be adapted for younger participants

No. of pax

Min. 5, also suitable for larger groups

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Environment

A room or a space large enough for all participants

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Time needed

5 minutes or more, depending on group size

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Materials

A board or flipchart, markers (for the alternative version: a piece of paper and pen).

Objective/aim

This method helps collect words useful for creating a slogan, manifesto, banner text, etc. It can also be used as a warm-up before discussing a specific topic.

Step by step instructions

Participants stand in a circle. Although the method works well in small groups (e.g. 5 people), it offers greater possibilities when used with larger groups (around a dozen participants or more).

The trainer designates a first basic word and passes it to the first participant. Each subsequent person should say the next word they associate with the previous one as quickly as possible. Ideally, each person has no more than two seconds to respond. Emphasise that useful responses can include nouns, adjectives, and verbs

Example: forest → trees → leaves → green → growing → etc.

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Tips for the trainer

You can record all the associated words and later use them to work on creating a name, slogan, banner text, etc.

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Alternative

Instead of speaking, you can pass around a piece of paper and ask participants to write down the next associated word. This version works better with quieter participants.

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