Products of The Firefly Group

Products
The Firefly Group has created many products to spark performance improvement. Here is a sampling. All of our games and activities can be customized for your organization's specific needs. Please to learn more about these products and how they might work for you.

Workshop Registration
Activities for Learning
Books for Trainers
Games that Teach
Simulations

To learn more, contact

Brian Remer
The Firefly Group
339 Bullock Road
Guilford, VT 05301
802 257-7247
brian 'at' thefirefly.org

Workshops

Boredom Busters
Boosting Engagement in Meetings and Trainings

Boredom Busters is a full-day workshop for Managers, Team Leaders, and Trainers who are looking for innovative ways to enhance participation at the events they lead. To learn more about the next scheduled workshop or to host it at your workplace, contact Brian Remer at brian 'at' thefirefly.org.

To learn about scheduling for the next workshop contact Brian directly by .

Activities

Motion Activated Fit Cards and Learning Guide
Let Actions Speak Louder than Words

Want your learners to better retain what you teach? Get them moving! Short instances of physical activity aid in memory formation. Movement helps learners focus, reduces negative effects of too much sitting, and increases the energy in the learning environment. Plus, it's fun - and people remember fun!

Motion Activated Fit Cards is a deck of fifty-two cards that display simple physical exercises either seated, standing, incorporating movement, or using props.

Draw a card and do the activity. String several cards together as a team celebration dance. Choose cards that represent a process and act them out to aid retention. The Motion Activated Learning Guide describes twenty different activities using the cards to enhance group formation and energize learning. The introduction explains the brain science and health benefits of infusing learning with movement.

Use Motion Activated Fit Cards and the Motion Activated Learning Guide to energize a group, recharge a meeting, or get your own energy going.

Sold together includes Motion Activated Fit Cards (set of 52 Cards) and Motion Activated Learning Guide (facilitation notes for 20 activities; 28 pages).
$35 (plus shipping)

Words of Wisdom
Activities to Spark Conversations and Enhance Learning

Wouldn't it be wonderful if each participant in your workshop left with a bit of sage advice tailored especially for them? It would be difficult to send every person in your training to the mountain top. But maybe there is a way to bring the mountain top to your trainees!

Words of Wisdom is a deck of fifty-two cards each with a unique phrase that conveys a piece of modern-day advice, an unusual proverb, or an astute insight. The accompanying manual provides fifteen different ways to use the cards in meetings, trainings, brainstorming sessions, and team gatherings. With Words of Wisdom, you can increase the relevance of training, enhance retention of information, and improve the application of new ideas back in the workplace.

Sample cards:

"Insight is initiated by movement perceived on the periphery"

"The clay does not criticize the hands of the potter"

"Beware of trash talk, it will surely be recycled"

Sample activities:

Values - summarize and restate the beliefs that drive your organization

Tweet - capitalize upon social networking to promote organizational learning

Interruption - deliver lively lectures with a 'spontaneous' and unconventional interjection

52 Cards, Facilitation Manual, $50 (plus shipping)

Available Soon:

Firefly Activity File Vol. 1 -

Firefly Activity File Vol. 2 -

Firefly Activity File Vol. 3 -

What is Community? - Learn about the many facets that compose a community and discover your role, both individually and organizationally, in building a positive community.

Snake Eyes - A group activity that uses the role of the dice to invite participants to expand upon what they have learned in a training session.

5 - 10 - 5 - A fast-paced review of training content that results in surprising and memorable connections.

Grandma's Attic - What does a pine cone have to do with your corporate vision statement? What's the connection between a squishy rubber animal and the latest change initiative in your organization? This activity helps everyone gain deeper insight into important issues.

Mystery Theater - Teams of participants collaborate using ordinary objects to point out the extraordinary things they are learning.

Books

Say It Quick! 99-Word Stories About Leadership, Learning, and Life

Say It Quick! is a collection of micro stories that take ordinary situations and turn them into teachable moments. Use them for personal enjoyment, the enrichment of your work team, or to enhance your training program.

The book includes 99 stories, 22 learning activities, and tips for writing your own stories in exactly 99 words.

Order Say It Quick! at 99-Word Stories HERE.

Talk Quick! 99-Word Stories to Spark Discussion about Common Management Issues

Talk Quick! is twelve activities for teams and small groups. Each activity begins with a story in exactly 99 words with discussion questions designed to bring group conversations to a deeper level. An interpretation of each story is also included to highlight issues relevant to organizational life, productivity, and systems thinking. The stories are cross-referenced for topics such as Change, Coaching, Diversity, Goals, Motivation, and Success.

This eBook is designed to be read on any computer and its format has been optimized for tablets and smart phones. Order it from 99-Word Stories HERE.

Shifting Power and Control - A book of training activities designed for social service professionals who are committed to the self-determination of people with disabilities.

Games

Critter Games - Distribute a variety of porcupine animals to your participants and use them to form groups, process activities, and review material.

GURU - This game teaches a surprisingly simple process that makes the giving and receiving of feedback painless and more productive.

Double Exposure - Especially helpful for newly formed teams or Boards of Directors, this game opens opportunities for shared interactions that result in improved work relationships.

Can You Explain It? - What are our common assumptions, where do they come from, and how do they influence our actions and work relationships? Play this game and learn to avoid the pitfalls of unquestioned assumptions.

Cosmic Questions - Use this game to teach the basics of the OSHA safety guidelines for universal precautions and bloodborne pathogens. Appropriate for medical workers, dental workers, EMTs, nursing home workers, and personal care assistants.

PowerShift - Learn the six steps to become a mentor and discover 120 ideas to manage like a mentor every day.

DreamQuest - Explore the six steps to using a group of selected confidants to help you build your life so you can reach your highest dreams and aspirations. Learn More!

Black & White & Gray - Discover the most common pitfalls that can result in the violation of the rights of someone receiving personal care and support. Find out what you can do to keep interpersonal respect a priority.

Simulations

Sharks & Dolphins - Explore the role of personal and corporate reputation as it is affected by our ethical decisions. Learn how reputations are built and broken with the shake of a hand.

The Cocktail Party - If we want to make change; if we want to get something done, we are highly dependent on the help we receive from others. And the degree to which someone is willing to help us is dependent upon the relationship we have with them. This is true in our communities, our offices or factories, and in our own families. In this sense, our relationships have value. This is what is meant by the term social capital.

In theCOCKTAIL PARTY participants simulate the networking that takes place in informal situations. They examine the strategies they use to meet new people, develop friendships, connect different individuals with each other, and build social capital.

The Cocktail Party is played with between 10 and 36 people and is intended to give an opportunity for participants to examine their own style and comfort level when interacting with new acquaintances, to invent and practice new strategies for networking, and to see the concepts of reciprocity and social capital in action.

Gathering a large quantity of business cards is not the point of this simulation. Instead, participants are challenged to focus upon the strategies that can produce high quality relationships, to assess their own skills for networking, and to learn the tricks for gaining the social capital necessary to build their community or their career.

Pricing:
$120 US which includes facilitator's guide, game cards, handouts and the participant counting devices (Champaign glasses and beads).

The PDF version, for $80, includes the facilitator's guide and game cards. You purchase counting devices locally and card stock to produce cards and handouts.

Contact for details