Negotiation Activity: Bigger and Better
Bigger and Better is a negotiation and team building activity in which teams compete by trading ordinary objects. The winner is the team that ends up with the biggest and best items when time expires.
This active teambuilding exercise requires six people at minimum, and can support very large groups if the teams are divided evenly. Teams should be about three to six people in size.
This game involves interacting with lots of strangers in a public place. Props required include small objects such as paper clips (one for each team). When playing with younger people, please be sure to provide proper supervision when necessary.
To prepare for Bigger and Better, get several paper clips or some small objects that are low in value. Be sure to have enough to provide one per team.
You will give each team a small object, and their job is to keep trading and upgrading their team’s object to obtain the largest and most valuable item possible. They may not offer anything other than the item they have, and they must stick together as a group.
The goal is to come back with the biggest, best, most creative object after a series of trading and upgrading.
Set a time limit, such as one or two hours, and tell everyone that they must be back in time or else they will be disqualified. Announce that each team’s item will be judged in three categories: size, value, and creativity.
When time expires, the judging process begins.
Each team presents their item before the entire group. They explain why their item is biggest and best.
This activity involves good teamwork and creativity as each team coordinates their efforts and decides what strategies they will approach when playing.
The topics of this publication: interactions, negotiation, argumentation, make agreements, strategy
