Egg Drop Auction
Egg Drop Auction Please read the instructions from beginning to end before deciding you don't understand and emailing me.
Enjoy, have fun and please send me something you have had success with.
The Egg Drop Auction is an energizing fun team activity that you can use to bring people together and to demonstrate the principles of teamwork. After the activity is completed you can lead a discussion / debriefing on how effectively people worked together, the challenges they faced and the roles that different people played in the teams.
Collect together an assortment of (clean) trash. The amount of stuff will vary depending on the number of people & teams.
A typical lot of trash for about three or four teams might include:
Teams can be as small as two or as big as ten. Something in between is best. Ideally you should have three teams of about four or five people to make it fun.
Prepare and display your trash on a large table with loving care.
Divide your people into teams. As mentioned above, teams of about four to six people are ideal. Get everyone together in front of you and the table but standing in their teams and introduce the activity. Explain to them that they have a task. It is:
To construct an egg catcher that will catch a raw egg dropped from about 21 feet (6 meters)in the air.
Their egg catcher must be free standing (they can't hold it).
They will be responsible for positioning the egg catcher - you will only drop the egg. To make the egg catcher they can use any or all of the materials they buy from you at the auction. But ONLY the materials that they have bought at auction. Nothing else. The auction will be competitive and (you) the auctioneer will try to get the best possible price for each item in the sale. The auctioneers decision is final.
Give each team the same amount of monopoly money (I use special egg money that I have made but this is a luxury). About $125 Egg dollars usually does the trick.
Show everyone the items in the auction. Hold each item up and give them a stereotypical auctioneers spiel about each item.
"Ladies and gentlemen, here we have a classic artifact of the modern age, a plastic bag! Guaranteed at least 70% hydrocarbons ideal for building an egg catcher or wearing on the head on a rainy day. Just think ladies and gents, you could cut it open and used it as a picnic cloth; fill it with air and make a loud bang . Etc "
After you have introduced each item, tell them they may approach the table and look but not touch!
After they have examined the goods remind them that how they bid; who bids; what they use and how they make their catcher is up to them. However, they can only use what they buy at auction, nothing else and the auctioneers decision on bids is final.
Give them the money and ask the teams to go and discuss their plans and strategies. Give the teams about 15 or 20 mins to do this privately (as teams). Go around and gently remind them of the task and that the auctioneers decision is final.
When everyone is ready, bring them back and auction off the items.
Go wild; go crazy; tell jokes; exaggerate the value of items. If you think it will sell well, start with a high price, if you think it will not sell at all put two items together as one lot. If someone nods or winks you can take it as a bid. (Life's not fair. I got stuck with a broken radio at an auction once because the auctioneer thought I was bidding.) Raise the bids quickly ... you get the idea .... it can take a little practice but you should get the hang of it pretty quickly. Make the auction fast paced and fun. Sometimes people from the same team bid against each other they get so carried away. All sorts of things happen.
As you sell, take the money and give them the items. Some things may have a reserve price and be removed from the sale if not sold. After everything is sold have them go away and build their egg catcher. USING ONLY the materials they have bought at auction. No borrowing, stealing ifs or buts. Notes: It is usually better to give the teams a time frame within which they must construct their egg catcher. Dont panic if one team buys hardly anything. Never give them additional materials. Amazingly people will construct quite effective catchers from virtually nothing and succeed while other teams with more and better resources can fail. After the catchers are made you can gather each team for a proud group photo.
Now you need a location such as a stair well, window, balcony or such about 20 feet above the ground. Hold a raw egg in position. Have the first team position their egg catcher underneath you in the drop zone.. On their signal drop the egg. If their egg catcher catches the egg without the egg breaking they have "won" - that is they have succeeded. If not; they have not.
The first team often do not position the egg catcher exactly right and so I give them a second go at the end (as I do with any other team that fails because of poor positioning - as long as I have eggs).
and then give one to everyone ... because everyone is a winner.
"Ability is what you're capable of doing."
"Motivation determines what you can do."
"Attitude determines how well you do it."
- Lou Holtz
From Steve Edwards, who believes he got it from the Canadian Association of Student Activity Advisors
Steve's Email addresses:
China: stechina@szonline.net
Germany: steeurope@uumail.de