Sunday, July 20, 2014

Three Things You Might Not Know About Me


At the close of our genealogical society’s Spring meeting season—like many other societies, ours takes a seasonal break during the summer months—we typically host a potluck dinner. This is an informal time without speaker or business agenda. We like to use this final month of the season for a no-requirements social event.

Usually, we take this occasion to allow informal sharing in the style of “Bring Your Ancestor to Dinner” or similarly-titled event, when in round-robin fashion, each member takes a moment to talk about a favorite genealogical find of the past year. In this show-and-tell time, we’ve learned a wide variety of details about our local history and the residents who made it happen.

This year, our society wanted to add a different activity. While “Bring Your Ancestor to Dinner” helps us learn what each member has been researching for the past year, we still don’t know very much about each other. Our president, Sheri Fenley, got that revelation one day while chatting with fellow D.A.R. members. Some of the ladies—regulars at the city’s symphony concerts—mentioned their surprise at seeing one of the gentlemen from the genealogical society at the latest concert. He didn’t seem like the type to fancy classical music.

From that observation, Sheri realized there might be a lot of other assumptions each of us makes about those with whom we share only the briefest of times in our monthly society meetings. That’s when she came up with the idea for a game to launch at the annual potluck dinner.

The game was simple: each member planning to attend the potluck was asked to submit, in advance, a list of three personal details that others might not know. The list was emailed to one board member, sworn to secrecy, who would assemble the game.

Drawing up an answer key—in which each fact was carefully linked to the correct person—the facts were then separated from the answers and scrambled, to be read aloud by the event’s emcee. Each person attending the dinner was given an answer sheet with each numbered blank line provided for filling in the response. The names of all participants were printed on the reverse of the page, to help players remember everyone else’s name.

Then, our fun-loving emcee stood up and read the clues, one at a time. Participants were given time to fill in the answer after each clue. The goal: to obtain the highest number of correct matches between clues and the society members who claimed them. There would be prizes.

And oh, what clues they got. One woman had played her violin at the World’s Fair. One had learned to double clutch a truck at the age of seven. One was born in a lumber camp; another in the midst of New York City. Two had climbed to the top of Mount Whitney. There were tap dancers, cheerleaders, Girl Scouts, gardeners, crafters. They confessed their hometown love of five cent cupcakes from the downtown Woolworth's store, or escapades like rappelling off three story buildings. Some shared their travel experiences—to South America, Europe, and even to “The Center of the World”—and some divulged their childhood nicknames.

When the game was up and the right answers revealed, the amazement exploded into a volley of conversation. Each comment usually began with, “I didn’t know you….”

It’s funny how we can go regularly to meetings, sitting next to the same people every month, and yet never know much more about them than their names and the mutual passion we share over genealogy. Without detracting from our mission of supporting genealogical research—and in the guise of something as fun as a simple game—we got to learn “Three Things You Might Not Know About Me” and do a little community-building for our own organization at the same time.

19 comments:

  1. Alright now Jacqi -- a "bait and switch" blog. Shame shame shame! That title was a tease.

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    1. You know what the genie said at the tail end of the credits in the first Aladdin movie? "Made ya look!"

      Me, too ;)

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  2. While I thought the title applied to you, I love the idea. Thank you.

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    1. Glad you liked it, Karen. And thanks for sharing it on your own blog, too! It did turn out to be a fun game for a potluck event.

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  3. While I thought I was going to learn about you, I really love the idea. Thank you.

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  4. So..spill the beans about your three things:)

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    1. Only three? But there's so many to talk about ;)

      With my apologies to everyone who expected something different, I've decided to just follow this one up with another post Monday. But don't expect those three things just yet...

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  5. Oh Jacqi---you are a tease! I too took the bait! I hope you will reveal your three things soon. Until then, fun post with a fun idea.

    I couldn't help but wish I could play it with some of my ancestors as well!

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    1. Actually, playing "Three Things" about your ancestors might be a great idea...a way to get grandchildren interested in their ancestors, or a fun activity for a family reunion. Although I agree, Michelle: wouldn't it be great if our ancestors each left us a list of tidbits about their own lives?!

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  6. Several years ago we were in charge of an activity for a family reunion and we decided to do a version of "To Tell the Truth." The name of the ancestor was given and then "Contestants" read the paper they had been given and the audience had to decide which facts were real. We would then have the person representing the ancestor stand up and they would then read again the facts given. It was a lot of fun and helped people learn about ancestors in a non boring way.

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    1. What a great idea, Michelle! These are ways to infuse a living sense of who our ancestors were--in a memorable way for their descendants living today. Genealogists might be the recipients of more than their fair share of eye-rolling and "MEGO" responses when they go on and on about their research, but games like these facilitate connecting all of us with our past in a memorable and fun way!

      Wouldn't it be great--and useful--if we could all compile our best ideas for more genealogy-themed games like this?

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  7. Sounds like a fascinating thing to do! Such a creative idea!

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    1. It turned out to be a great idea. I gotta hand it to Sheri--she is a great Society president, and lots of fun besides!

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  8. Jacqi,

    What a great get-to-know-you game!

    I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/07/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-july-25-2014.html

    Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Thanks so much for the mention in your blog, Jana! I always appreciate taking a look through the great finds you uncover each week.

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  9. Way back in 2008 when I first started writing my blog, there was a meme going around the bloggers along the same lines - revealing little known facts about themselves. With so many bloggers around today, perhaps the meme should be revisited.

    I love being president of our society, although I absolutely could not do the job without you as my VP!

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    1. Glad to be on your team, Sheri! And I absolutely agree: that was a great meme. It certainly was a game that got everyone talking!

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  10. What a terrific way to get to know others in your group. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I'm certainly glad to be able to pass that idea along, Dana. If you get a chance to try it with your local group, be sure to post and let us know how it went!

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