Platforms and Promises

Set the stage for an election with your group. You can choose or create a position that all the participants will run for such as “President”, Principal” or “Activities Director”. You may also allow each person to run for whatever office they choose encouraging creativity in selecting or making up a fictitious office or position. You can limit it to the realm of your group or open it up as wide as you want. Each one will create a flyer on a sheet of paper, identifying the office they seek and why they would make a good candidate. The “why” must be an actual trait or skill. Talk about platforms and promises so they understand the boundaries of what they can do in the office they seek. When they are finished, have each share their flyer. You may also want to give them an additional 20-30 seconds for a campaign speech. Be sure to advise them that they are only to address their qualifications and not another candidate’s unworthiness! If time and setting allow, you may want to end with an election to see who would win. (Even if they all run for a different office, the participants could choose who had the most convincing arguments.) If not, have each of them pretend that they just won.

To process the activity, ask these or similar questions:

• Was it difficult to brag about yourself?
• Did you learn anything new about the others in the room?
• Were there common qualities that appeared in more than one campaign?
• What were some of the unique qualities that surfaced?
• How do our similarities and differences unite us?