Plan
- How will you choose your partners for this activity?
- How will the rest of the group decide what questions to ask?
- Will everyone be accused of the same crime, or will you come up with different ones? Remember, this activity is supposed to be light-hearted and funny, so accused crimes should be things like “accidentally distracting a superhero on their way to save the day,” or “leaving the door open and allowing aliens into the house.”
Do
- Divide the group into pairs or groups of three. Each small team should come up with their supposed crime and share it with the group.
- Then, have the pair walk away from the group. They should find a quiet space outside of earshot of the rest of the group. They will have five minutes to prepare their alibi – that is, where they were at the time of the crime.
- After five minutes, the first person should return to the larger group. The group will ask questions about where they were and what they were doing at the time of the crime.
- Don’t forget to ask probing questions that will reveal details of where the accused was. What bus were they on? Where were they going? What were they planning on doing when they got there?
- Then, the first person will walk away, and the second person should join the larger group.
- The group should then start asking the second person questions – try to ask the same questions as you asked the first person. Remember, the point of this activity is to see if their answers match up.
- Bring the first person back and debrief – did the two stories match up? Remember, this activity challenges your attention to detail. When you retold your stories, were the details the same? Were you able to answer the questions with the same answer?
- After you’ve debriefed, challenge another pair to the same thing – will their alibi hold water?
Review
- What was the most challenging part of this activity?
- Were there any questions that you were not prepared for? How did you handle them?
- Were there any questions that you thought the audience would ask that they did not?
- Why is it important to pay attention to small details when working in a team?
Keep it Simple
Create a list of questions to be asked ahead of time. This will allow teams to brainstorm the right answers and make this activity a little easier.
Take it Further
Asked detailed, probing questions. What colour was the car that they drove? What time did they leave the location? Who else did they see there? Remember, you should try to answer the questions, “I don’t know” doesn’t help build your alibi!
