Hot Air Balloon Evaluation - Participatory Activity for Facilitators

Hot Air Balloon

Hot Air Balloon Evaluation - Participatory Activity for Facilitators
Group Size: 1-5
Activity Duration: 30-45 Minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
Materials Required: Large paper print-out of Hot Air Balloon image, colouring pens, writing pens, post-it notes, stickers

This is such a useful and extremely visual planning and evaluation tool. This can be used for evaluating a new business idea or for designing a new service.

Hot Air Balloon Workshop Tool: Method

The method use for The ‘Why’ Game is extremely simple, the basic concept is that you just keep asking “why” until you can’t anymore.

Step 1:

Prepare a large hot air balloon image with the following labels:

  • The basket: who needs to be on board?
  • The wind: what could blow this off course?
  • The cloud: what could really make this fly? What would give us a clear path ahead?
  • The sky: where does this lead?
  • The chain: what could hold us back?

You can adapt the labels on your hot air balloon to suit your needs as required.

Hot Air Balloon Participation and Facilitation Tool
An example of the hot air balloon workshop tool

Step 2:

In small groups, ask all participants to consider each stages of this hot air balloon journey, writing their thoughts on post-it notes and sticking them directory onto the balloon diagram.

Step 3:

At the end, ask everyone to summarize their discussions and read through the important points they recorded or wrote down during this activity.

Outcome:

The outcome from the activity can feed into a strategic business plan, allowing you to plan for success and mitigate any potential risks before they become a problem.