Residence Life Professional Answers:

Hi Jennifer!  Thanks for contacting ResidentAssistant.com!  My staff loves the toilet paper relay and it only takes a few minutes.  You need a pretty LONG space to do this but it can be quite narrow.

1. Split the staff into as many teams as you want.  There should probably be at least 4 on each team.
2. Give each team a roll of toilet paper.
3. When the whistle sounds, the first member of the relay team places the roll of toilet paper on the ground and begins rolling it out along the floor.   If the paper rips, they have to discard the ripped piece and go back to where they started from.
4. When that person gets to his/her teammates on the other side, the
teammate must begin to roll the toilet paper back up again.
5. This goes on and on, back and forth until one team finishes!  First
one to finish is the winner!

Hope this is helpful!

Adrienne Otto Frame
Residence Coordinator
Mahoney Residential College
University of Miami

In response to your question of 20 minute or less staff developments, I would have to ask what your intentions would be.  If you are just trying to get your staff to know one another and/or interact, I highly suggest a board game of some sort...like Taboo or Guesstures.  I have seen even the most un-interactive staffs enjoy these types of activities.

In general...I have a suggestion.  Instead of trying to figure out what to do, have your staff do the developments!  Give them the 20 minute time limit and have them draw for dates.  Tell them they have to come up with something to teach and/or an activity that will take up the time slot.  I have done this with my staffs for the past few years on the urging of a co-worker and it has worked very well.  They might say it's extra work at first...but it becomes more of a stage for them to show what they know and to decide "who does the best staff development".  I have even thought of having an award that the staff votes on at the end of the semester for "best staff development".

If you are trying to meet a specific need, it may be a little more difficult to limit a discussion to 20 minutes.  For Diversity issues, I would recommend using sections of "Collaidescope" (I know the spelling looks wrong, but it's how the makers spell it), which is a game that discusses several diversity issues.  I have also looked up articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education and/or on-line and given them to my staff ahead of time for them to talk about at the meeting.  Mostly, these have been issues we've been dealing with in our hall or on-campus, so that they can see how it relates to them.

Best of luck with your staff developments!  If you come up with any good ones...please share! ;)

Steve Crudup
Resident Director, O'Connor Hall
Dickinson Community
Binghamton University