Do you run incredible programs, get rave reviews, and make sure everyone has an awesome time? Of course you do. But if you’re looking for your group games, activities, and events to have long-term impact, you NEED to debrief after the event. What is a debrief, why are they so important, and how can you run one in 3 easy steps?

Debriefing

A debrief usually takes the form of a group conversation, led by the group leader, after an event or experience. In camp, we debrief after group

initiatives, big accomplishments like First Fires, Shelter Night, and the Forest Feast, and our hikes, as well as smaller debriefs at the end of each day. Youth group leaders, such as NCSY advisors or City/Regional Directors, can use debriefs after a Shabbaton active learning program, ChaBo/ReBo events, or as a staff after a Regional Shabbaton. Teachers can debrief after experiential education programs or after completing big projects. Parents can debrief vacations, important family milestones, or unusual events. The goal of a debrief is to help process an experience in a way which sticks with the participants. By discussing what happened as a group and pointing out highlights at each stage outlined below, each participant has the opportunity to frame what happened in a positive way and recognize a takeaway for the future.

A debrief has 3 parts: What, So What, and Now What.

Stage 1: What?

In the What stage, the group leader encourages participants to share their perspective on the activity or event. You’re asking, very simply, what happened? You can engage multiple participants by starting from the beginning of the process and going step by step. For example, picture a game where the group tried one solution, failed and began to get frustrated, discovered another method, which led to the solution which ended up working successfully. At each point, you can ask for a new person to get involved in recalling what happened. At each stage, ask them to describe the situation – how they were feeling, what they were thinking, or how they felt the group was doing. This stage is most often skipped in group discussions, because it seems so unnecessary. “We just did this, why do we need to talk about what we just did?!” is a question you will probably hear often. By starting with the What stage, you:

1. Remind everyone of the steps needed to get to the end goal, rather than only remembering the final solution
2. Encourage people to contribute to the discussion with easy ‘softball’ questions
3. Demonstrate that people who contribute receive positive reinforcement from you and the group

Once you start asking the more difficult, nuanced questions in the next two stages, people will be more willing to speak up. You’ve already set the tone of the group discussion as a place where people talk and get good feedback for contributing. Next up, Stage 2: So What?! 

Part 2 can be found here! If you want to make sure you don’t miss it, or generally like our posts and don’t want to miss any, subscribe to our email list-posts will be sent directly to your inbox!