THE ALIEN

CONFERENCE
A management
tool-game for
problem solving
in groups

by Var

Brief
The Alien Conference is a management tool that
comes in form of a game. It is designed to be
used by any group that meets to discuss or solve
a problem. As an alternative to a traditional
meeting this game is played in three acts over a
course of around 1 hour. 1.5. It is aimed at
evoking deeper layers of creativity and
imagination within the group as well as ignite
motivations towards being in the group and
working at the problem later on.

The Challenge
Regardless of the context, when we
get together in groups to discuss an
issue or solve a problem we will
often deliberately avoid asking the
basic questions- the what, when,
why and who type of questions
even though asking these questions
will allow us to uncover the real
meanings behind the very concepts
we employ during these discussions.
This happens for obvious reasons.
People dont want to look like
amateurs. Being an expert is more
prestigious and welcome. And as
you might know already, society is
not a place where who is best in
what they do gets far but often he
or she who has more reputation and
connections. These factors make
reputation an important currency
which people collect and cherish
and therefore arent willing to
gamble on by asking questions that
may put their image in funny light.
Therefore, we often leave the
amateur side of ourselves outside of
the room that curious side that

speaks the basic language and tries to understand

things in simple terms. Instead we stay in the room
with the persona of the expert with all the pressure of
assumption and pretension that come with it. There is
a problem with this however. If you have a group of
people doing this it is like having a party where you
take away all the drinks and continue to have the
party with just red meat on the table. This party is not
going far as you can imagine.
No wonder why a lot of group meetings get stuck. In
ancient ayurvedic tradition there is a saying Free
yourself from what you know. That is be afraid of
your own expertise for it can block your own vision.
Einstein too was once asked what the secret to his
Genius was. His answer was I just ask basic questions.

History has it all. Mankinds progress was catalyzed by simple,

seemingly primitive, sometimes dangerous and often dreamingly
impossible questions. Someone had to dare ask them. Examples?
What if Earth was not flat but round. Why is the Sun moving
around the Earth and not the other way around? What would I
see if I was looking at the town hall clock from inside a train that
was moving at the speed of light.
We all know and understand that if we stayed on course of our
curiosity and asked the real questions that are on our mind we
could lead any discussion towards some insight and meaning. But
we dont often do this. Instead we assume and wrap up some
conclusions midway hoping to preserve the appearance of
someone who gets things right away. Off course we survive this
way because there is a lot of coins on the surface level one can
pick up too, but a lot of nuance, insights and deeper meanings
never come onto the surface. If conversation was a Mario game
where meaning was lying around in form of golden coins, you
would have to dive deeper or climb higher to get access to those
points.

This problem happens to us everywhere from home to work to

school. We simply just dont follow all the way to the core of what
we would really like to ask. Therefore a lot of imagination and
creativity remains asleep because nobody bothers to wake it up.
And the sponsor of this process as we established is fear: fear to
challenge assumptions, fear to dream beyond, fear to stand out,
fear to be placed in the spotlight and be criticized, judged,
punished and rejected. On the other side of the scale is being
liked and loved, praised and encouraged. When this happens we
all get loose and act as our natural selves without placing a lot of
psychological barriers in front of ourselves.
However the irrational fear side of us most of the time wins over
the curious, creative and straightforward side of us. In other words
we have then a limited range of places where we are able to
make most of ourselves.
However this doesnt have to be this way. We can design a
process which overcomes our individual limiting tendencies in
social contexts and one which activates our imaginative, playful
and creative sides.
Imagine you were playing a game with your group. A game
where not only you would not have to avoid but instead would
have to ask very basic, outrageous, crazy and seemingly primitive
questions which you normally wouldnt ask. But in this game you
wouldnt even have to be criticized for it because you wouldnt
have to be yourself. You would be a character, someone from
space who arrived on Earth to provide some help to people here
who are having a problem. You came to Earth to share the best
practices from your planet and give people on Earth a new
perspective. The only nuance being that you are not very good
at our language. You speak the language to the level of a 3 year
old because where you come from there are other forms of
communication- like telepathy, etc. Therefore the Earth people
have to try really hard to explain to you what problem they are
facing. Thus there will be lots of questions and answers back and
forth. And real meanings are going to start to bubble up as the
discussion progresses. And as real meanings are starting to bubble
up you will also notice how motivations in the group become aliv
as well since these processes are highly interlinked. This process
can be visualized like this. Group imagination is like the clouds
coming together in the sky- as they dense up it rains- our
metaphoric equivalent to that is the emerging of meaning and
insight. The rain makes things grow on the ground. And that is the
equivalent to motivation. No cloud-no rain. No rain- no growth.

As a summery to this introduction to the problem we can say that

perhaps everyone who organizes or attends group meetings
hopes or even expects that people will show up as their best and
most creative and motived selves. However this doesnt happen
as often as we would wish because money stays in the pocket
unless someone designs a process to get it out. Same is true for
meaning, motivation and creativity. Its a matter of process
design. To get those clouds up there you need to make it
happen. The Alien Conference is a game that addresses these
this problem by creating conditions for the emergence of insight
and heightening of motivation in groups.

THE GAME
The Game starts with the assumption that before the conference you and your group
sent a SOS signal into space through an internet controlled satellite, calling for life
forms from other galaxies and planets to arrive on our planet to hold a conference on
the issue of your concern. Their presence would help you get an outsider perspective
as well as expertise and best practices from other planets and galaxies that can help
you solve your problem better. To make communication possible with the Aliens
along with the SOS signal a multimedia document was sent which teaches
elementary concepts of your language. Therefore it can be assumed that the arriving
aliens will speak the language of a 3 year old which would exclude abstract or
complex concepts, narrow professional jargon, etc. The reason behind having a
limitation in language is justified by the possibility that people on other planets may
not be using only language as a form of communication but there may be other
forms such as telepathy and many more unknown to us. However we can assume
that the guest aliens have learnt the language using the document we broadcasted
to a degree of a 3 year old.

THE GOAL
The ultimate goal of the game is to help the group find new solutions to their problem
by seeing their problem differently and understanding their problem better.
The aim of the game is to have Aliens understand what the problem is and help
people from Earth (Earthians) with advice and solutions. Therefore Aliens will have to
ask questions that naturally a 3 year old child who doesnt understand something
would ask. And Earthians will have to use their own creativity to simplify and
communicate better the complex concepts they deal with on daily basis.

ROLES + STRUCTURE
There are two types of actors in the conference. The Aliens and the Earthians (people
from planet Earth). You start the conference with half of your group being in the role
of the Aliens then the other half as the Earthians. Half time through the conference a
break is introduced and after the break the Earthians play as Aliens and the previous
Aliens become Earthians. It is as if during half time of a theater the cast would change
but the play would carry on where it was left. Important to note is that while the
people stay the same new characters are formed as a result of the shift: so if you
were an Earthian in second half you will play as the Alien of your own creation
rather than take up the Alien from before.

STRUCTURE
ACT 1
1. Welcoming the
Aliens. Everyone
introduces
themselves (from
their roles). (max
10m.)
2. Earthians present
their problem and
the discussion
begins. (30m.)
3. Five minutes before
the end of first 30m
the timekeeper
refers to the group
that the first set of
aliens have to leave
to catch their
shuttle.

ACT 2
Break
5-10
m

Act 3
Break
5m

4. Welcoming the
Aliens. Everyone
introduces
themselves (from
their roles). (max
10m.)
5. Earthians present
their problem and
the discussion
begins. (30m.)
6. Five minutes
before the end of
second 30m the
timekeeper refers
to the group that
the last set of
aliens have to
leave to catch
their shuttle.

7. All of the
group now
gathers in the
circle as their
normal selves
recapping
the main
findings and
insights from
the session.
(5-10m.) up to
convenience.

Important psychological implications:

It is important to note that the shift of characters in the middle of the game has a
number of important functions.
1. Everyone gets to explore their own creative unconscious by inventing and
being another character.
2. Each individual undergoes a personal perspective shift by role play
3. The entire group undergoes a perspective shift on a high level as a result of
everyone swapping roles and re-establishing personal perspectives to continue
the exploration of the problem from where they had left. This serves as a meta
or high level perspective shift.
From the perspective of storytelling and cast you may notice that it is the same
people telling one story in two different sets of roles. Normally in the middle of the
conversation people dont become someone else. However in this irrationality lies the
opportunity to harness hidden potential of the double perspective shift.

THE FUN
Each Alien is encouraged to bring one thing from their planet- a story, a prop, an
object, fashion, food, music, etc to share.
Each Earthian is encouraged as well to bring one thing they value that they would
like to share with another Alien to take away with them as a memory from this planet.
It can be a story, a fact about life here, a piece of stone, music, cake, a note written
on a paper, whatever you wish.
Important psychological implications:
It can be anticipated that some people might think that devoting time to talking to
Aliens, telling stories of other planets or even sitting in a circle pretending to be an
alien might all be unserious business, taking away that valuable time you would rather
spend thinking about your problem while stroking the lower jaw.
It is for this reason your attention is brought to the fact that the quality of your ideas
and your thinking are not only a product of intellectual capacity but also your mental
states that constantly change. Emotion and environmental factors play a great role in
shaping these states. This game is trying to create conditions that try to elicit the
mental states manually rather than leaving them to chance. In real life it is harder for
people to tune into a playful and harmonious frequency given the differences in
tastes, styles, moods and many other things. Therefore in many groups the common
ground becomes the professional neutralism. But we all have some experience to
understand that perhaps neutral is safe but it may not be the best emotional and
intellectual setting for getting people to be creative, excited and motivated.

PROCESS and Suggested RULES

1. Let people know in advance about the game rules and give
them time to prepare their role of the Alien. This can vary
from 5 minutes in advance to a day or more.
2. At the beginning of each part of the game start with getting
in a circle and welcoming the Aliens. Everyone goes in a
circle sharing what they have brought with them. Each
Alien shares their name, their planet, whatever they wish to
say about it and whatever they have brought. Each
participant gets up to 1 minute. (Experiment with time).
3. Each Earthian introduces themselves at their turn and shares
something that theyd like the Aliens to go away having or
knowing about life on Earth. It can be a story, a fact, an
artifact, an object, whatever. Each participant gets up to a
minute. (Depending on the group size you can experiment
and see what variation of time best works for you).
4. After the sharing session the actual conference is
conducted. Earthians present their problem taking into
account the linguistic limitations of the guests. Earthians may
enhance their presentation with whatever representational
forms that may include seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and
feeling. It has to be taken into account that the linguistic
limitations of a 3 year old stay valid at all time. That means if
you would not make sense by explaining it in real life -having
a video on the wall saying the same thing does little
difference. Be creative with your communication. You have
to at all times consider that you have to have your audience
understand. And you can know if they do by their
reactions.
5. Aliens-may not only ask questions and but share their ideas,
about solutions when they wish so. They have to also speak in
a way that someone who has the limitations of a 3 year olds
language can. However because they are not three year
olds they can be infinitely intelligent. Its just that they will
have to use the language of a three year old to present their
ideas. Aliens can as well use more than just language. Any
form of representation that speaks to any of the human
senses can be used. Ex. One can make a face, quickly
sketch something on the wall, build an object out of paper or

something. Or even come with an object built already. One

can use the sense of smell, taste and touch as well. The limit
is the sky.
6. Five minutes before the end of the 1st Act the time keeper
announces that there are 5 minutes remaining for the Aliens
to catch their shuttle.
7. Half time a break is introduced. 10 min. This time can be
used by the group for people to change and
psychologically transition to and from their roles.
8. As the group returns in their new roles- the circle is formed
and people go around the circle in their new roles- the Aliens
presenting themselves and their planet and sharing one
thing. So do the Earthians. After this the group discussion is
resumed continuing from where it was left.
(important ! the process continues it doesnt start from the
beginning). The only difference is that the roles have shifted
and people have to continue employing a different style of
thinking and communication while talking about the same
problem taking into consideration everything that has
happened before.
9. 5 min before the end of 2nd Act the time keeper announces
that there are 5 minutes remaining for the Aliens to catch
their shuttle. The group tries to wrap up their discussion.
10. A five minute break
11. The group now spends around 10 minutes recapping the
ideas and insights. If the group feels there is need for more
digging in some of the discoveries either by continuing or
scheduling another discussion later.

BENEFITS OF THE GAME

Making officially safe and possible to ask all kinds of questions.
Eliciting individual and group creativity
Harmonizing the group through shared play

Increasing motivation among the group members towards

engagement with the problem.
Uncovering deeper meanings that lead to insights.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
While this is a tool designed for groups to address any problem in
any area let us suggest a number of sectors where this may be of
particular use.
Business
Businesses always want their employees to be motivated and
creative- jumping on the problems the business faces and
solving them. They often hold meetings to do this and often have
to face the limitations inherent to group dynamics discussed
earlier. The Alien Conference can be a fun and challenging task
for employees to step out of the company culture and employ
perspectives and meanings that were not used before. It may
be a democratic tool for collaboration in settings where
hierarchies are in place. A CEO playing an alien gives a
nonthreatening green light for other members to speak also at
their best without hesitation. The game takes the interests of the
company at its core and through its design tries to elicits the best
out of everyone regardless of power structures.
Forums, Conferences & Workshops
The game can be used as an addition in conference settings.
Public sector
Politicians in particular spend a lot of time in group discussions.
While I fully recognize that perhaps the responsibilities that
politicians face are very serious I still wonder- whether the entire
atmosphere of monolith stiffness around politics is the most
favorable for our chosen representatives to engage in debates
about what is good or bad for ourselves and the environment.
Perhaps a bit of creativity and less suit and ties could help us get
their creative to join the table more often. Matisse once said that
it requires courage to be creative. Lately everyone is talking
about innovation and that is good. Things are getting slicker in

design and technology surrounds us more and more. Perhaps to

add a human dimension to this process, innovation has to come
also in the process of how we face each other. Maybe the
innovation here is going back to basics.
Education
In a class of 40 students you will have some students not fully
following or aligned with the presentation or the lecture. Often
competition among some students for intelligence and
recognition may discourage others to ask simple questions to
fulfil their genuine desire to understand. If they did they might
have catalyzed better discussions and gave way for more
meaning and value to emerge for everyone. From a professors
perspective it is harder to estimate whether a question that is not
asked is not asked because it is not on anyones mind or for any
other reason. The Alien conference can help a class to explore a
topic in groups of 10
Taking into account all whats mentioned above it makes sense
to not let meaning and motivation to chance but rather design
their way out.

INSIGHTS WANTED
If you have used the Alien Conference Game, please tell us about
your insights using this short form.

http://goo.gl/forms/3Yv5XdYdof
If you wish to stay updated about interesting stories and uses of the
Game visit the official Facebook page The Alien Conference to stay
connected.

https://www.facebook.com/alienconference

About Var Sahakyan

My story is that of a free particle,
leaping between the orbits of
art and social sciences.
I am currently developing tools and
strategies like this for evoking creativity
in individuals and groups.
Contact me at:
Email: inbox.var@gmail.com
LinkedIn: http://goo.gl/SsV6ek

MSc in Marketing and Creativity,

ESCP EUROPE/ France, UK
MSc in Strategic Leadership
towards Sustainable
Development, BTH Sweden
Academy Program of Art and
Philosophy, ECLA Germany
BA & MA in Social Work,
Yerevan State University, Armenia
UGRAD fellow,
SMCC, USA