Sask in motion’s First Flash Mob!

Flash Mobbers Make their way to ground zero.

Who is having more fun, the kid playing or the kid sitting?

Success! On June 28^th we pulled off our very first Sask in motion flash mob!

It was a total experiment with a new tactic for us. Flash mob have been literally popping up out of nowhere all over the world and we wanted to try.

So.. try we did, and guess, we pulled it off! We had around 50 people with a 50/50 split between adults and kids(5-12 years old). We were all decked out in our matching “Only 15%” t-shirts. We had a Vuvuzela, a couple soccer balls and some good music.

Our goal was to surprise down town Regina during their lunch break with the message that only 15% of kids are active enough.

Here’s how we did it:

Our plan was to show the public what 15% actually looks like. So we set a goal of recruiting 50 people to participate in our flash mob. With volunteers including friends, family, business associates and a great group of kids from one of the YMCA’s summer day camps we found enough people.

We sent all of our volunteers a note to meet in Victoria Park close to the Scarth Street mall in Regina where we would be putting on the flash mob. No one knew what they would be doing; although I’m sure they guessed it would be something active (we are SK in motion after all). The lead councilor from the YMCA day camp did know what was going to be happening so she could prep her team and the kids.

Once everyone was at the park and they received their instructions it was now or never! In 3 groups of about 15, about 20 seconds apart we made our way over to flash mob ground zero.

I led group one over with our music ready to go and our t-shirts on. My group was mainly adults; it was our mission to set up the perimeter of the flash mob area. (As illustrated by this beautiful diagram my office buddie Graham created.)

Nicole led group 2 over with a mix of adults and the awesome day camper kids! [Flash mob experiment lesson #1 happened right about now]: Always make sure the correct people have to correct props. Group 2 arrived without the soccer ball that according to the master plan, would start a friendly game of soccer between the kids (hence the adult perimeter) The adults were getting their grove on to the music, so yes, they were being active too. So we encountered our first hiccup, which leads me to.. [Flash mob experiment lesson # 2]: Improvise! With no soccer ball and a bunch of kids who were supposed to be active according to my master plan, I did the only thing there was to do… jumped in the middle of it all and tried to get those kids to dance to the music!

Finally ( after a very long 20 seconds) groups 3 made it with the soccer balls, and we were back on course! The adults danced and the kids scurried around running, jumping, kicking, throwing any active verb you can think of these kids embodied it. It was awesome.

So we had 50 people being active in the middle of a busy down town lunch spot, now it was time to send a message. Graham blew the Vuvuzela (in case you’re not sure what that is, it’s one of those crazy horns you hear if you’ve been watching the world cup). The horn was everyone’s signal to stop being active and sit down right where they were, accept for 7 of the kids.. which is about 15% of the 50 people, if we did our math right.

Those 7 kids kept running and playing around all of us sedentary people. It was a pretty striking image of how few 15% actually is. [Flash mob planning tip]: The active 15% kids were given bracelets to help them remember that they were going to keep on playing when everyone else took a seat.

Not only did the active 15% keep on playing but the other kids were given toy cells phones to pull out and play on (representing screen time.. get it?). The effect was better than we could have hoped for the kids playing were having fun and enjoying themselves while the screen time, sedentary kids looked bored and sad. We couldn’t have asked for a better endorsement for being active.

After a giving the crowd few minutes to soak up the image of Only 15% of Saskatchewan’s kids being active, Graham blew the Vuvuzela one more time as our signal to disperse. [Flash mob lesson # 3]: Big finish. It ended but it didn’t feel over so I screamed out www.saskatchewaninmotion.ca. It was effective in a rush but next time we want to make sure people know what we are there to say, so we’ll have to work on that element.

Overall we accomplished everything we set out to with our first try!

• The public was surprised
• The public noticed us, watched and were intrigued
• We had volunteers participate in raising awareness around the physical inactivity crisis
• We got great photos and video (coming soon to YouTube)
• We even got local media coverage. Thanks CTV
• We successfully completed our flash mob experiment
• Most importantly we had FUN!!!

We’re not done yet.. do you want to be involved in an in motion  commotion? You can plan an event with our help, volunteer to participate, even do one on your own and send it to us. A toolkit to help you is on the way.

Tell us if you’re interested and what you think in the comments below.

Kenji