Ideas from everyone
Get ideas out of every person in the room, quiet ones included, by thinking alone, then in pairs, then in fours, before anything is shared with everyone.
60 minutes, in person. Serves 8 to 12.
How to run it
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Check-in
5 minSay what the room will leave with. Then ask: "One word for how you're arriving." Take the words in any order, not round the circle.
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1-2-4-All
20 minTime in pairs and fours: four minutes in pairs and six in fours
Write the question on the wall and read it out. "First you'll think alone, then in a pair, then two pairs together. Nothing is shared with everyone until the end." Two minutes alone, writing every idea down, then four minutes in pairs and six in fours: "Share, build on each other's ideas, keep the strongest." Each foursome writes the ideas it's keeping on sticky notes, one per note, and posts them on the wall. Nobody presents them; the wall speaks for the room.
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Post-Up
10 minSorting: stacking duplicates and nothing more
Everyone reads the whole wall in silence. Then sort it by stacking duplicates and nothing more. "Anyone can move any note, and nobody talks." Two notes that are the same idea go one on top of the other, so the wall shows each idea once.
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Heat Map Vote
15 minIdeas taken forward: the three hottest
Give everyone ten small dots. "Put dots on the ideas you'd most want to see happen. Stack them if you like, on your own ideas too. No talking." When the dots stop moving, step back and look at where the heat is. Take the three hottest forward, and rewrite each as one sentence someone outside the room would understand.
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Commit: who does what by when
10 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. The owner writes "I will [what] by [when]" on a card, reads it out and sticks it under the result. Only owners speak. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Write that on the wall too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
1-2-4-All is a Liberating Structure, by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Heat Map Vote comes from the Google Ventures design sprint.
90 minutes, in person. Serves 8 to 12.
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Check-in
10 minSay what the room will leave with and point to the three steps on the wall. Then ask: "In one sentence: what do you need from the next ninety minutes?" Take answers in any order, not round the circle. If someone passes, move on.
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1-2-4-All
25 minTime in pairs and fours: five minutes in pairs and eight in fours
Write the question on the wall and read it out. "First you'll think alone, then in a pair, then two pairs together. Nothing is shared with everyone until the end." Two minutes alone, writing every idea down, then five minutes in pairs and eight in fours: "Share, build on each other's ideas, keep the strongest." Each foursome writes the ideas it's keeping on sticky notes, one per note, and posts them on the wall. Nobody presents them; the wall speaks for the room.
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Post-Up
20 minSorting: clustering ideas of the same kind and labelling each cluster
Everyone reads the whole wall in silence. Then sort it by clustering ideas of the same kind and labelling each cluster. "Anyone can move any note, and nobody talks." Two notes that are the same idea go one on top of the other, so the wall shows each idea once.
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Heat Map Vote
20 minIdeas taken forward: the five hottest
Give everyone ten small dots. "Put dots on the ideas you'd most want to see happen. Stack them if you like, on your own ideas too. No talking." When the dots stop moving, step back and look at where the heat is. Take the five hottest forward, and rewrite each as one sentence someone outside the room would understand.
In the 90 also: Before rewriting, ask three volunteers which idea surprised them by how hot it ran. One sentence each.
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Commit: who does what by when
15 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. The owner writes "I will [what] by [when]" on a card, reads it out and sticks it under the result. Only owners speak. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Write that on the wall too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
In the 90 also: Ask each owner one question: "What could stop this?" One sentence back. If the answer is another person, that person is in the commitment too.
90 minutes, remote. Serves 8 to 12.
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Check-in
10 minSay what the room will leave with and show the three steps on the board. Then ask: "In one sentence: what do you need from the next ninety minutes? Type it in the chat, but don't press Enter until I say go." Say "Go" and read the chat out loud in one pass. It's faster than a round, and nobody answers in the shadow of the person before them.
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1-2-4-All
25 minTime in pairs and fours: five minutes in pairs and eight in fours
Put the question at the top of the Wall frame and read it out. Two minutes alone, everyone typing every idea into their own column. Then pairs meet in breakout rooms of two, the recipe's one breakout round, and agree which of their ideas to keep. Back in the main room the fours meet in writing: two pairs copy the ideas they're keeping into one shared column and build on each other's. Timings are five minutes in pairs and eight in fours. When the fours finish, move the personal columns off the Wall frame, so only the shared columns are left. Nobody presents; the frame speaks for the room.
Board: Frame 1, "Wall": the question at the top, one named column per person, and room for one shared column per four.
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Post-Up
20 minSorting: clustering ideas of the same kind and labelling each cluster
Everyone reads the Wall frame in silence. Then sort it by clustering ideas of the same kind and labelling each cluster. "Anyone can move any note. No chat." Two notes that are the same idea go one on top of the other, so the frame shows each idea once.
Board: Uses the Wall frame. Have a second sticky colour ready for cluster labels.
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Heat Map Vote
20 minIdeas taken forward: the five hottest
Give everyone ten voting stamps, or ten dot stickers if your board has no stamp. "Put stamps on the ideas you'd most want to see happen. Stack them if you like, on your own ideas too. No chat." When the stamps stop moving, zoom out and look at where the heat is. Take the five hottest forward into the Forward frame, and rewrite each as one sentence someone outside the room would understand.
In the 90 also: Before rewriting, ask three volunteers which idea surprised them by how hot it ran. One sentence each.
Board: Uses the Wall frame. Frame 2, "Forward": one sentence per idea taken forward.
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Commit: who does what by when
15 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. Owners type "I will [what] by [when]" into the Commitments frame, under the result they own. Read every commitment back out loud. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Type that into the frame too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
In the 90 also: Ask each owner one question: "What could stop this?" One sentence back. If the answer is another person, that person is in the commitment too.
Board: Frame "Commitments": one column per result, with space for "I will [what] by [when]".
60 minutes, in person. Serves 8 to 12.
-
Check-in
5 minSay what the room will leave with. Then ask: "One word for how you're arriving." Take the words in any order, not round the circle.
-
1-2-4-All
20 minTime in pairs and fours: four minutes in pairs and six in fours
Write the question on the wall and read it out. "First you'll think alone, then in a pair, then two pairs together. Nothing is shared with everyone until the end." Two minutes alone, writing every idea down, then four minutes in pairs and six in fours: "Share, build on each other's ideas, keep the strongest." Each foursome writes the ideas it's keeping on sticky notes, one per note, and posts them on the wall. Nobody presents them; the wall speaks for the room.
-
Post-Up
10 minSorting: stacking duplicates and nothing more
Everyone reads the whole wall in silence. Then sort it by stacking duplicates and nothing more. "Anyone can move any note, and nobody talks." Two notes that are the same idea go one on top of the other, so the wall shows each idea once.
-
Heat Map Vote
15 minIdeas taken forward: the three hottest
Give everyone ten small dots. "Put dots on the ideas you'd most want to see happen. Stack them if you like, on your own ideas too. No talking." When the dots stop moving, step back and look at where the heat is. Take the three hottest forward, and rewrite each as one sentence someone outside the room would understand.
-
Commit: who does what by when
10 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. The owner writes "I will [what] by [when]" on a card, reads it out and sticks it under the result. Only owners speak. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Write that on the wall too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
60 minutes, remote. Serves 8 to 12.
-
Check-in
5 minSay what the room will leave with. Then ask: "One word for how you're arriving. Type it in the chat, but don't press Enter until I say go." Say "Go" and read the chat out loud in one pass. It's faster than a round, and nobody answers in the shadow of the person before them.
-
1-2-4-All
20 minTime in pairs and fours: four minutes in pairs and six in fours
Put the question at the top of the Wall frame and read it out. No breakout: the pairs and fours happen in writing. Two minutes alone, everyone typing every idea into their own column. Then pairs, named in the chat, add a build under each of their partner's notes. Then two pairs copy the ideas they're keeping into one shared column. Timings are four minutes in pairs and six in fours. When the fours finish, move the personal columns off the Wall frame, so only the shared columns are left. Nobody presents; the frame speaks for the room.
Board: Frame 1, "Wall": the question at the top, one named column per person, and room for one shared column per four.
-
Post-Up
10 minSorting: stacking duplicates and nothing more
Everyone reads the Wall frame in silence. Then sort it by stacking duplicates and nothing more. "Anyone can move any note. No chat." Two notes that are the same idea go one on top of the other, so the frame shows each idea once.
Board: Uses the Wall frame. Have a second sticky colour ready for cluster labels.
-
Heat Map Vote
15 minIdeas taken forward: the three hottest
Give everyone ten voting stamps, or ten dot stickers if your board has no stamp. "Put stamps on the ideas you'd most want to see happen. Stack them if you like, on your own ideas too. No chat." When the stamps stop moving, zoom out and look at where the heat is. Take the three hottest forward into the Forward frame, and rewrite each as one sentence someone outside the room would understand.
Board: Uses the Wall frame. Frame 2, "Forward": one sentence per idea taken forward.
-
Commit: who does what by when
10 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. Owners type "I will [what] by [when]" into the Commitments frame, under the result they own. Read every commitment back out loud. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Type that into the frame too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
Board: Frame "Commitments": one column per result, with space for "I will [what] by [when]".
Comments & Discussion
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Recent Comments (3)
This workshop was incredibly effective for our remote team! We adapted it slightly for a virtual setting and it worked wonderfully. The key was breaking into smaller breakout rooms.
Great resource! One tip: prepare all materials the day before to avoid any last-minute rushes.
Used this for our quarterly planning session. The structured approach really helped us stay on track!