Pick the top three

Say 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.

Rounds: two rounds

Write the question at the top of one sheet per person, and read it out: "Write three answers each. No talking. When I call time, pass your sheet to the left and build on what's already there." Run two rounds of four minutes. Building on an idea counts: "badges for the first project" can become "badges for the first project, sent by a teammate". When the last round ends, everyone copies the two strongest ideas on the sheet in front of them onto sticky notes, one per note, and puts them on the wall.

The full Brainwriting exercise

Missing-note pass: none

"Move the notes so the ones that say the same thing sit together. Anyone can move any note. Nobody talks." When the moving slows, stop the sort. Then name each cluster on a different-coloured note, in a few words that say what it's about. A note that fits nowhere stays on its own and still gets voted on.

The full Affinity Diagramming exercise

Talk before confirming: the top three, a minute each

Give everyone three dots. "Put your dots on the clusters you'd give your own time to next month. You can stack them. Everyone votes at once, and nobody campaigns." Count the dots and write each total on the wall. Then talk through the top three, a minute each: for each, someone who wrote a note in it says why it matters, and anyone who disagrees says so. Confirm the three with a show of hands. If two tie for third, vote again on just those two.

The full Dot Voting exercise

Each 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.