# 25/10 Crowd Sourcing Participants write bold ideas anonymously on index cards, mill around to exchange them, and complete five rounds of independent scoring from 1 to 5. The facilitator counts down from 25 to surface the group's top-scoring ideas. **Time:** 25 minutes. Core 25-minute timeline aligns with the 20 to 30 minute source recommendation. **People:** 12 to 24. Whole group milling individually, then parallel individual scoring. ## Choose this exercise **Purpose:** Quickly score and rank a large pool of anonymous ideas without discussion or anchoring bias. **Use it when:** Use when a group of 12 or more needs to prioritize headlines or takeaways rapidly and energize the room through physical movement. **Skip it when:** Skip when you have fewer than 12 people, require deep analytical review of business cases, or need a binding consensus vote. ## Materials and tools - One blank 3x5 index card or half-sheet of paper per participant - One pen or marker per participant - A bell, chime, or sound maker to signal stops - Roll of painter's tape or pins - Flip chart or whiteboard with markers ## Before participants arrive 1. Clear tables and chairs to the perimeter so participants can walk freely without obstacles. 2. Write the prompt on a flip chart visible across the room: 'If you were 10 times bolder, what big idea would you recommend, and what first step would you take to get started?' 3. Place one blank index card and pen at each seat. ## Say this to open Take your card and pen. On the front of your card, write one bold idea and the immediate first step you would take. Write clearly in two sentences or less. Do not write your name on the card. Keep your card completely anonymous. ## How to run it ### 1. Write bold ideas (4 minutes) Participants write their bold idea and first step in silence on the front of their card. Remind them to leave their name off and keep it to two sentences. The step ends when the timer rings. ### 2. Mill, pass, and score (8 minutes) Explain the 1 to 5 scale: 1 means not bold or impractical, and 5 means brilliant and immediately actionable. Ring the chime. Participants stand and mill, continuously passing cards face down for 60 seconds. Signal stop. Each person reads the card in hand and writes a score from 1 to 5 on the back. Flip cards face down and repeat the mill, pass, and score sequence for four more cycles, making five scoring rounds total. ### 3. Tally card totals (2 minutes) After round five, tell everyone to stop moving. Participants add up the five scores on the back of the card they currently hold and write the total at the bottom. ### 4. Call out top ideas (6 minutes) Call out: 'Who holds a card with a total of 25?' If a hand goes up, have the holder read the idea aloud. Tape the card to the board. Call down one point at a time: 'Any 24s? Any 23s?' Continue downward until approximately 10 top-rated cards are posted. If multiple cards share the cutoff score, post them all. ### 5. Debrief patterns and next actions (5 minutes) Direct attention to the wall of posted cards. Invite two or three participants to highlight common themes or surprising proposals across the top ideas. ## Debrief questions - What common patterns or shared themes appear across these top-ranked ideas? - Which top idea surprises you most, and why? - What is one practical barrier the group would need to address to take action on the highest-scoring idea? **Finished output:** A posted collection of the approximately 10 highest-scoring participant ideas, scored on a scale from 5 to 25. ## Remote Run in a digital whiteboard or shared spreadsheet. Participants submit their idea anonymously via a form. The facilitator places each idea on an individual card. In five timed 60-second rounds, participants visit assigned cards or randomly choose unvisited cards and add a private numeric score from 1 to 5 in an obscured cell or folded note. The facilitator sums the scores and displays the top 10. ## Hybrid Hybrid delivery degrades the core mechanic because anonymous in-person milling cannot blend directly with digital card passing. To run fairly across both groups, have in-person participants and remote participants all enter their cards into a single digital whiteboard using their phones or laptops, then conduct the five scoring rounds entirely on the digital board. ## Access and participation choices - Participants with limited mobility can remain seated while two volunteer couriers exchange cards between them and the milling crowd. - Participants may pass without writing an idea by turning in a blank card, or choose to act strictly as a card-passer and scorer. ## If the session gets stuck **A participant receives their own idea during a scoring round.** Instruct them to immediately swap cards face down with the nearest person before reading or scoring. **A participant forgets how many scores are on the back or writes their score on the front.** Remind everyone at the start of each round to keep the card face down until stop is called, and only write one single number on the blank back side. ## Terms used here - Liberating Structure: A facilitation framework designed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless using simple micro-rules to engage whole groups. ## Sources and adaptation Observed in WorkshopBank. The text attributes the 25/10 Crowd Sourcing method to Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless as part of Liberating Structures, noting inspiration from Keith Johnstone. Retained the standard five-round mill-and-pass 1-to-5 scoring mechanic from the source text. Specified the group ceiling to 24 for standard room planning, added exact round timings summing to 25 minutes, split the core cycle into distinct concise steps to respect word limits, and added practical accommodation rules for seated passing. [WorkshopBank](https://workshopbank.com/tools/25-10-crowd-sourcing) Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/25-10-crowd-sourcing-workshopbank/