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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Aerobics
Introductions · Relationship Mapping

Aerobics

Aerobics is an introductions exercise for relationship mapping: it helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25), Pairs, Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In personSETTING
Low cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Like the “aerobics” in the title implies, you want to do lots of little activities/exercises that drive the importance of relationships and have people start meeting intentionally and more effectively
  2. Put people in People Science teams 1.Have everyone in the group shake hands for 6 seconds (aka - hold each person's hand for 6 second
  3. Yes it gets a little uncomfortable) 2.Have each person share one person in the room and outside the room that they think are very well connected
  4. See if you can connect the two people through other people in the room 3.Adopt the practice of sharing time equally by sharing one personal or professional mini- story to tell to the others in the group 4.As a group identify one problem/challenge that the group could solve and take turns with each person offering up a resource or connection that could help...
  5. let the group decide and complete in under 2 minutes 6.Break up the groups and have each person introduce one other person in the group to someone not in their group
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

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Prompts to use +

Like the “aerobics” in the title implies, you want to do lots of little activities/exercises that drive the importance of relationships and have people start meeting intentionally and more effectively

Put people in People Science teams 1.Have everyone in the group shake hands for 6 seconds (aka - hold each person's hand for 6 second

Yes it gets a little uncomfortable) 2.Have each person share one person in the room and outside the room that they think are very well connected

See if you can connect the two people through other people in the room 3.Adopt the practice of sharing time equally by sharing one personal or professional mini- story to tell to the others in the group 4.As a group identify one problem/challenge that the group could solve and take turns with each person offering up a resource or connection that could help...

let the group decide and complete in under 2 minutes 6.Break up the groups and have each person introduce one other person in the group to someone not in their group

Run this with your AI assistant +

Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Aerobics. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Like the “aerobics” in the title implies, you want to do lots of little activities/exercises that drive the importance of relationships and have people start meeting intentionally and more effectively; Put people in People Science teams 1.Have everyone in the group shake hands for 6 seconds (aka - hold each person's hand for 6 second; Yes it gets a little uncomfortable) 2.Have each person share one person in the room and outside the room that they think are very well connected; See if you can connect the two people through other people in the room 3.Adopt the practice of sharing time equally by sharing one personal or professional mini- story to tell to the others in the group 4.As a group identify one problem/challenge that the group could solve and take turns with each person offering up a resource or connection that could help.... Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Relationship Makers Handbook, Improv Encyclopedia; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (2 sources observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook, Improv Encyclopedia.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with