Best Year Ever

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Synthesize a team's shared future aspirations into a structured, visual story canvas.

Use it when: Annual planning, team kickoff meetings, or visioning sessions when a group needs to align on what success looks like in concrete, memorable terms.

Skip it when: Immediate crisis response, detailed operational budgeting, or teams with active unresolved conflict over basic team safety and trust.

Group arrangement: Teams of 3 to 6 people

Timing: Knowmium suggests 30 to 45 minutes; 45 minutes provides sufficient time for briefing, visual drafting, presentations, and debrief.

Materials and tools

• One blank poster sheet (flip chart or butcher paper) per group
• Assorted colored markers (at least 3 per group)
• Sticky notes (1 pad per group)
• Tape or glue sticks (optional, for mounting images or notes)
• Digital whiteboard (Miro, Mural, Limnu, or Board) with pre-drawn canvas frames if running online

Before participants arrive

1. In person: Draw the six-box canvas layout on each group's poster paper (Brainstorm, Cover, Headlines, Sidebars, Quotes, Images) before participants arrive, or provide printed layout sheets.
2. Online: Create one virtual canvas per breakout room with the six sections clearly labeled and provide guest editing access.

Say this to open

Imagine one year from today, a major magazine or industry publication runs a feature story about our team having the best year in its history. In your small groups, you will design the front cover and feature story canvas. Fill in your main cover concept, big headlines, supporting sidebars, quotes, and quick illustrations. Let us begin by brainstorming ideas for what went right.

How to run it

1. Introduce the canvas 5 minutes

   Explain the six sections of the canvas: Brainstorm (initial rough ideas), Cover (the big central future concept), Headlines (the specific major accomplishments), Sidebars (interesting facets or surprising sub-stories), Quotes (imagined comments from customers, partners, or team members), and Images (sketches or icons showing the success). Form groups of 3 to 6 participants and point each team to its workspace.

2. Brainstorm and draft canvas 25 minutes

   Groups work together on their canvas. Recommend spending the first 5 minutes silently adding sticky notes to the Brainstorm area, then selecting the strongest ideas to flesh out the Cover, Headlines, Sidebars, Quotes, and Images. Remind groups when 10 minutes and 2 minutes remain. Groups select one or two members to present their board.

3. Present canvases 10 minutes

   Each group takes up to 2 minutes to present their finished canvas to the whole room. If running with more than 4 groups, use a 10-minute gallery walk where half the group stands by their poster to present while others rotate to view and listen, then swap after 5 minutes.

4. Debrief and harvest 5 minutes

   Lead a whole-group discussion using the debrief questions. Collect 2 to 3 practical takeaways that the team wants to convert into current initiatives.

Debrief questions

• Across the different canvases, what common themes or achievements appeared repeatedly?
• Which headline or quote felt surprisingly achievable right now?
• What is one practical step our group can take this month toward making a headline real?

Finished output: A completed visual canvas per small group detailing a shared vision of success, and a list of identified real-world initiatives.

Remote

Set up breakout rooms with 3 to 6 participants each. Provide a shared digital whiteboard (such as Miro or Mural) with one pre-formatted canvas board per breakout room. Participants use digital sticky notes, text boxes, and web image searches to populate their boards. All groups return to the main plenary room to share screens during the 2-minute presentations.

Hybrid

Pair in-person participants with on-site tables and remote participants in dedicated virtual breakout rooms. Both formats use the same shared digital canvas board so in-person and remote participants can view each other's work during plenary presentations.

Access and participation choices

• Drawing is optional; participants may use written headlines, bullet points, or pasted digital images instead of sketching.
• Any participant may contribute privately by writing sticky notes instead of speaking aloud to the team.
• Team members may opt out of presenting to the room without penalty.

If the session gets stuck

Groups spend the entire time talking about ideas and leave the canvas blank.

Prompt them at the 10-minute mark to appoint a scribe and begin moving at least three concrete headlines onto the board.

Participants say they cannot draw or design.

Clarify that stick figures, simple symbols, or bold block text count as visuals. The goal is clear communication, not artistic polish.

Terms used here

• Sidebar: A brief secondary article or note that sits alongside the main feature story, highlighting a quirky detail or supporting fact.
• Canvas: A structured visual template divided into specific sections to capture ideas in an organized layout.