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

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 166a155875e7903cc6030182de4520413aa547ac1562380e46c874e1981b7175

# Celebrity Interview

An interviewer conducts an informal conversation with an invited guest, pauses so participants can generate questions in small groups, and uses those questions to guide the rest of the interview.

**Time:** 45 minutes. 45 minutes reflects the primary WorkshopBank sweet spot within its 35 to 60 minute range.
**People:** 10 to 24. Front-of-room pair (interviewer and guest) observed by audience. Audience works individually, in pairs or trios, and then combines into groups of 4 to 6 to generate priority questions.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Surface authentic explanations, practical rationale, and direct answers from a speaker using audience-generated questions rather than a prepared slide presentation.
**Use it when:** Use when a leader, specialist, or project lead needs to share context, strategic rationale, or lessons learned with a group without giving a one-way lecture.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the guest insists on reciting a scripted speech, when the room is in active unresolved conflict with the guest, or when communicating granular data tables that require line-by-line visual walkthroughs.

## Materials and tools

- Two chairs or stools for the interviewer and guest
- Index cards (1 per participant)
- Pens or pencils (1 per participant)
- Small side table for sorting cards
- Flip chart and markers for agreed actions and commitments
- Timer or mobile phone clock

## Before participants arrive

1. Conduct a 15-minute briefing with the guest before the session to explain the conversational tone and warn them that audience questions will be direct.
2. Prepare 6 to 8 open opening questions tailored to the guest and current context.
3. Place two chairs angled slightly toward each other and toward the audience at the front of the room without a table between them.
4. Place a small side table nearby for sorting index cards.
5. Distribute one index card and one pen to each audience seat.
6. Set up a flip chart and marker within view of the audience.

## Say this to open

Rather than sitting through a slide deck, we will run a conversation that you help shape. I will interview our guest for about 12 minutes to draw out the background. Listen for points that surprise you, points that seem unclear, and issues that touch your own work directly. Then you will work in small groups to write the questions you want answered, and we will spend the rest of our time putting those questions to our guest.

## How to run it

### 1. Frame and introduce (3 minutes)

Facilitator delivers the opening script. Introduce the guest in two or three sentences focusing on their current role and context instead of reading a full resume.

### 2. Opening interview (12 minutes)

Interviewer asks conversational, open questions about motivations, trade-offs, and recent obstacles. If the guest offers generic corporate slogans, probe immediately for an example. Finish with a question that bridges into the room's direct concerns, such as what the guest needs from this team.

### 3. Generate questions in 1-2-4 (7 minutes)

Pause the interview. Each person writes one question on their card (1 minute). Pairs compare cards and select the strongest inquiry (2 minutes; make one trio if the headcount is odd). Pairs then merge into groups of 4 to 6 to select or rewrite one priority question (3 minutes). Ensure no standalone pair remains. Collect one card per small group during the final minute.

### 4. Audience-driven interview (14 minutes)

Interviewer places the collected cards on the side table, scans them quickly, and groups similar themes. Put the strongest, most direct questions to the guest, paraphrasing where cards overlap. Probe for specific examples and keep the interaction conversational rather than reading cards like a formal deposition.

### 5. Whole-room debrief (5 minutes)

Turn to the audience and ask the debrief questions. Take 2 or 3 brief reflections from volunteers on what new understanding emerged and what patterns appeared across the questions.

### 6. Closing and forward look (4 minutes)

Interviewer gives the guest the final word by asking one forward-looking question: 'What is the single thing you most need this room to remember or act on next week?' Record any specific commitments on the flip chart, thank the guest, and end the session.


## Debrief questions

- Which answer revealed something useful that a regular status slide would have omitted?
- What common priority or concern showed up across our small-group questions?
- What practical action or expectation became clear for our team going forward?

**Finished output:** A set of prioritized participant question cards and a flip chart record of commitments or next steps.

## Remote

Pin or spotlight the video feeds of the interviewer and guest. Participants take 1 minute to draft a question on their own notes. Facilitator sends participants to breakout rooms of 2 for 2 minutes, then reorganizes or combines them into breakout rooms of 4 to 6 for 3 minutes to choose one question. A designated spokesperson from each room posts that single question into the main public chat. A co-facilitator copies the questions into a shared document or virtual board, clusters them by theme, and feeds them to the interviewer to ask during the audience-driven phase.

## Hybrid

Position the interviewer and guest in front of a room camera and microphone so remote participants can see and hear clearly. In-person participants run the 1-2-4 progression and hand physical cards to the interviewer. Remote participants join breakout rooms to run their 1-2-4 progression and post their final questions in the video meeting chat. A designated helper transcribes all questions submitted in chat onto index cards and places them directly onto the interviewer's side table alongside the in-person cards so all questions are reviewed and sorted together without preference.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may participate during small-group discussions by listening and helping refine a partner's card without writing or speaking publicly themselves.
- Question cards do not require names, allowing anonymous submissions without disclosure.

## If the session gets stuck

**The guest slips into a monologue or uses defensive corporate phrases.**

Politely interrupt: 'Let me pause you there. Can you give us a specific example of what that looked like on the ground?'

**Participants write complaints or broad statements rather than questions on their cards.**

Reframe the statement into an inquiry when reading it: 'This card highlights concern over resource bottlenecks. Guest, what is being done to clear those bottlenecks before next month?'

**Room count does not divide cleanly into quartets during small-group work.**

Ensure every final cluster has between 4 and 6 people. For 10 participants, combine five pairs into one group of 6 and one group of 4. For 14 participants, combine into two groups of 5 and one group of 4. Never leave a standalone pair in the final card submission round.


## Terms used here

- 1-2-4: A small-group sequence where people reflect individually (1), compare in pairs (2), and then consolidate ideas in groups of four to six (4).
- Celebrity: The invited guest, internal leader, subject matter expert, or user being interviewed.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in WorkshopBank. WorkshopBank attributes the Celebrity Interview method to Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless as part of Liberating Structures.

Retained the talk-show structure, conversational pre-briefing, and 1-2-4 question generation mechanic documented by WorkshopBank from Liberating Structures. Added explicit group recombination rules so no leftover pairs submit separate cards, standardized the co-facilitator question handover in hybrid settings to transcribe all chat submissions directly onto index cards, aligned remote collection with a shared digital workspace, and allocated a 5-minute debrief step summing to 45 minutes. Kept all step instructions under 90 words.

[WorkshopBank](https://workshopbank.com/tools/celebrity-interview)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/celebrity-interview-workshopbank/