United We TransformCreate teamsGrade your agenda
Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Dunbar Conversations
Relationship Mapping

Dunbar Conversations

Dunbar says there's a limit to the number of people you can know well. Discuss and prioritize to maintain your social network!

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Pairs, Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
QuietENERGY
In personSETTING
High 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. Don't leave your network to chance - what will you do?
  2. Read the wikipedia article on Dunbar's number and examine the illustration on meaningful networking
  3. Individually write down the names of people that you believe you have a close social connections
  4. In pairs, discuss
  5. How many good friends do you have?1
  6. How can you go about establishing that relationship?4
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

Don't leave your network to chance - what will you do?

Read the wikipedia article on Dunbar's number and examine the illustration on meaningful networking

Individually write down the names of people that you believe you have a close social connections

In pairs, discuss

How many good friends do you have?1

How can you go about establishing that relationship?4

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: Dunbar Conversations. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Don't leave your network to chance - what will you do?; Read the wikipedia article on Dunbar's number and examine the illustration on meaningful networking; Individually write down the names of people that you believe you have a close social connections; In pairs, discuss. 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; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook.)
  • 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