Find Someone Who

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Gather information and verify shared knowledge across the room through one-on-one peer interviews.

Use it when: Use at the beginning of a training session or review unit to activate background knowledge, revisit key terms, and prompt direct peer exchanges.

Skip it when: Skip when the group has fewer than eight people, when space prevents circulation, or when the room requires quiet solo work.

Group arrangement: Mingle format with rotating one-on-one brief partner exchanges; if an odd number of participants is present, the facilitator joins as a partner or one group forms a temporary trio

Timing: UWT 15-minute plan based on The Teacher Toolkit source instructions

Materials and tools

• One printed Find Someone Who worksheet per participant
• One pen or pencil per participant
• Countdown timer

Before participants arrive

1. Print one copy of the prompt worksheet for each attendee.
2. Clear aisles or arrange the room so participants can stand and walk around easily.

Say this to open

Take a worksheet and a pen. In a moment, you will stand up and mingle. Talk with one person at a time and ask questions from your sheet. When someone meets a description or answers correctly, write their name next to that item. You may only write each person's name once on your entire sheet, so you must talk with different people.

How to run it

1. Distribute sheets and clarify rules 3 minutes

   Hand each participant a prompt sheet and a pen. Read the opening script aloud. State the main rule clearly: each person's name can only appear once on your sheet. For example, if Jordan asks Pat 'Can you name two agile ceremonies?' and Pat answers 'Standup and retrospective', Jordan writes Pat's name next to that prompt and moves to someone else. Jordan cannot use Pat for any other line. Confirm everyone understands, and note that anyone may pass on answering any prompt.

2. Mingle and conduct peer interviews 5 minutes

   Signal participants to stand and pair up. Attendees ask each other prompts, record matching names, and rotate to new partners. Walk the room to help unpaired participants find each other. If an odd number of participants is present, join as an active interview partner or direct three participants to form a temporary trio where each person asks one question. Announce when two minutes remain in this segment.

3. Final interview push 3 minutes

   Call out that three minutes remain. Prompt participants to look for items they still need and seek out peers they have not spoken with yet. Stop the interviews at the end of the three minutes and ask everyone to return to their seats.

4. Review findings and debrief 4 minutes

   Ask the room the debrief questions. Invite up to three participants to share which prompts were easiest or hardest to match across the room, and take two brief examples of useful knowledge discovered. Keep total whole-room contributions to five and conclude on time.

Debrief questions

• Which prompt on your sheet was easiest to find a match for across the room?
• Which prompt took the longest or was hardest to find someone who could answer?
• What is one piece of knowledge or experience you discovered about a colleague today?

Finished output: Interview sheets filled with unique peer names and verified answers across the prompt list.

Remote

Provide each attendee with their own digital copy of the prompt sheet. Run six rapid breakout rounds of 75 seconds each, placing participants into random pairs. If an odd number of participants is present, the facilitator joins the breakout room with the extra person for each round. In each breakout, pairs ask each other prompts, record names on their personal sheet under the single-name constraint, and return to the main room. Clarify that completing 5 or 6 items within the allotted rounds is a solid result.

Hybrid

Run parallel interview tracks to maintain fair pacing. In-person attendees circulate in the physical room. Remote attendees run simultaneous 1-on-1 breakout rounds online. If an odd number occurs in either group, one dedicated facilitator pairs with the extra remote participant. Recombine both groups on the main screen for the step 4 debrief.

Access and participation choices

• Participants with limited mobility may sit at a stationary interview table while others rotate to them.
• Any participant may pass on answering any question without explanation, or participate solely as an interviewer.

If the session gets stuck

Participants form groups of three or four and talk socially instead of pairing up.

Step in gently and ask them to separate into distinct pairs so each conversation stays focused on one-on-one questions.

A participant asks one knowledgeable peer to answer three different prompts on their sheet.

Remind the room of the core constraint: you can only record each peer's name once on your sheet.