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: e61c891005a2959429c2a0286bb86a2a8f2f1d6345f8ee222d20a0df3870d7a8

# Blind Name-Tag

Participants place an index card against their forehead and write their first name without seeing what they write. Small groups then examine the tags, decipher each name, and complete brief introductions.

**Time:** 10 minutes. UWT suggested 10 minutes to allow demonstration, blind writing, small-group deciphering, and debrief.
**People:** 4 to 24. Small groups of 3 to 5 people (pairs allowed if total is 4)

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Introduce participants by name through a brief physical coordination challenge that lowers social inhibition.
**Use it when:** Use at the start of a meeting or training when group members do not yet know one another's names.
**Skip it when:** Skip when fine motor challenges make overhead writing uncomfortable, or when high-stakes formal introductions are required.

## Materials and tools

- One blank 3x5 index card or sturdy cardstock slip per person
- One felt-tip marker or pen per person
- One roll of painter's tape or adhesive badge clip (optional, to wear cards afterward)

## Before participants arrive

1. Place markers and blank index cards on tables or distribute one of each to every participant as they arrive.

## Say this to open

We are going to make name tags without looking at what we write. Take your index card and hold it flat against your forehead. With your other hand, write your first name on the card. Keep the card on your forehead until you finish.

## How to run it

### 1. Explain and demonstrate (2 minutes)

Distribute materials. Deliver the opening script. Demonstrate the movement by placing a blank card against your forehead and holding a marker up to it. Confirm everyone has their card and marker ready.

### 2. Write blind name tags (3 minutes)

Give participants the cue to start writing. Everyone holds the card flat against their forehead and writes their first name without taking the card down. Give a 30-second warning before stopping.

### 3. Share and read in small groups (3 minutes)

Have participants turn into small groups of 3 to 5 people (or pairs if total is 4). Participants lower their cards and reveal them. Group members take turns reading the names aloud, commenting on legibility, and confirming pronunciation.

### 4. Debrief and optional wear (2 minutes)

Bring the whole room back together. Invite 2 or 3 volunteers to show particularly creative or unreadable cards. Pose one reflection question. Offer tape for anyone who wishes to wear their tag for the rest of the session.


## Debrief questions

- What surprised you about how your letters turned out?
- How did relying on muscle feel instead of sight change the way you wrote?
- Whose card in your group was easiest or hardest to decipher?

**Finished output:** A handwritten, sight-deprived name card produced by each participant, shared within their subgroup.

## Remote

Participants use any blank slip of paper and marker at their desk. Everyone holds paper to forehead on camera, writes their name, then shows the paper to their webcam simultaneously. Split into breakout rooms of 3 to 5 for introductions.

## Hybrid

Room participants form small clusters on site; remote participants form a dedicated video breakout room. Both groups follow identical instructions to hold paper to forehead and write. Remote participants hold cards to webcams while in-person participants show each other.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants with shoulder or arm fatigue may hold the card flat on top of a table with eyes closed, or place the card under their chin facing down.
- Any participant may choose to write their name on the table with eyes open, or simply state their name verbally during group review without displaying a card.

## If the session gets stuck

**Ink bleeds through thin paper onto skin.**

Use thicker index cards or cardstock rather than single-ply office paper, and choose standard felt-tip markers rather than permanent ink.

**A participant writes backward or completely off the edge of the card.**

Affirm that unexpected letter positions are the normal outcome of the activity. Do not require redos; small groups use the visual puzzle to start the conversation.


## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Playmeo collection, which attributes the activity to Mark Collard.

The core mechanic of holding an index card to the forehead to write one's name blindly comes directly from Playmeo. UWT refined the activity into a 10-minute running plan, adjusted group sizing arithmetic, added mobility choices, and detailed workable hybrid procedures.

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/ice-breakers-get-to-know-you-games/blind-name-tag)

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/ice-breakers-get-to-know-you-games/blind-name-tag/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/fun-name-game-that-creates-instant-connections-blind-name-tag/