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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: 99273ada1ab86d60026a8d2a67a12bdf8f9eab6c42288e22785647b2747643a0

# Gallery of Results

Subgroups build visual posters capturing achievements, obstacles, and lessons from an initiative, then tour the displays to record questions and draw shared insights.

**Time:** 75 minutes. Source allows 60 to 120 minutes. UWT standardizes a 75-minute agenda for 6 to 24 participants.
**People:** 6 to 24. Teams of 3 to 5 people (forming 2 to 6 teams across 6 to 24 participants) working on separate thematic panels, followed by whole-room gallery browsing.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Collate and visually present project outcomes across categories so a group can identify cross-cutting achievements, operational barriers, and practical lessons.
**Use it when:** Use at project milestones, program reviews, or closeout workshops when a team needs to examine outcomes across multiple workstreams without relying on sequential slide presentations.
**Skip it when:** Skip during early discovery phases before concrete work has occurred, or when project data must remain strictly confidential between separate operational units.

## Materials and tools

- 1 flipchart pad or large poster board per subgroup
- 1 pack of thick chisel-tip markers per subgroup
- 2 pads of sticky notes per subgroup
- 1 roll of painter tape
- Pens for each participant
- Optional pre-printed project data summaries, milestone charts, or photos

## Before participants arrive

1. Determine team count based on attendance: divide participants into balanced groups of 3 to 5 (for example, 13 people form groups of 4, 4, and 5; 17 people form groups of 4, 4, 4, and 5).
2. Designate a distinct wall or table station for each team with clear walking paths between them.
3. Place 1 large sheet of paper, markers, and sticky notes at each station.
4. Pre-label each station sheet with one category from: Achievements, Challenges Overcome, Operational Surprises, and Lessons for Next Steps. If there are fewer than 4 teams, select the top priority categories. If there are 5 or 6 teams, repeat categories and encourage distinct workstream focuses.
5. If running hybrid or remote, pre-configure a digital whiteboard with designated frames matching these pre-labeled categories before the session begins.

## Say this to open

Welcome. Today we will build a Gallery of Results to review our recent project phase. Instead of sitting through slide decks, each team will build a visual panel summarizing a key dimension of our work: what succeeded, where we hit roadblocks, and what we learned. Afterward, we will tour the gallery, leave written questions, and pull out our core lessons.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce scope and assign themes (5 minutes)

Deliver opening script. Review the exhibit categories: Achievements, Challenges Overcome, Operational Surprises, and Lessons for Next Steps. Divide participants into teams of 3 to 5 and direct each team to an assigned station. If two teams share a category, ask them to focus on different project phases or workstreams. Clarify that panels must use bullet points, quotes, and quick diagrams rather than dense paragraphs.

### 2. Draft exhibit panels (25 minutes)

Teams work at their assigned station to create a poster highlighting 3 to 5 concrete facts or stories under their category. Example: Under Operational Surprises, a team sketches a broken bridge icon with the bullet: 'Vendor delivery delayed by 3 weeks; we reallocated regional stock to stay on schedule.' Ensure all subgroup members can contribute ideas and verify that writing is large enough to read from several feet away.

### 3. Mount and label exhibits (5 minutes)

Teams secure their completed poster to the wall or display table using painter tape. Ensure there is clear border space on or next to the poster for visitor sticky notes.

### 4. Conduct gallery walk (20 minutes)

Participants circulate individually or in pairs to inspect all exhibits. Each person carries sticky notes and writes at least 1 clarifying question or validating observation per exhibit, sticking it directly in the open space around that poster. Authors circulate freely to view other boards.

### 5. Plenary review and debrief (15 minutes)

Gather the full room. Give each team up to 1 minute to read aloud 1 key sticky note question left on their board and provide a brief response. Note any common themes across duplicate categories. Then transition to whole-room synthesis using the debrief questions, inviting 1 to 2 spoken reflections per question for a total of 3 to 6 spoken reflections across the room.

### 6. Capture and close (5 minutes)

Designate one person to photograph every panel and its attached sticky notes for the project record. Thank participants and collect reusable markers and materials.


## Debrief questions

- Looking across all panels, which single achievement had the greatest ripple effect on the overall initiative?
- What unexpected obstacle appeared in more than one workstream?
- Which lesson documented today must change our standard operating procedure going forward?

**Finished output:** A set of completed visual panels documenting project milestones, challenges, and lessons, annotated with participant peer questions and preserved via digital photographs.

## Remote

Pre-configure a digital whiteboard (such as Mural, Miro, or Padlet) with predefined frames matching the categories. Place participants into breakout rooms of 3 to 5 for 25 minutes to build their digital panel using text cards and uploaded images. Bring everyone back to the main room for a 20-minute silent browsing period where individuals add digital comments. Run plenary debrief in the main video room.

## Hybrid

All participants use a shared digital whiteboard pre-configured with category frames as the single source of truth. Remote teams work directly in their assigned virtual frames. In-person teams build on physical boards, and a designated in-room co-facilitator or team member photographs the poster and uploads it to the digital whiteboard during Step 3. During the gallery walk, all participants post sticky notes onto the digital board so remote and in-room feedback is visible to everyone at the same time.

## Access and participation choices

- Provide seating at all gallery stations so standing or walking during the tour is optional.
- Offer pre-printed project data sheets and plain text versions of prompts for participants who prefer reading over drawing.
- Allow participants to contribute anonymous written sticky notes instead of speaking aloud during the plenary debrief.

## If the session gets stuck

**One team writes long paragraphs of small text that nobody can read from 3 feet away.**

Provide thick chisel-tip markers and ask the group to convert each paragraph into a 5-word headline with an accompanying diagram or metric.

**Participants bunch up at the first station during the gallery walk.**

Direct half the participants to start at station 1 and the other half to start at station 3, moving in opposite directions.


## Terms used here

- Gallery Walk: A facilitation technique where materials are posted around a room and participants walk around to review, critique, and annotate them like museum visitors.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in the Participatory Methods online catalogue (2024-2025) under 'Gallery of results'.

Retained the core mechanic from Participatory Methods: dividing into teams, building category-based visual panels of project results, touring exhibits, and collective debriefing. UWT standardized step-by-step timing calibrated to 75 minutes, flexible subgroup sizing of 3 to 5 people to handle group sizes of 6 to 24 without isolates, explicit guidance for duplicate categories when team counts exceed four, and balanced speaker allocation during the plenary debrief.

[Participatory Methods](https://participatorymethods.com/activities/gallery-of-results/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/gallery-of-results/