# Group Order

Participants mingle around the room and rapidly organize themselves into a continuous line based on specific numerical, calendar, or alphabetical prompts.

**Time:** 10 minutes. Matches the 5 to 10 minute range in SessionLab.
**People:** 5 to 24. Whole-room mingling followed by single-line alignment.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Help participants meet others and quickly observe commonalities across the whole room without formal presentations.
**Use it when:** Use at the start of an in-person workshop or team session when participants need to get on their feet and talk informally.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the meeting requires immediate seated analytical focus, when floor space is tight, or when movement across the room poses safety or comfort issues.

## Materials and tools

- Clear open floor space allowing participants to stand in a continuous line
- Whistle, chime, or bell

## Before participants arrive

1. Move chairs and tables to the perimeter so the center of the room has a clear walking path.
2. Identify anchor points in the room for the two ends of the line (such as the left wall for low/start and right wall for high/end).

## Say this to open

We are going to do a fast warm-up called Group Order. In a moment, you will walk around the room and say hello to each other. When you hear the chime, I will call out an ordering rule. Work together to form a single line from one end of the room to the other as quickly as you can. You can talk freely to figure out where you belong.

## How to run it

### 1. Explain rules and begin mingling (2 minutes)

Speak the opening script. Point out the low end and high end of the room. Tell the group to walk randomly around the space and greet peers. Ring the chime at the 90-second mark to freeze movement and introduce the first round.

### 2. Run round one (3 minutes)

Call out: 'Line up by distance traveled to reach this room today, shortest distance at the left wall to longest distance at the right wall.' Participants talk, compare distances, and sort themselves into a line. When the line settles, ask the two end people and two people in the middle to call out their values to spot-check the order.

### 3. Run round two (3 minutes)

Instruct the group to disperse and mingle across the room for 30 seconds. Ring the chime and announce: 'Line up by birthday across the calendar year, January 1st at the left wall to December 31st at the right wall, ignoring the birth year.' Allow up to 90 seconds for participants to organize. Have the two ends and two people in the middle confirm their dates out loud.

### 4. Debrief and transition (2 minutes)

Keep participants standing where they are. Ask the whole group two reflection questions. Take two quick answers from volunteers for each question, then direct everyone to take their seats.


## Debrief questions

- What was an unexpected commonality or surprising value you heard while organizing the line?
- How did your group coordinate placement when two people had nearly identical values?

**Finished output:** Two completed group line formations that reveal shared background facts among participants.

## Remote

Open a shared digital whiteboard with a single horizontal axis marked with the two extremes. Give each participant a digital sticky note with their name. Call the criterion. Participants unmute or type in chat while dragging their sticky notes into order along the axis.

## Hybrid

Pair each remote attendee with an in-person partner using a video call on a smartphone. The in-person partner holds two spots in the room line and consults their remote partner to place both people accurately.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants with limited mobility may sit at a stationary anchor spot along the line while others arrange around them.
- Anyone may participate as an outside timekeeper or line checker, or choose an approximate value rather than disclosing exact personal facts.

## If the session gets stuck

**The room is too narrow or short for a straight line of 24 people.**

Direct the line to fold into an S-curve or horseshoe shape while keeping the head and tail clearly marked.

**Multiple participants share identical values, causing a bottleneck in the line.**

Announce that people with identical values can stand side by side or in any arbitrary order within their shared slot.


## Sources and adaptation

Observed in SessionLab, which attributes the method to The Thiagi Group (Tracy Tagliati). Also cataloged in Improv Encyclopedia.

Retained the core mechanic from SessionLab (milling around the room, facilitator audio cue, rapid alignment by prompt criteria). Structured into two full rounds with realistic 90-second sorting windows for larger cohorts up to 24 people, resolved vague setup directives by establishing standard room anchors, and added access options.

[SessionLab](https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/group-order)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/group-order/