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Exercises/Reflection and Learning/Hero’s Journey Agenda
Circle Dialogue · Reflection and Learning

Hero’s Journey Agenda

Hero’s Journey Agenda is a circle dialogue exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Learning Transfer This reflection and learning exercise strengthens Learning Transfer, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. I am going to give you a script here, based on the video above. But this exercise works best if you make it your own, using a story you love and that you feel your audience will be familiar with, like a favorite fairy tale or movie.
  2. Draw a large circle on a whiteboard or flip chart. Tell people,
  3. “This circle represents all the things we’re going to do today. We’re starting out up here (point to the top of the circle), and we’re going to take a hero’s journey.”
  4. If you have geeks in the room, can actually talk about it in terms of Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, or another story you expect the group to be familiar with.
  5. Draw a stick figure at the top of the circle. Now say,
  6. Draw a wavy line to represent the boundary between the known and unknown.
  7. “This is called the threshold. It’s the threshold between the known and the unknown.
  8. . Draw a large circle on a whiteboard or flip chart. Tell people,
  9. . Draw a stick figure at the top of the circle. Now say,
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 +

I am going to give you a script here, based on the video above. But this exercise works best if you make it your own, using a story you love and that you feel your audience will be familiar with, like a favorite fairy tale or movie.

Draw a large circle on a whiteboard or flip chart. Tell people,

If you have geeks in the room, can actually talk about it in terms of Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, or another story you expect the group to be familiar with.

Draw a stick figure at the top of the circle. Now say,

Draw a wavy line to represent the boundary between the known and unknown.

. Draw a large circle on a whiteboard or flip chart. Tell people,

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: Hero’s Journey Agenda. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: I am going to give you a script here, based on the video above. But this exercise works best if you make it your own, using a story you love and that you feel your audience will be familiar with, like a favorite fairy tale or movie.; Draw a large circle on a whiteboard or flip chart. Tell people,; If you have geeks in the room, can actually talk about it in terms of Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, or another story you expect the group to be familiar with.; Draw a stick figure at the top of the circle. Now say,. 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 Gamestorming; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (2 sources observed, including Gamestorming, SessionLab.)
  • 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