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: 900a931d93a0ac25d57d69d660efea6d3b91c06ef119a16d078654c92d977d4f

# Impromptu Speed Networking

Participants stand, reflect silently on a core question, and discuss it across successive short pair conversations. They swap partners between rounds to hear diverse viewpoints before returning to the main session.

**Time:** 20 minutes. Matches the 20-minute total duration noted in the Gamestorming source.
**People:** 4 to 24. Pairs (trio if odd count)

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Engage all participants in rapid, balanced one-on-one dialogue around a central meeting theme.
**Use it when:** Use at transitions, meeting starts, or immediately after a lunch break to get every voice active on the agenda topic.
**Skip it when:** Skip when physical movement is impractical, when participants need deep written synthesis, or when a formal presentation must precede discussion.

## Materials and tools

- Chime, bell, or digital sound maker
- Flip chart and marker or digital display to display the prompt

## Before participants arrive

1. Clear a central open floor area so people can stand and walk around easily.
2. Write the core meeting question visibly on a flip chart or presentation slide.

## Say this to open

Leave your bags and notebooks at your seats and join me in the open floor space. Today our focus is on one specific question: [read question aloud]. Before talking to anyone, spend one minute thinking quietly about your own response.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce prompt and silent reflection (2 minutes)

Gather participants in the open space. Read the prompt displayed on the board. Start a 60-second timer and require everyone to think silently without speaking or pairing up.

### 2. Pair conversation round one (5 minutes)

Sound the chime. Tell participants to pair with someone they know less well. Anyone seeking a partner holds one hand in the air until paired. If one person remains, form a single trio. Pairs discuss the prompt for 5 minutes, splitting time evenly. At 4 minutes, announce 1 minute remaining.

### 3. Pair conversation round two (5 minutes)

Sound the chime. Instruct everyone to raise their hand, walk to a different partner, and lower their hand once paired. Pairs talk for 5 minutes about their perspective or what they heard in round one. Announce 1 minute remaining at the 4-minute mark.

### 4. Pair conversation round three (5 minutes)

Sound the chime. Repeat the partner swap using raised hands. Pairs hold their final 5-minute conversation. Give a 1-minute warning before the chime rings continuously to signal the end of the rounds.

### 5. Debrief and return (3 minutes)

Ring the chime continuously. Ask participants to return to their seats. Take two to three brief volunteer responses on patterns noticed across their conversations.


## Debrief questions

- What common pattern or surprise surfaced across your different conversations?
- How did your explanation or thinking shift as you repeated the conversation with new partners?

**Finished output:** Each participant completes three distinct one-on-one discussions on the core question.

## Remote

Use random automated breakout rooms set to 2 participants for 5 minutes each. Bring everyone back to the main room for 30 seconds between rounds before launching the next randomized breakout round. If an odd person is present, create one trio.

## Hybrid

Pair in-person participants with in-person partners on the floor. Pair remote participants with each other in video breakout rooms. Run identical chime timings and prompts for both groups simultaneously.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may sit in chairs placed around the perimeter rather than stand.
- Anyone may decline to pair up and instead write down reflections silently or observe without sharing.

## If the session gets stuck

**An odd number of participants leaves one person without a partner.**

Direct the extra person to join the nearest pair to form a three-person group with equal speaking turns.

**One person dominates the conversation within a pair.**

Provide a 2.5-minute midway time check during each round and prompt partners to switch who is speaking.


## Terms used here

- Hand up trick: Holding one hand in the air to signal visually that you are looking for an available partner.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Gamestorming, where the activity is attributed to Lisa Kimball of Group Jazz.

Retained the core mechanic from Gamestorming: silent reflection, three 5-minute rounds, partner pairing with the raised hand, and chime cues. UWT added explicit hybrid pairing protocol, seated access choices, and specific debrief prompts to fit the 20-minute run time.

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/impromptu-speed-networking)

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/impromptu-speed-networking/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/impromptu-speed-networking/