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: ea8c28f5a53a1c04605fadc638e6beb5c0407a0284710d7ee06504a86321f7d5

# Two Truths and a Dream

Participants write two facts about their past and one unfulfilled dream framed as a fact. Peers discuss and guess which statement is the future aspiration before the speaker confirms it.

**Time:** 15 minutes. Playmeo recommends 10 to 15 minutes; UWT structures 15 minutes to include writing, small-group rotations, and whole-room debrief.
**People:** 4 to 24. Whole group if 4 to 8 people; small groups of 3 to 4 people if 9 to 24 people.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Share individual experiences and future goals across a team without requiring deceptive falsehoods.
**Use it when:** Use during team launches, onboarding sessions, or retreat openers to discover peers' interests and ambitions.
**Skip it when:** Skip when participants require complete personal privacy or during urgent tactical meetings that require immediate technical focus.

## Materials and tools

- One index card or scrap paper per participant
- One pen or pencil per participant
- Digital meeting chat or reaction tool for remote sessions

## Before participants arrive

1. Arrange chairs in a circle for up to 8 people, or arrange tables for clusters of 3 to 4 people if running parallel small groups.

## Say this to open

Write down three statements about yourself. Two must be true facts about your life. One must be a dream: something you genuinely hope to do, but have not done yet. Write all three in the same tense so they sound like completed facts. For example: 'I speak conversational Japanese. I have lived in Alaska. I have run a marathon.' In my case, running a marathon is the dream I have not done yet. When we share, listeners will guess which statement is the dream.

## How to run it

### 1. Draft statements (3 minutes)

Read the opening script. Give participants two minutes in silence to write their two facts and one aspirational dream. Remind people to keep statements appropriate for a workplace setting.

### 2. Form groups and explain turns (2 minutes)

If the group has 8 or fewer people, keep everyone in one circle. If 9 to 24 people, form groups of 3 to 4. Direct each group to pick a starting speaker and move clockwise. Remind speakers to read statements plainly without giving hints.

### 3. Share and guess (7 minutes)

In each group, the first speaker reads their three statements. Listeners take 30 to 45 seconds to discuss together and agree on which statement is the dream. The speaker reveals the dream and gives one sentence explaining it. Rotate to the next person. Continue until time expires.

### 4. Reflect as a room (3 minutes)

Bring everyone back together. Ask two or three volunteers to share an interesting dream they heard from a partner. Ask one debrief question to close.


## Debrief questions

- What made it easy or hard to distinguish an achieved fact from an aspiration?
- What common ambitions or surprising interests surfaced across the group?

**Finished output:** Every participating person shares two past facts and one future goal with their peers.

## Remote

If 8 or fewer people, remain in the main room. If 9 or more, assign breakout rooms of 3 to 4. Each speaker reads their three statements aloud. Listeners take 30 seconds to talk aloud, agree on a guess, and then declare their single choice verbally or post it in chat before the speaker reveals the answer.

## Hybrid

If total count is 8 or fewer, stay in one room with a shared microphone and screen so all participants hear and see each speaker. If total count is 9 to 24, split into groups of 3 to 4, placing in-room attendees together in physical corners and remote attendees together in virtual breakouts. If a mixed breakout is necessary, each in-person attendee must join from a laptop with an individual headset.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may choose professional milestones, hobbies, or light travel statements to protect personal privacy.
- Anyone may act as a guesser and timekeeper without sharing their own statements.

## If the session gets stuck

**A participant shares an impossible fantasy, making the guess obvious.**

Prompt them to choose a plausible ambition that a colleague could easily believe they already achieved.

**Speakers spend too long detailing each fact before guessing begins.**

Enforce a 90-second round timer per person: 20 seconds to read, 40 seconds to confer, and 30 seconds to reveal.


## Terms used here

- Aspirational statement: A genuine goal or ambition that a person intends to do but has not yet completed or experienced.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed on Playmeo, where Mark Collard is credited for the entry. The activity modifies the traditional parlor game Two Truths and a Lie.

Retained Playmeo mechanic of substituting an aspirational dream for the lie in Two Truths and a Lie. UWT added structured group sizing (whole room up to 8, breakouts of 3 to 4 for larger groups), turn-taking timings, clear hybrid instructions, and an explicit neutral example.

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/ice-breakers-get-to-know-you-games/two-truths-a-dream)

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/ice-breakers-get-to-know-you-games/two-truths-a-dream/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/intriguing-icebreaker-game-with-aspiration-two-truths-a-dream/