Investor Role Playing

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Prioritize project proposals through resource allocation and critical questioning.

Use it when: Use when a team or community group has 3 to 5 candidate proposals and needs to compare trade offs before committing real funds or labor.

Skip it when: Skip when projects are not comparable in scope, when funding decisions are already locked, or when groups cannot accept public allocation results.

Group arrangement: 3 to 4 proposal teams of 1 to 2 people; remaining participants act as roving investors individually or in pairs.

Timing: Participatory Methods suggests 90 to 120 minutes for large cohorts; this condensed 60 minute UWT plan supports up to 4 proposals and 24 people.

Materials and tools

• 12 physical tokens (poker chips, counters, or sticky dots) per investor or investor pair
• 1 Proposal Display Sheet per proposal station
• 1 Investor Note Sheet and pen per investor
• 4 small bowls or envelopes to collect tokens at proposal stations
• 1 countdown timer
• Wall tape or stands to post proposals

Before participants arrive

1. Substantial setup required before the clock starts.
2. Set up 3 or 4 separate tables or wall stations around the room as proposal booths.
3. Place a completed Proposal Display Sheet and a token collection bowl at each booth.
4. Assign 1 or 2 advocates to staff each booth, while the remaining participants take the role of investors.
5. Count and bundle 12 tokens for each investor or investor pair.

Say this to open

Today you take on the role of investors managing a finite budget. We have four proposals seeking support. Each proposal team will give a quick pitch. Then you will circulate, ask direct questions about objectives, impact, and costs, and allocate your capital. Your investment rules are strict: you must allocate all 12 of your tokens, and you must distribute them across at least two different proposals. No single proposal can receive all your funds.

How to run it

1. Brief the investors and frame rules 5 minutes

   Distribute 12 tokens and an Investor Note Sheet to each investor. Explain the allocation constraints: each investor must spend all 12 tokens and divide them between at least two projects. Investors may work individually or in self-selected pairs.

2. Hear lightning pitches 10 minutes

   Each proposal team takes up to 2 minutes to present their objective, expected impact, and approximate costs to the whole room. Stop each presentation at the 2 minute bell. Investors listen without questions during this round.

3. Conduct booth rounds and due diligence 20 minutes

   Investors circulate freely between proposal stations. Station representatives answer questions about implementation risks, budget assumptions, and concrete outcomes. Investors take notes on their sheets. Remind the room at the 10 minute mark to visit remaining stations.

4. Deliberate and deposit tokens 10 minutes

   Investors step back from booths to review their notes for 3 minutes. Then investors walk to the stations and deposit their 12 tokens into the collection bowls according to their choices. Booth advocates tally the tokens in their bowls and write the final counts on their station sheets.

5. Debrief allocation patterns 15 minutes

   Post all final token counts on the central board. Facilitate a structured conversation using the debrief questions. Collect 3 investor comments on decision drivers and 2 responses from proposal advocates.

Debrief questions

• Which criteria drove the largest token allocations: cost clarity, community impact, or feasibility?
• What questions at the booths changed your mind from your initial impressions after the lightning pitches?
• For proposal teams, what gaps in your plan did the investor questions expose?

Finished output: A public tally of allocated tokens across all candidate proposals showing relative group priorities.

Remote

Set up a shared digital whiteboard with 1 frame per proposal. Proposal teams remain in designated breakout rooms. Investors cycle through breakout rooms in two 8 minute rounds to ask questions. For allocation, give each investor 12 digital stamp tokens in their personal row and paste them onto proposal frames. Ensure stamps must be distributed across at least two proposal frames.

Hybrid

Station presenters can be in person while remote participants visit via dedicated video stations (tablets or laptops on stands at each booth). Remote investors enter their allocations in an online form that an in person co-facilitator converts into physical tokens dropped into the bowls.

Access and participation choices

• Offer paired investor roles so participants who prefer not to interrogate presenters alone can deliberate together.
• Participants may choose to serve as quiet observers or token tally keepers without giving verbal pitches or asking live questions.

If the session gets stuck

Investors crowd around one popular proposal booth while others are empty.

Enforce a cap of 4 visiting investors per booth at any time. Direct extra investors to empty stations first.

An investor puts all 12 tokens into one single proposal bowl.

Remind the participant of the core constraint: allocations must split across at least two projects. Ask them to rebalance their deposit.

Terms used here

• Lightning pitch: A brief, timed presentation covering only essential goals, costs, and benefits.
• Due diligence: The process of asking targeted questions to verify whether a proposal is feasible and cost realistic.