LIGHT, MEDIUM, OR HEAVY
LIGHT, MEDIUM, OR HEAVY is a relationship mapping exercise that helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.
How to run it
- Stimulus cards. These cards contain words or phrases that the participants talk about. Create your own packet of about 20 cards to suit your participants and your topic.
- The stimulus cards are shuffled and placed face down in the middle of the table.
- If a player does not want to talk about a particular stimulus word, he or she can pass, getting no points for the round. The next participant may then use the skipped card, or pick a new card.
- The activity continues with the next player picking up a new stimulus card. All players keep track of their total scores.
- Depending on the available time, the activity may end after the third, fourth, or fifth round. Make sure that everyone has an equal number of turns.
- Create your own packet of about 20 cards to suit your participants and your topic.
- Note that some words are related to the topic and some are irrelevant; some are bland and some are potentially embarrassing.
- If you have more participants, divide them into roughly equal-sized groups of 3 to 7 and have th
- If you have more participants, divide them into roughly equal-sized groups of 3 to 7 and have the groups play in a parallel fashion.
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.
What participants need now
Materials:
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Prompts to use +
Stimulus cards. These cards contain words or phrases that the participants talk about. Create your own packet of about 20 cards to suit your participants and your topic.
If a player does not want to talk about a particular stimulus word, he or she can pass, getting no points for the round. The next participant may then use the skipped card, or pick a new card.
Depending on the available time, the activity may end after the third, fourth, or fifth round. Make sure that everyone has an equal number of turns.
Create your own packet of about 20 cards to suit your participants and your topic.
Note that some words are related to the topic and some are irrelevant; some are bland and some are potentially embarrassing.
If you have more participants, divide them into roughly equal-sized groups of 3 to 7 and have th
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: LIGHT, MEDIUM, OR HEAVY. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Stimulus cards. These cards contain words or phrases that the participants talk about. Create your own packet of about 20 cards to suit your participants and your topic.; If a player does not want to talk about a particular stimulus word, he or she can pass, getting no points for the round. The next participant may then use the skipped card, or pick a new card.; Depending on the available time, the activity may end after the third, fourth, or fifth round. Make sure that everyone has an equal number of turns.; Create your own packet of about 20 cards to suit your participants and your topic.. 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 The Thiagi Group; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including The Thiagi Group.)
- 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.