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Ideation Warm-Up · Divergent Ideation

Lo Tech Social Network at TEDx Austin

Lo Tech Social Network at TEDx Austin is an ideation warm-up exercise for divergent ideation: it helps participants open up more possible ideas before choosing a direction.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In personSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Participation Architecture This divergent ideation exercise strengthens Participation Architecture, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. thoughts on “Lo Tech Social Network at TEDx Austin”
  2. Read this post and used this activity yesterday with a group of 98 lawyers & legal staff.
  3. Nervous that having all 98 people at once would scare some folks off, I created mixed groups (offices, ages, positions, etc…) of 10 ppl/group. Led them through the exercise using post-it, flip chart paper and markers to create connections.
  4. It went incredibly well. Had each team hang their network on the walls then 10 minute gallery walk/coffee break for other people and teams to view teams connections.
  5. Will share photos once I go through them.
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 +

Read this post and used this activity yesterday with a group of 98 lawyers & legal staff.

Nervous that having all 98 people at once would scare some folks off, I created mixed groups (offices, ages, positions, etc…) of 10 ppl/group. Led them through the exercise using post-it, flip chart paper and markers to create connections.

It went incredibly well. Had each team hang their network on the walls then 10 minute gallery walk/coffee break for other people and teams to view teams connections.

Will share photos once I go through them.

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: Lo Tech Social Network at TEDx Austin. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Read this post and used this activity yesterday with a group of 98 lawyers & legal staff.; Nervous that having all 98 people at once would scare some folks off, I created mixed groups (offices, ages, positions, etc…) of 10 ppl/group. Led them through the exercise using post-it, flip chart paper and markers to create connections.; It went incredibly well. Had each team hang their network on the walls then 10 minute gallery walk/coffee break for other people and teams to view teams connections.; Will share photos once I go through them.. 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. (1 source observed, including Gamestorming.)
  • 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