Local Connections Map
Local Connections Map is a relationship mapping exercise that helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.
How to run it
- Explain the objective of the activity: identifying and analyzing existing connections between key actors in the environment.
- Provide visual examples of connection maps to help participants understand the approach.
- Ask participants to list individuals, organizations, institutions, and groups relevant to the environment.
- Write each actor’s name on a sticky note or card and place it on the board.
- Have participants draw lines or arrows between connected actors, indicating the nature of their relationship (e.g., collaboration, resource exchange, frequent communication).
- Use different colors or symbols to represent types of connections (e.g., economic, social, institutional).
- Discuss emerging patterns
- Facilitate a group reflection on what the map reveals:
Run this exercise live
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What participants need now
Materials:
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Prompts to use +
Explain the objective of the activity: identifying and analyzing existing connections between key actors in the environment.
Provide visual examples of connection maps to help participants understand the approach.
Ask participants to list individuals, organizations, institutions, and groups relevant to the environment.
Write each actor’s name on a sticky note or card and place it on the board.
Have participants draw lines or arrows between connected actors, indicating the nature of their relationship (e.g., collaboration, resource exchange, frequent communication).
Use different colors or symbols to represent types of connections (e.g., economic, social, institutional).
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: Local Connections Map. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Explain the objective of the activity: identifying and analyzing existing connections between key actors in the environment.; Provide visual examples of connection maps to help participants understand the approach.; Ask participants to list individuals, organizations, institutions, and groups relevant to the environment.; Write each actor’s name on a sticky note or card and place it on the board.. 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 Participatory Methods; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Participatory Methods.)
- 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.