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: 9588839efc91c31b0ef32375632ddce75d38b59ba1d235836b39dcc83f75e49b

# Make a World

Small groups imagine an ideal future state for a chosen topic, build a tangible model using craft supplies, compose a summary slogan, and present their work to the room. The facilitator and group identify recurring patterns across the models.

**Time:** 60 minutes. The source gives 45 to 90 minutes. This 60-minute schedule accommodates full build time, slogans, brief presentations, and synthesis.
**People:** 6 to 24. Small teams of 3 to 4 participants. At 6 participants, form 2 teams of 3. At 24 participants, form 6 teams of 4. Max 6 teams.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Build a tangible model representing a group's shared vision of a future state to identify common priorities and themes.
**Use it when:** Use during strategic visioning, project kickoffs, or service redesign when abstract conversations stall and participants need a concrete, hands-on way to express future goals.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the immediate task requires detailed analytical trade-offs, budget calculations, or rapid execution of already decided plans.

## Materials and tools

- 1 sheet of flip-chart paper per team to serve as a building base
- Assorted craft supplies per team: pipe cleaners, modeling clay, index cards, sticky notes, washable markers, rolls of tape, scissors, old magazines
- 1 digital countdown timer visible to the room
- Whiteboard or flip chart and markers for the facilitator to capture themes

## Before participants arrive

1. Select one specific focus topic for the session before the meeting starts.
2. Set out craft supplies, scissors, tape, and a base sheet of flip-chart paper at each small-group workstation.

## Say this to open

Today we are going to model a desired future state for our topic: [insert topic here]. In your small groups, you will agree on what that future looks like, build it as a physical world using the supplies on your table, and name it with a slogan. You will have time to plan, build, and present your model to the room.

## How to run it

### 1. Frame and agree on vision (10 minutes)

Read the opening script and announce the focus topic. Direct participants to form teams of 3 or 4 (up to 6 teams total). Each team discusses what their ideal future looks like and agrees on key elements to represent, such as people, environment, tools, or behaviors. Teams write a quick bullet list of 3 to 5 core features before touching supplies.

### 2. Build the physical world (25 minutes)

Start the 25-minute countdown timer. Teams use their craft supplies to construct a physical model of their world on their flip-chart paper base. Give verbal warnings when 10 minutes and 5 minutes remain so teams track their progress. Building ends promptly when the timer sounds.

### 3. Compose slogan (5 minutes)

Each team writes a single slogan or tagline on an index card that summarizes what their world offers. Place the card prominently next to the model.

### 4. Showcase worlds (12 minutes)

Each team takes up to 2 minutes to introduce their model and read their slogan to the room. Spectators listen without interrupting. All teams complete their showcases within this window.

### 5. Identify recurring themes (8 minutes)

Ask the room what patterns, shared needs, or parallel features appeared across the different models. Record common threads on the facilitator whiteboard.


## Debrief questions

- Which core elements or themes appeared in more than one team's world?
- What tension or difference between the models highlights an important design question for us?
- What is one concrete feature from these models that we can carry into our near-term plans?

**Finished output:** A collection of physical models, summary slogans, and a facilitator list of recurring themes reflecting the group's shared priorities.

## Remote

Use an online whiteboard canvas (such as Miro or Mural). Provide a frame for each team pre-loaded with digital shapes, icons, connectors, sticky notes, and stock image libraries. In breakout rooms of 3 to 4, teams arrange visual components to represent their world and place their slogan at the top. Return to main room for timed screen-share tours of 2 minutes per group, recording common themes in a shared central box.

## Hybrid

Form fully in-person pods and fully remote pods rather than mixed groups. Remote pods work on a digital canvas while in-person pods build physical models. During the showcase, an in-person facilitator uses a mobile camera to broadcast physical models to remote participants, while remote pods share their digital boards via screen share.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may contribute via writing, sketching, shaping clay, arranging components, or acting as the team scribe or presenter.
- Anyone may decline physical fabrication and instead help organize ideas, write notes, or document details without explaining their preference.
- Ensure low-scent clay and non-toxic materials are used for scent-sensitive participants.

## If the session gets stuck

**A team spends all their time discussing and has not started building with 10 minutes left.**

Interrupt the group gently, point to the craft materials, and ask them each to pick up one material and build one specific feature from their discussion immediately.

**One participant dislikes crafts and disengages from the activity.**

Offer them the role of concept drafter, slogan writer, or presentation narrator so their perspective shapes the final world without requiring hands-on crafting.


## Terms used here

- Desired future state: A concrete depiction of how a team, service, or system should function at a future point in time.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Gamestorming by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo, where the title is credited as inspired by Ed Emberley's book Make a World. Also indexed in the SessionLab and IAF libraries.

Retained the core Gamestorming mechanic of building a 3D model with art supplies, creating a slogan, showcasing the worlds, and tracking recurring themes. UWT standardized the duration to 60 minutes with strict step timings, set group_min to 6 to ensure at least two full teams of 3 can compare models, capped group size at 24 to guarantee a maximum of 6 teams of 4 to fit the showcase duration, embedded the opening script into step 1, and provided remote and hybrid adaptations.

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/make-a-world)

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/make-a-world/)

[SessionLab](https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/make-a-world)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/make-a-world/