--- title: "Make a World" description: "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." last_updated: "2026-09-07" canonical: "https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/make-a-world/" --- # 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/