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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Model Building
Relationship Mapping

Model Building

Model Building is a relationship mapping exercise that helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Explain the objective of the activity: representing an idea or solving a problem through physical model construction.
  2. Share examples of how a model can help visualize and communicate ideas.
  3. Introduce the concept or problem that participants need to represent.
  4. Represent the flow of communication in a team.
  5. Participants discuss ideas in teams, deciding how they will represent the concept or solve the challenge.
  6. Encourage the use of sketches or drawings as a preliminary step before construction.
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 +

Explain the objective of the activity: representing an idea or solving a problem through physical model construction.

Share examples of how a model can help visualize and communicate ideas.

Participants discuss ideas in teams, deciding how they will represent the concept or solve the challenge.

Encourage the use of sketches or drawings as a preliminary step before construction.

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: Model Building. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Explain the objective of the activity: representing an idea or solving a problem through physical model construction.; Share examples of how a model can help visualize and communicate ideas.; Participants discuss ideas in teams, deciding how they will represent the concept or solve the challenge.; Encourage the use of sketches or drawings as a preliminary step before construction.. 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.

Pairs well with