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: 82f2834d46734e3db974b132d3280a001f1ac33f82c8d2960d1171fae7779a5e

# People Science Aerobics

Small teams rotate through rapid relationship exercises, mapping social networks, trading resources for shared challenges, and introducing teammates across groups.

**Time:** 20 minutes. Source suggests 15 to 30 minutes; UWT structures a 20-minute sequence with controlled intervals.
**People:** 4 to 24. Small teams of 3 to 4 participants, ending with paired crossover introductions

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Practice quick mutual introductions, network mapping, and resource sharing across team boundaries.
**Use it when:** Use at team kickoffs, networking events, or cross-functional workshops where participants need to uncover mutual contacts and offer practical assistance.
**Skip it when:** Skip when participants require confidential working sessions, when forced physical interaction causes discomfort, or when the group has already mapped internal working networks.

## Materials and tools

- 1 countdown timer visible to the room
- Index cards (1 per participant)
- Pens (1 per participant)

## Before participants arrive

1. Arrange chairs or standing spots in clusters of 3 to 4.
2. Place an index card and pen at each station.

## Say this to open

We are going to run People Science Aerobics, a sequence of fast relationship drills. In your small groups, you will practice greeting, finding mutual contacts, and offering practical resources to solve one challenge. You are always free to use a verbal greeting instead of touching hands, and you decide what personal or professional information to share.

## How to run it

### 1. Form teams and greet (3 minutes)

Direct participants into teams of 3 or 4. If odd numbers leave a remainder, create groups of 4 rather than pairs. Invite each person to greet every team member using either a steady six-second handshake or a deliberate six-second eye contact greeting with a spoken hello. Call time after 90 seconds so all group members finish.

### 2. Map network connections (5 minutes)

Each person names one person inside this room and one person outside this room whom they consider well connected. For example: 'Inside the room, I know Maria; outside, I know a city planner named David.' The group then spends the remaining minutes tracing whether anyone can bridge a connection between those named individuals through mutual acquaintances or shared institutions.

### 3. Solve a challenge with shared resources (6 minutes)

Each team selects one real professional or logistical challenge faced by any member. The owner describes the challenge in 60 seconds. Remaining team members each take 60 seconds to offer one concrete resource, introduction, or practical skill to address it. Each participant notes their offered connection on an index card.

### 4. Quick movement challenge (2 minutes)

Each group chooses one rapid physical or coordination drill they can complete together in under 2 minutes. Options include 3 rounds of Rock Paper Scissors, a synchronized stretch, or a seated clapping rhythm. Anyone may opt out or choose a low-exertion alternative like a finger tap.

### 5. Crossover introductions and debrief (4 minutes)

Teams disperse. Each person finds a partner from a different group and spends 2 minutes introducing one teammate from their original group, describing that person's strength or offered resource. Reassemble as a full room. Take 2 brief reflections on unexpected resources discovered.


## Debrief questions

- What was an unexpected connection or resource you discovered across your group?
- How did mapping mutual contacts change how you viewed the room's collective network?

**Finished output:** Handwritten index cards listing offered resources and mutual contacts for designated challenges.

## Remote

Run in breakout rooms of 3 to 4. For step 1, replace handshakes with a six-second unbroken video greeting and welcome statement. Run network mapping and challenge-solving using a shared collaborative document where teams log names and offered resources. For step 4, perform a group camera gesture such as high-fives toward the webcam. Disperse into new breakout pairs for step 5 crossover introductions.

## Hybrid

Keep in-person attendees in physical clusters and remote attendees in separate virtual breakouts. For the step 5 crossover, pair one in-person attendee with a remote attendee using a roving laptop or phone station, or run parallel crossover rounds in both physical and virtual rooms.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may substitute a verbal greeting, wave, or head nod for physical handshakes.
- Participants may pass on sharing personal contacts or pass during the problem-solving round by acting as the team timekeeper.
- Low-mobility and seated variations must be chosen for the physical drill, such as table-tapping or rock-paper-scissors.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants feel awkward holding a greeting for six continuous seconds.**

Remind the room that lingering greetings feel unusual by design, and invite participants to laugh through it or switch to a timed verbal greeting.

**One team gets stuck because someone cannot think of a well-connected contact.**

Suggest naming someone with an uncommon hobby, a specific technical skill, or a person from an adjacent department.


## Terms used here

- People Science teams: Small, temporary peer groups assembled to test network connections and share immediate resources.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Relationship Makers Handbook, pages 303-304.

Retained the specific exercises from the Relationship Makers Handbook: the six-second greeting, mapping internal and external contacts, group challenge resource sharing, the two-minute physical activity, and cross-group introductions. Added explicit non-contact options for handshakes, specific timing for each drill, clear sizing arithmetic, and hybrid operating guidance.

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/people-science-aerobics/