Phone Stacking
Phone Stacking is an ideation warm-up exercise for divergent ideation: it helps participants open up more possible ideas before choosing a direction.
How to run it
- Ask participants to to put their phones on top of each other in the center of their table
- Ask each table to offer a 'wager" that the first person to pick up their phone has to complete
- Write it
- down on an index card to place on top of the stack
- Phone Stacking Timing <5 minutes Purpose/Objectives Quick Description One of the simplest ways to get everyone off their digital devices with a little competition and FRQFHQWUDWLRQ Process Ask participants to to put their phones on top of each other in the center of their table.
- Have each table announce their competition.
- Choose a charity and have each person ante up when they put their phone in the middle.
- People Science Data Capture Not recommended Tags <5 minutes, competition, facilitation tool, fun, mobile, small groups, table top 302
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.
What participants need now
Materials:
This is a participant-safe snapshot, not a response form. It sends nothing back to the facilitator.
Prompts to use +
Ask participants to to put their phones on top of each other in the center of their table
Ask each table to offer a 'wager" that the first person to pick up their phone has to complete
down on an index card to place on top of the stack
Phone Stacking Timing <5 minutes Purpose/Objectives Quick Description One of the simplest ways to get everyone off their digital devices with a little competition and FRQFHQWUDWLRQ Process Ask participants to to put their phones on top of each other in the center of their table.
Have each table announce their competition.
Choose a charity and have each person ante up when they put their phone in the middle.
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: Phone Stacking. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Ask participants to to put their phones on top of each other in the center of their table; Ask each table to offer a 'wager" that the first person to pick up their phone has to complete; down on an index card to place on top of the stack; Phone Stacking Timing <5 minutes Purpose/Objectives Quick Description One of the simplest ways to get everyone off their digital devices with a little competition and FRQFHQWUDWLRQ Process Ask participants to to put their phones on top of each other in the center of their table.. 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 Relationship Makers Handbook; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook.)
- 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.