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
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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 does and does not claim: we track where an exercise has been seen in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, how popular it is, or that it works. See methodology and trust boundary.
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