--- title: "Photos of Family, Friends, Pets" description: "Participants display a few personal photographs of important people, pets, or meaningful aspects of their lives, circulate in a gallery walk, and talk in pairs about the stories behind them." last_updated: "2026-09-07" canonical: "https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/photos-of-family-friends-pets/" --- # Photos of Family, Friends, Pets Participants display a few personal photographs of important people, pets, or meaningful aspects of their lives, circulate in a gallery walk, and talk in pairs about the stories behind them. **Time:** 15 minutes. UWT suggested 15-minute facilitation structure based on the Teampedia open-format gathering **People:** 4 to 24. Individual display followed by paired circulating conversations and a brief whole-room debrief ## Choose this exercise **Purpose:** Share personal context outside of work roles to recognize common ground and individual backgrounds across the group. **Use it when:** Use during team kickoffs, retreats, or community gatherings when members want to get to know one another beyond formal job titles. **Skip it when:** Skip when team members prefer strict boundaries between their personal and professional lives, or when pre-session preparation time is impossible. ## Materials and tools - Wall space, bulletin board, or tabletop display area - Painter's tape or push pins (1 roll or pack per room) - Index cards (1 per participant for name labels) - Black marker pens (2 to 4 for the room) ## Before participants arrive 1. Prior to the session, invite participants to bring 1 to 3 printed or digital photos showing family, friends, pets, hobbies, or everyday environments. Substantial advance notice is required. 2. Clear bulletin boards or perimeter tables so everyone has an assigned spot to display their images. 3. Place index cards and pens near the display area so participants can write their names beside their photos. ## Say this to open Welcome. Today we have set up space to share a glimpse into our lives outside this room. Place your photos on a table or wall spot and write your name on a card beside them. If you did not bring photos or prefer to keep personal life private, you can sketch something meaningful, write a short list of your favorite hobbies, or simply join as a viewer. Let us take five minutes to circulate and view the gallery. ## How to run it ### 1. Display setup and briefing (3 minutes) Participants attach their photos to the designated wall, board, or table space and write their name on an index card next to their photos. Anyone choosing not to post personal photos writes their name on a card with a favorite place, hobby, or interest instead. ### 2. Gallery walk (4 minutes) Participants walk silently or quietly around the display area, viewing the displayed photos and reading the names. Encourage everyone to visit at least three different displays. ### 3. Paired discussions (5 minutes) Ask participants to pair up with someone whose display they looked at, or someone standing nearby. In pairs, partners take two minutes each to share the story behind one photo or card and ask a question. Signal at the two-minute mark for the second partner to share. ### 4. Group debrief (3 minutes) Call the room back together. Ask one or two debrief questions to the entire group, taking two or three brief volunteer responses to wrap up within the allotted time. ## Debrief questions - What common interests, hobbies, or surprises did you notice across the room? - How does knowing a bit about each other's outside lives change how we collaborate during our work together? **Finished output:** A shared physical or digital photo gallery and at least one shared personal story per participant. ## Remote Create a shared digital whiteboard (such as Miro or Google Slides) with a named slide or card for each person. Participants upload their images before the session starts. Run step 1 as a 3-minute orienting scan, step 2 as silent board viewing, step 3 in 2-person breakout rooms for 5 minutes, and step 4 in the main room for 3 minutes. ## Hybrid Remote attendees post images to a shared slide deck while in-person attendees post on physical tables. Project the digital slides on a main room screen. In-person participants can browse physical and digital boards using their phones or the room screen. Pair remote participants with each other in virtual rooms and in-person attendees with each other on the room floor. ## Access and participation choices - Participants may share images of pets, plants, favorite landscapes, hobbies, or sports rather than family or friends if they prefer privacy. - Anyone may pass entirely on displaying photos and participate solely as an interested viewer and conversational partner. ## If the session gets stuck **A participant forgot to bring photos.** Provide blank index cards and colored pens so they can sketch or write about a favorite pet, hobby, or vacation spot to post instead. **The gallery walk becomes crowded around one or two popular displays.** Ask participants to rotate clockwise every 60 seconds so traffic moves smoothly across all tables or boards. ## Terms used here - Gallery walk: An activity format where participants circulate individually around a room to view posted materials, similar to visiting an art gallery. ## Sources and adaptation Observed in Teampedia as an open community icebreaker under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5. Original author is uncredited. The source record provides an open-ended concept from Teampedia with no fixed time limits, step-by-step turns, or access safeguards. UWT structured the activity into a 15-minute run sheet, added clear options for participants who prefer privacy (such as landscapes or hobby sketches), created paired discussion rotations, and added remote and hybrid procedures. [Teampedia](https://www.teampedia.net/wiki/Photos_of_Family,_Friends,_Pets) Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/photos-of-family-friends-pets/