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: 56e0c7602efdeb6daecbe8b5e0ccf1074d6b083c31b2a42c51ee86167c3132d3

# Post-Up

Participants silently write individual ideas on sticky notes in response to a focus question, then post them to a shared wall and briefly state what they wrote.

**Time:** 22 minutes. Gamestorming lists 10 to 60 minutes. UWT standardizes a 22-minute opening session to allow all 24 participants a 30-second posting turn.
**People:** 4 to 24. Individual silent generation, followed by posting to a shared wall in sequential cohorts of 3 to 6 people.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Gather a wide range of distinct individual ideas on a single board without group interruption or premature debate.
**Use it when:** Use at the start of a session to collect observations, options, or potential solutions before clustering or prioritizing.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the group already has an overwhelming list of unsorted items, or when the immediate goal is convergence and decision-making.

## Materials and tools

- One pad of 3x3 inch sticky notes per person
- One dark chisel-tip marker per person
- Clear whiteboard or open wall space
- Countdown timer
- Laptop connected to room projector (for hybrid delivery)
- Digital whiteboard board with pre-made virtual sticky note templates (for remote/hybrid delivery)

## Before participants arrive

1. Write the central focus question in bold, dark letters across the top of the whiteboard.
2. Place one sticky note pad and one dark marker at every participant seat.
3. Clear chairs and tables away from the board area so people can walk up easily.
4. For hybrid sessions, open the shared digital board on a dedicated laptop and project it onto the room screen.

## Say this to open

Our focus question is written on the wall: 'What ideas or observations do you have on this topic?' For the next five minutes, we will work in complete silence. Write one idea per sticky note using your dark marker. Write large enough to be read from a step away. Aim for quantity, and keep each thought on its own note.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce prompt and rules (2 minutes)

Read the focus question aloud and point to it on the wall. State the rules: work silently, write only one idea per sticky note, use dark marker, and write legibly. Give a neutral example: if the topic is Improving Team Handoffs, write 'Checklist before deploy' on one note and 'Daily 9 AM sync' on a separate note, not both on one sheet.

### 2. Generate ideas silently (5 minutes)

Start the timer for 5 minutes. Everyone writes responses on their notes in silence. If people start talking, gently raise a hand to remind the room of the quiet rule. Anyone who finishes early keeps their notes face down and waits quietly.

### 3. Post and read notes (12 minutes)

Call up participants in sequential cohorts of 3 to 6 people. For example, a group of 7 divides into cohorts of 4 and 3. Each person sticks their notes to the board and reads the words aloud in a single sentence without an editorial pitch. Limit each person to 30 seconds. Listeners remain silent; no debate or critique is allowed. If hearing a note sparks a new thought, jot it on a fresh note from your pad to post at the end.

### 4. Post sparked notes and review (3 minutes)

Give 1 minute for anyone with newly sparked notes to walk up and post them silently. Spend the remaining 2 minutes scanning the board. Ask if any handwriting is unreadable or if any single note needs a quick factual clarification before concluding.


## Debrief questions

- Which posted notes or themes appear most frequently across the board?
- What ideas on the board represent unexpected angles or surprises?

**Finished output:** A shared board displaying individual, legible sticky notes, ready for clustering, affinity mapping, or ranking.

## Remote

Set up a digital whiteboard canvas with sticky note templates assigned to each person. Run silent writing for 5 minutes with cameras on and microphones muted. For posting, call on participants in sequential cohorts of 3 to 6 people from the participant list to drag their notes into the central canvas area and read them aloud in turn within 30 seconds per person.

## Hybrid

All participants use the shared digital whiteboard as the primary canvas. In-person participants type on their own devices or enter their notes directly into the digital workspace so remote participants see them in real time. Follow the same sequential cohorts for both in-person and remote participants to post and read aloud, preventing simultaneous chaos. The combined digital workspace is projected onto the room screen for everyone present.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants who find handwritten notes difficult may type them into a shared digital document, dictate them to a peer, or post pre-typed digital cards.
- Anyone may choose to contribute a single note, stick up their notes without reading aloud, or pass entirely and observe without explanation.

## If the session gets stuck

**A participant writes bullet lists or long paragraphs on a single sticky note.**

Ask them to tear off new notes and rewrite each item separately so individual thoughts can be moved and sorted independently later.

**Participants start debating or critiquing notes as soon as they are placed on the board.**

Step in immediately. Remind the room that this phase is solely for posting and reading the words aloud, with evaluation and sorting reserved for the next exercise.


## Terms used here

- Affinity Map: A method of sorting individual idea notes into thematic clusters based on their natural relationships.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Gamestorming, which notes the exercise is based on Rapid Problem-Solving with Post-it Notes by David Straker.

Retained the defining silent individual writing and posting mechanic described in Gamestorming, credited to David Straker. UWT added a cohort rule of 3 to 6 people, set total time to 22 minutes to permit realistic 30-second posting turns across up to 24 participants, added a dedicated step for sparked notes, clarified the use of the sticky note pad for newly sparked notes, aligned hybrid posting to the same cohort structure, and clarified debrief constraints.

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/post-up)

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/post-up/)

[Workshopr](https://workshopr.io/library/exercises/detail/?code=postup)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/post-up/