# Five Handshakes in Five Minutes

Participants mingle through five fast rounds, greeting each other using a different physical gesture or non-contact option each time.

**Time:** 5 minutes. Source specifies five greetings in under five minutes; UWT structures an exact five-minute schedule.
**People:** 4 to 24. Whole group milling and pairing in rapid rounds

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Offer a low-stakes physical warm-up to acknowledge people across the room before seated work begins.
**Use it when:** At the start of an in-person workshop or following long sitting when attendees need quick movement and interaction.
**Skip it when:** When tight floor space makes circulation unsafe, when physical touch causes discomfort, or when quiet focused reflection is needed.

## Materials and tools

- Stopwatch or digital countdown timer for facilitator

## Before participants arrive

1. Clear floor space so participants can walk around freely without tripping over chairs or bags.

## Say this to open

We have five minutes to do five quick greeting rounds. In a moment, I will demonstrate the first two greetings together so we can roll straight through them. When I call go, circulate and share that greeting with as many people as you can. Non-contact versions are always welcome, so pick whatever feels comfortable.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce and demonstrate first batch (1 minutes)

Speak opening script. Demonstrate greeting 1 (high-five or an open-palm wave) and greeting 2 (fist-bump or peace sign). Explicitly show non-contact alternatives for both. Have participants stand and find space.

### 2. Run rounds one and two (1 minutes)

Call go for round 1 (high-five/wave). Time 20 seconds. Call change to round 2 (fist-bump/peace sign) without pausing to re-gather the room. Time 20 seconds. Call pause.

### 3. Demonstrate and run rounds three, four, and five (2 minutes)

Quickly demonstrate greeting 3 (elbow-bump or hands-clasped nod), greeting 4 (pinky touch or thumbs-up), and greeting 5 (two claps and a point, or slight bow). Call go for round 3 (20 seconds), round 4 (20 seconds), and round 5 (20 seconds) with quick vocal cues between rounds. Invite everyone to return to their seats.

### 4. Debrief (1 minutes)

Call the room back to focus. Ask one debrief question. Take two brief verbal responses from volunteers to conclude the warm-up.


## Debrief questions

- Which greeting felt smoothest to exchange, and why?
- What cues helped you match greeting styles with each partner?

**Finished output:** The full group completes five greeting rounds and returns to their seats.

## Remote

On video calls, run the five rounds as gallery-view screen gestures rather than walking. In each 20-second round, call out a gesture (such as jazz hands, thumbs up, heart hands, peace sign, or screen wave). Participants look across gallery view and mirror gestures with each other.

## Hybrid

Split delivery between spaces. An in-person co-facilitator runs physical milling while an online facilitator guides remote attendees through gallery-view gestures on the same 20-second timers. When bringing the full room back together for the one-minute debrief, take one response from the physical room and one response from a remote volunteer or the meeting chat.

## Access and participation choices

- Non-contact gesture variations (waving, peace signs, nods, or thumbs-up) are demonstrated alongside every physical contact option.
- Anyone may participate from a stationary seated position, invite others to approach them, or observe without moving.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants rush or collide while moving quickly across the room.**

Remind the group before round 1 that rapid walking is unnecessary and announce walking pace only.

**Someone does not want to make physical contact with others.**

Model non-contact equivalents during every demonstration so passing on touch feels standard.


## Sources and adaptation

Observed on Playmeo, which attributes the activity to Mark Collard.

Retained the mechanic of five 20-second greeting rounds from Playmeo. UWT grouped demonstrations into two brief instruction blocks to ensure sufficient activity time within five minutes, added explicit non-contact variations, and specified hybrid facilitation rules.

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/ice-breakers-get-to-know-you-games/five-handshakes-in-five-minutes)

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/ice-breakers-get-to-know-you-games/five-handshakes-in-five-minutes/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/quick-energetic-icebreaker-for-group-connection-five-handshakes/