Read Weirdly and Widely

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Gather unfamiliar references from unrelated fields to generate unexpected angles for an ongoing project or discussion.

Use it when: Use before an ideation session, writing block, or panel when participants repeat the same predictable references.

Skip it when: Skip during late-stage alignment or when participants lack internet access and pre-printed reading excerpts.

Group arrangement: Individual reading, then pairs or trios, followed by brief whole-room share

Timing: Expanded from the source duration of under 5 minutes to 15 minutes to allow structured browsing, pairing, and whole-group debrief.

Materials and tools

• One smartphone, tablet, laptop, or pre-printed article pack per participant
• One index card and one pen per participant
• A display board or shared digital workspace to collect notes
• A prepared list of 4 to 6 eccentric, niche, or interdisciplinary links or articles

Before participants arrive

1. Write or project a list of 4 to 6 unusual domains or topics (for example: amateur astronomy logs, municipal sewer maintenance reports, deep-sea biology logs, extreme vexillology, or vintage watch repair manuals).
2. Ensure guest Wi-Fi credentials are visible if people use personal devices.
3. Have 3 to 5 paper printouts ready for anyone without a working device.

Say this to open

For the next four minutes, leave your usual field behind. Pick a source from the list that you would never read on a normal workday. Read or skim it with curiosity. Your job is to find one specific fact, term, or mechanism that catches your attention, and write it on your index card.

How to run it

1. Introduce and assign strange topics 2 minutes

   Display the topic prompt list. Deliver the opening script. Ask everyone to choose one source, open it on their device, or take a paper handout.

2. Browse and extract 5 minutes

   Participants read individually in silence. Each person writes down on their card: 1) the surprising detail or phrase, and 2) one sentence linking that idea to the day's project. Neutral example: If the project is improving customer onboarding and the reading is on honeybee hive ventilation, the idea might be creating clear passive directional pathways instead of adding more alert notices.

3. Pair exchange 4 minutes

   Form pairs. In odd-numbered rooms, create one trio. Each partner takes 90 seconds to explain their strange source and the single connection they made. The listener records one comment on the back of the speaker's card.

4. Share out and debrief 4 minutes

   Invite 3 or 4 volunteers to read their connection aloud. Conclude by framing how distant concepts prevent predictable groupthink during subsequent work.

Debrief questions

• What made it easy or difficult to connect an unrelated subject to your current task?
• Which concept heard in your pair felt most different from our standard work vocabulary?
• How can you deliberately introduce unexpected reading into your routine before critical decisions?

Finished output: A set of completed index cards showing an external concept mapped to the workshop problem.

Remote

Post the curated link list in the chat. Run the individual browsing phase with cameras optional and microphones muted. Send participants to 2-person breakout rooms for four minutes. Reconvene in the main room and have participants type their best connection into the chat or paste it on a digital whiteboard.

Hybrid

Pair in-room participants with in-room partners, and pair remote participants with remote partners to avoid audio bleed. Use a single shared digital text document where both remote and in-person participants record their final card notes.

Access and participation choices

• Offer printed paper excerpts and screen-reader accessible plain text links as browsing options.
• Participants may pass on reading aloud to the whole room without giving an explanation.

If the session gets stuck

Participants get lost scrolling social media or unrelated sites during the reading phase.

Provide 4 specific pre-vetted links on screen or on paper instead of an open search bar, and hold strictly to the five-minute timer.

A participant says their strange topic has zero relation to the project.

Prompt them to take one mechanical word from the text (such as intake, buffer, plumage, insulation) and use it as a metaphor for a bottleneck in the project.

Terms used here

• Vexillology: The study of flags, often used as an example of a deep, obscure topic.