United We TransformCreate teamsGrade your agenda
Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Reading Club
Relationship Mapping

Reading Club

This activity encourages critical thinking, strengthens bonds among participants, and can be adapted to different formats, groups, and themes.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Begin with a brief presentation of the selected book or text.
  2. Review the purpose of the session and the guidelines for dialogue.
  3. Invite each person to share their general impression, favorite quote, or feeling the reading left them with.
  4. Guide the conversation around key topics, prompting questions, or specific passages from the text.
  5. Encourage respect for speaking turns and inclusive participation.
  6. Invite each person to share a final thought or takeaway.
  7. Decide on the next text and the date of the next session.
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

Begin with a brief presentation of the selected book or text.

Invite each person to share their general impression, favorite quote, or feeling the reading left them with.

Invite each person to share a final thought or takeaway.

Decide on the next text and the date of the next session.

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: Reading Club. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Begin with a brief presentation of the selected book or text.; Invite each person to share their general impression, favorite quote, or feeling the reading left them with.; Invite each person to share a final thought or takeaway.; Decide on the next text and the date of the next session.. 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 Participatory Methods; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Participatory Methods.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with