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Purpose: Demonstrate the difference between individual recall and collaborative recall while reviewing key workshop concepts.

Use it when: Use during a mid-session review or after a content-heavy module to re-engage participants and reinforce terminology.

Skip it when: Skip if the group has not yet covered shared content, or when testing precise individual retention rather than examining team recall dynamics.

Group arrangement: Individual recall followed by pairs or trios, ending in a whole-room debrief.

Timing: UWT suggested duration. The source provides a 1-minute viewing rule but omits total run time.

Materials and tools

• One pre-made slide containing 20 to 30 workshop terms at varied angles, fonts, and colors
• One sheet of scratch paper per person
• One pen or pencil per person
• Projection screen or digital display screen
• Facilitator timer

Before participants arrive

1. Prepare a single visual slide featuring 20 to 30 distinct terms or short phrases from your workshop content. Vary the font sizes, colors, and layout angles across the canvas. Keep the slide hidden until the activity begins.

Say this to open

We are going to do a quick visual exercise based on what we have covered today. In a moment, I will display a slide covered with terms from our session for exactly 60 seconds. Put your pens down now. Do not write or type anything while the slide is visible. Just focus on memorizing as many words as you can.

How to run it

1. Display the slide 2 minutes

   Review the rules and answer brief questions. Ensure all pens are down and no devices are recording. Show the prepared word slide and start a 60-second timer. At 60 seconds, immediately hide or blank the screen.

2. Individual recall 3 minutes

   Tell participants to pick up their pens. Give them two minutes of silent individual time to write down every term they remember seeing. Call time when the two minutes end.

3. Pair comparison and pooling 5 minutes

   Ask participants to turn to a partner. Odd numbers may form one group of three. Instruct pairs to compare their individual lists and create a single combined list of unique words they both remembered. Have them count their individual totals versus their combined total.

4. Whole-room check and debrief 5 minutes

   Ask for a quick show of hands: who remembered more words on their combined list than on their individual list? Redisplay the original slide so pairs can check accuracy. Ask the debrief questions and invite 2 to 3 observations from the room.

Debrief questions

• How did your combined team score compare to your individual score?
• Did your pair write down any plausible terms from our workshop that were not actually on the slide?
• What does this comparison reveal about how collective review affects memory and false assumptions?

Finished output: A paired list comparing individual versus collaborative recall totals, with a check for false memory assumptions.

Remote

Share the visual slide via screen share for exactly 60 seconds while keeping participant webcams active and hands in view. Blank the screen, give 2 minutes for individual private typing, then send participants into 2-person breakout rooms for 5 minutes to merge their lists before returning to the main room.

Hybrid

In-person participants pair with in-person partners using scratch paper. Remote participants pair in digital breakout rooms using private chat or a shared blank document. The facilitator controls screen-sharing so both cohorts see the slide for the identical 60-second window.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may record memories via voice memo, typing, or scribing with a partner instead of handwriting.
• Anyone may pass on sharing their score or reading their list aloud during the debrief without explanation.

If the session gets stuck

Participants start writing or typing notes while the slide is on screen.

Firmly remind the room that all hands must stay off pens and keyboards. Reset the timer and display a backup slide if fair conditions were broken.

A participant feels self-conscious about a low individual recall score.

Emphasize that the activity tests human memory limits and highlights the power of pooled recall, not personal cognitive performance.

Terms used here

• False recall: Remembering a related concept that felt logical but was not physically present on the source slide.