Secret Santa
Secret Santa is a team reflection exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- Explain the dynamic to the group with enthusiasm and clarity.
- Share rules, budget and important dates.
- Invite to participate voluntarily and genuinely.
- Conduct the draw ensuring total privacy.
- Each person receives their “secret friend’s” name without anyone else knowing.
- Share useful information about that person (tastes, needs, preferences) generally if needed.
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.
What participants need now
Materials:
This is a participant-safe snapshot, not a response form. It sends nothing back to the facilitator.
Prompts to use +
Explain the dynamic to the group with enthusiasm and clarity.
Share rules, budget and important dates.
Invite to participate voluntarily and genuinely.
Conduct the draw ensuring total privacy.
Share useful information about that person (tastes, needs, preferences) generally if needed.
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: Secret Santa. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Explain the dynamic to the group with enthusiasm and clarity.; Share rules, budget and important dates.; Invite to participate voluntarily and genuinely.; Conduct the draw ensuring total privacy.. 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.