Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 4c840ee80d2821c52f741addd619d367c6c297b099cefc04a7b3ca1f987ee4ec

# Slide Show

One participant narrates a fictional travelogue while team members freeze into silent physical poses to depict each slide. The narrator and actors take turns reacting to each other's visual and verbal offers to co-create a story.

**Time:** 15 minutes. UWT suggested 15-minute format allocating time for 2 performance rounds plus setup and debrief.
**People:** 4 to 20. Teams of 3 to 6 players (1 narrator and 2 to 5 actors) take turns performing while remaining participants serve as the audience.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Practice spontaneous co-creation and active listening by alternating verbal framing and physical interpretation without prior planning.
**Use it when:** Use during team workshops, presentation skills practice, or warm-ups to reduce overthinking and practice accepting unexpected creative offers.
**Skip it when:** Skip when physical mobility constraints make frozen poses uncomfortable, or when the group requires formal analytical work instead of playful narrative improv.

## Materials and tools

- Timer or stopwatch
- Whiteboard or flip chart with marker for scenario suggestions (optional)

## Before participants arrive

1. Clear an open presentation area at the front of the room with an unobstructed view.
2. Prepare 3 to 5 neutral scenario ideas, such as an expedition into a cave or opening a bakery.

## Say this to open

Welcome. We are going to present a photo slide show of an unusual journey without real slides. One person narrates a presentation. The other team members freeze into silent statues to form each slide. The presenter does not tell actors how to pose, and the actors do not know what the presenter will say next. Both sides build the story together.

## How to run it

### 1. Assign roles and prompt (2 minutes)

Invite a volunteer team of 3 to 6 people to the stage area. Appoint one narrator and 2 to 5 slide actors. The rest of the room forms the audience. Read the opening script and announce a broad topic, such as 'A deep-sea research mission.'

### 2. Run slide show round 1 (5 minutes)

The narrator opens the story. When the narrator says 'Next slide,' actors immediately strike silent frozen poses. The narrator explains the scene and advances the plot before calling the next slide. Run 4 to 5 slides across 4 minutes, then applaud. Example: If actors freeze pointing at the floor in terror, the narrator might say, 'Here Dr. Patel spots the missing submarine hatch.'

### 3. Run slide show round 2 (5 minutes)

Invite a second team of 3 to 6 people forward. Appoint a new narrator and new slide actors. Give a fresh topic, such as 'An eco-friendly treehouse project.' Sidecoach actors to extend the narrative with new poses rather than simply copying prior lines. Run 4 to 5 slides and conclude with applause.

### 4. Debrief narrative give-and-take (3 minutes)

Reconvene the full group. Ask a few participants to reflect on the balance between leading with words and following physical offers using the debrief questions. Close the exercise on time.


## Debrief questions

- Narrators, what happened to your planned story when the actors struck an unexpected pose?
- Actors, how did you decide what physical shape to make without speaking to each other?
- What helped the narrator and the actors build on each other's ideas instead of fighting for control?

**Finished output:** Two improvised stories completed through collaborative physical and verbal offers without prior scripting.

## Remote

Use gallery view on video conference software. The narrator turns on their camera and microphone. The actors keep their cameras on but mute their microphones. When the narrator calls 'Next slide,' actors freeze in dramatic poses framed within their camera views. Other attendees turn cameras off to serve as the audience.

## Hybrid

Assign the narrator role to either remote or in-person participants. In-person actors perform in front of the room camera so remote attendees see the poses clearly. If remote participants act, display their video feeds on the room screen so the local narrator can see them.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants can pose seated in chairs, use simple hand gestures, or hold up everyday desk objects instead of full-body floor poses.
- Any participant may choose to act as an audience member, keep time, or suggest story topics without performing.

## If the session gets stuck

**Actors talk, move around, or act out continuous scenes instead of freezing.**

Remind the group that slides are still photos. Call out 'Click, freeze' and have actors hold their positions until the next slide is called.

**The narrator dictates poses to the actors before calling the slide.**

Remind the narrator to say 'Next slide' first, pause while actors freeze, and then describe whatever image appears.


## Terms used here

- Offer: In improvisation, any verbal line or physical action introduced by a player that establishes new reality for the scene.
- Sidecoach: Brief verbal guidance given by the facilitator while an exercise is actively underway to keep players on track.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Improv Encyclopedia and SessionLab as an improv theater game.

Retained the core mechanic from Improv Encyclopedia and SessionLab where one narrator explains improvised physical tableaux frozen by fellow players. UWT structured the group sizing, time allocation, script, hybrid rules, and debrief questions.

[SessionLab](https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/slide-show)

[improvencyclopedia.org](https://improvencyclopedia.org/games//Slide_Show.html)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/slide-show/