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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Speed Dating
Relationship Mapping

Speed Dating

Speed Dating is a relationship mapping exercise that helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.

Under 5 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25), Pairs, Small group (4-8)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. eslactive Speed Dating + Tags: advanced, beginner, describing people, icebreaker, intermediate, jobs, kids, love, reported speech, sports and hobbies In the Speed Dating ESL activity, students meet lots of different people for a short time.
  2. 8+15-30 mins Chairs; Timer ← Back to all Activities Setup Arrange the chairs in two or more lines so the students sit facing one other person.
  3. If possible put a line of tables in between to make the setup more realistic.
  4. Depending on how well your students know each other (and your target language), they can either use their real identities or invent a person to play.
  5. Duration: 15m + Participants: 10 + by Dimitris Karanassos Use Method Goal To create a sharing platform for participants.
  6. CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.
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 +

8+15-30 mins Chairs; Timer ← Back to all Activities Setup Arrange the chairs in two or more lines so the students sit facing one other person.

Depending on how well your students know each other (and your target language), they can either use their real identities or invent a person to play.

Duration: 15m + Participants: 10 + by Dimitris Karanassos Use Method Goal To create a sharing platform for participants.

CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.

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: Speed Dating. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: 8+15-30 mins Chairs; Timer ← Back to all Activities Setup Arrange the chairs in two or more lines so the students sit facing one other person.; Depending on how well your students know each other (and your target language), they can either use their real identities or invent a person to play.; Duration: 15m + Participants: 10 + by Dimitris Karanassos Use Method Goal To create a sharing platform for participants.; CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The exercise appears across 2 observed source organizations in the current corpus. (2 sources observed, including ESL Active, SessionLab.)
  • 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