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: bf3cf868fc3c8a0aacde42f1f6a3552765726c39e7210ccfe84ddad83ac808bb

# Emotional Meeting

A small group improvises a short meeting where members enter one at a time, each introducing a new emotion that the whole room catches. When players exit in reverse order, the remaining people revert to each previous emotion.

**Time:** 15 minutes. UWT suggested duration based on a 5-10 minute roleplay round plus structured debrief
**People:** 4 to 20. Inner performance group of 4 players surrounded by observers, or parallel quartets

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Demonstrate through structured roleplay how individual emotional tone spreads across a team and alters group dynamics.
**Use it when:** Use when examining team communication patterns, interpersonal awareness, or emotional contagion in meetings.
**Skip it when:** Skip when groups are navigating acute workplace conflicts or when participants express severe hesitation about improvisational acting.

## Materials and tools

- 4 chairs set around an optional small table
- Index cards or slips of paper for emotion prompts
- 1 timer or countdown clock

## Before participants arrive

1. Arrange 4 chairs in the center of the room facing observers or set up separate small stations for parallel quartets.
2. Write down distinct emotional attitudes on cards (such as Joy, Suspicion, Panic, and Lethargy) or prepare to elicit them aloud.

## Say this to open

We are going to run a short improv scene called Emotional Meeting. Four people will stage a brief work meeting. The catch is that each person brings a specific emotional attitude into the room. Whenever someone enters, every person already in the room immediately catches that new emotion. When players exit in reverse order, the room reverts to the previous emotion. Let us see how emotion shapes our interaction.

## How to run it

### 1. Set the scene and assign roles (3 minutes)

Gather 4 volunteers to enter the playing area. Give the remaining participants observation prompts: track when tone changes, note physical cues, and observe what happens to the meeting agenda. Assign an entry order (Player 1, 2, 3, 4) and give each player a distinct emotion card or elicit 4 contrasting emotions from the group. Give them a mundane topic for the meeting, such as planning an office move or choosing a new coffee machine.

### 2. Enter the meeting (4 minutes)

Start the scene. Player 1 enters the meeting space displaying their assigned emotion (for example, Lethargy) while discussing the topic. After roughly 45 seconds, Player 2 enters with their emotion (for example, Suspicion). As soon as Player 2 enters, Player 1 must immediately adopt that suspicion. After another 45 seconds, Player 3 enters with extreme Panic; both Player 1 and 2 shift into panic. Finally, Player 4 enters with bubbling Joy; all four actors immediately adopt joy while staying on topic.

### 3. Reverse the departures (3 minutes)

After roughly 45 seconds of all 4 interacting, cue Player 4 to give an excuse and leave. The remaining three players must instantly drop joy and revert to Panic. After 30 seconds, cue Player 3 to leave; the remaining two revert to Suspicion. After 30 seconds, Player 2 leaves, leaving Player 1 alone in their original Lethargy. Call freeze after Player 1 speaks one closing line.

### 4. Debrief the emotional dynamics (5 minutes)

Bring the players and observers together into a whole-room discussion. Take 2 to 3 observations from the actors and 2 to 3 from observers on how tone shifted the conversation and how easy or difficult it was to catch another person's state.


## Debrief questions

- What physical and verbal signals made the incoming emotion obvious to the group?
- How did the changing emotional climate help or hinder progress on the meeting topic?
- How does this dynamic mirror what happens when a colleague enters a real meeting with high stress or excitement?

**Finished output:** A shared group observation of emotional contagion mechanics and practical tactics for managing meeting climate.

## Remote

Run in the main room of a video meeting. The 4 performers turn off their cameras. The topic is introduced. Player 1 turns on camera and mic with their emotion. Subsequent players turn on their cameras one at a time to inject their emotion. Players exit by turning their cameras off in reverse order while remaining speakers shift back.

## Hybrid

Keep the physical staging in view of the room camera. Remote participants can serve as observers tracking emotional cues in chat, or 1 remote participant can enter the meeting via a visible display screen to bring their emotion into the room.

## Access and participation choices

- Non-acting roles: participants who do not wish to act can serve as observers, timekeepers, or emotion prompters.
- Physical adjustments: emotions can be conveyed entirely through vocal tone and word choice without standing, fast movement, or physical contact.

## If the session gets stuck

**Players forget to drop the current emotion when a new person enters, or they fail to switch back when someone leaves.**

Coach from the side. Call out the active emotion gently, such as 'Player 3 enters with Panic; everyone is panicking now' or 'Player 4 left; back to Panic.'

**Actors stop discussing the meeting topic entirely and focus only on shouting the emotion.**

Remind players from the sideline to keep trying to resolve the actual task (like planning the move) while feeling that emotion.


## Terms used here

- Emotional contagion: The psychological tendency for people to automatically align their mood, tone, and nonverbal expressions with others around them.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Thiagi GameLetter (November 2008), where Kat Koppett documents the activity 'Emotional Meeting' with attribution adapted from the Chicago schools, Freestyle Repertory Theatre, and Theatresports.

The raw input slug referred to the full November 2008 issue of Thiagi GameLetter, which contained several games and columns. We extracted and developed Kat Koppett's standalone improv exercise 'Emotional Meeting' from the issue text, retaining the core mechanic of sequential entries, mood contagion, and reverse-order exit reversion. UWT added explicit timekeeping, an opening script, concrete neutral prompts, accessibility provisions, and structured debrief pacing.

[thiagi.net](http://thiagi.net/archive/www/pfp/IE4H/november2008.html)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/tgl-november-2008/