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: 4fc6bfd6e46b5276a46deb3e0a7a58150fe25ad0934a5b0e60edd9eb6df016cd

# The Three Word Interview

Partners interview each other quickly about background and interests, then summarize their partner using exactly three words. The room hears each three-word profile or sees them on display.

**Time:** 15 minutes. Source indicates 15 to 30 minutes. 15 minutes accommodates paired interviews, drafting, and concise whole-room introductions for up to 24 people.
**People:** 4 to 24. Pairs. If there is an odd number of people, form one trio where person A interviews B, B interviews C, and C interviews A.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Distill a quick introductory conversation into three memorable descriptive words.
**Use it when:** Opening a workshop or onboarding session when participants need a fast, structured way to meet someone new.
**Skip it when:** Teams where participants already know each other well or where people feel uncomfortable having peers assign descriptive tags to them.

## Materials and tools

- One index card or large name tag per participant
- One marker or pen per participant
- Visual display or whiteboard with sample prompt topics

## Before participants arrive

1. Write the prompt topics on a whiteboard or slide: name, skills, hobbies, favorite food, school or job history, places lived or visited.
2. Distribute one index card or tag and a marker to each participant.

## Say this to open

Find a partner you do not know well. You have two minutes each to ask each other about background, skills, and interests. After both interviews, you will choose exactly three words that summarize your partner. Always check with your partner that they approve their three words before sharing.

## How to run it

### 1. Pair up and explain task (2 minutes)

Group participants into pairs. If an odd number is present, create one trio. Display the sample topics. Explain that each person gets two minutes to interview their partner, followed by drafting three single-word descriptors.

### 2. Conduct paired interviews (5 minutes)

Start the timer. Partner A interviews Partner B for 2.5 minutes. Signal the halfway mark. Partner B interviews Partner A for 2.5 minutes. In a trio, allocate 1.5 minutes per interview turn.

### 3. Select and confirm three words (2 minutes)

Each person selects three single words to describe their partner. Example: 'curious, baker, cyclist'. Partners show their chosen three words to each other to confirm comfort and consent. Once approved, write the words boldly on the partner's card or tag.

### 4. Share introductions (4 minutes)

Go around the circle. Each person introduces their partner by stating their partner's name and reading their three words only. Limit each introduction to under 10 seconds to fit the time.

### 5. Debrief (2 minutes)

Lead a brief reflection with two questions. Call on two or three volunteers to answer.


## Debrief questions

- What made it easy or hard to reduce a whole conversation down to three words?
- How accurate did your partner's three words feel to you?

**Finished output:** Each participant holds an index card or wears a tag displaying three descriptive words selected by their partner.

## Remote

Use breakout rooms of two people for 5 minutes. Return to the main room. Have each person type their partner's name and their three words into the chat or onto a shared digital whiteboard on facilitator count.

## Hybrid

Pair in-person participants with in-person peers, and remote participants with remote peers in individual breakout rooms. During sharing, alternate between one in-person speaker and one remote participant speaking on camera or posting their partner's three words in the shared chat.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may choose self-selected words if they prefer not to have a partner pick descriptors for them.
- Participants may decline to disclose personal topics like family or travel and stick strictly to work or neutral interests.
- Anyone may pass during the verbal share and simply set their card on the table or display board.

## If the session gets stuck

**A participant chooses a teasing, overly personal, or unflattering word.**

Remind everyone during step 3 that the subject must explicitly approve all three words before they are written down. If the subject dislikes a word, the interviewer picks a neutral replacement.

**Participants write full sentences or hyphenated paragraphs instead of three single words.**

Enforce the constraint before writing starts: exactly three distinct words, no sentences.


## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Relationship Makers Handbook, page 394.

Retained the core mechanic from Relationship Makers Handbook: 2 to 3 minute mutual interviews followed by distilling the partner into exactly three words. UWT added explicit consent rules where the interviewee must approve the three words, a structured 15-minute schedule, an odd-number trio turn rule, and specific scripts for hybrid and remote execution.

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/the-three-word-interview/