Trading Cards
Trading Cards is an ideation warm-up exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- Give the meeting participants access to large-scale index cards and markers.
- Ask them to take 5-10 minutes to create a personal “trading card”-one that includes a self-portrait, a nickname for their “player,” and one thing about themselves that people in the meeting aren’t likely to know.
- Have the players pass the trading cards around the room in no particular manner or order. Tell them to read each trading card that falls into their hands and hold onto one they might ask a question about. They can keep passing until they find one.
- Ask for volunteers to read their player’s name and nickname and then to ask that person a question related to the little-known fact on his card.
- Let the player who was chosen elaborate on the question he was asked. The player can then opt to ask the person whose card he’s holding a question, or he can pass and you can request another volunteer.
- Keeping going around until the players appear to be sufficiently warmed up. But try to keep the play at or less than 15 minutes long.
- So, during the Trading Cards game, there really is no harm and, ahem, no foul. Help meeting participants integrate before the meeting starts.
- . Keeping going around until the players appear to be sufficiently warmed up. But try to keep the play at or less than 15 minutes long.
Run this exercise live
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Materials:
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Prompts to use +
Give the meeting participants access to large-scale index cards and markers.
Ask them to take 5-10 minutes to create a personal “trading card”-one that includes a self-portrait, a nickname for their “player,” and one thing about themselves that people in the meeting aren’t likely to know.
Have the players pass the trading cards around the room in no particular manner or order. Tell them to read each trading card that falls into their hands and hold onto one they might ask a question about. They can keep passing until they find one.
Ask for volunteers to read their player’s name and nickname and then to ask that person a question related to the little-known fact on his card.
Let the player who was chosen elaborate on the question he was asked. The player can then opt to ask the person whose card he’s holding a question, or he can pass and you can request another volunteer.
Keeping going around until the players appear to be sufficiently warmed up. But try to keep the play at or less than 15 minutes long.
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: Trading Cards. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Give the meeting participants access to large-scale index cards and markers.; Ask them to take 5-10 minutes to create a personal “trading card”-one that includes a self-portrait, a nickname for their “player,” and one thing about themselves that people in the meeting aren’t likely to know.; Have the players pass the trading cards around the room in no particular manner or order. Tell them to read each trading card that falls into their hands and hold onto one they might ask a question about. They can keep passing until they find one.; Ask for volunteers to read their player’s name and nickname and then to ask that person a question related to the little-known fact on his card.. 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 Gamestorming; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (2 sources observed, including Gamestorming, 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.