Vertigo
Vertigo is a relationship mapping exercise that helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.
How to run it
- Masking tape, stopwatch (can be done without).
- Prior to running the energiser, mark out a platform shape on the floor with masking tape. The size should be just enough to allow all of the participants to stand within the ‘platform’.
- Ask participants to stand within the platform area and once they are all in, explain that they are one hundred feet in the air, stood on a platform that did have a ladder stood up against it. Unfortunately, someone has removed the ladder and they are all stuck!
- Start the challenge using some of these examples as tasks…
- Arrange yourselves in order of date of birth
- Arrange yourselves in order of time at the company
- . Prior to running the energiser, mark out a platform shape on the floor with masking tape. The size should be just enough to allow all of the participants to stand within the ‘platform’.
- . Ask participants to stand within the platform area and once they are all in, explain that they are one hundred feet in the air, stood on a platform that did have a ladder stood up against it. Unfortunately, someone has removed the ladder and they are all stuck!
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.
What participants need now
Materials:
This is a participant-safe snapshot, not a response form. It sends nothing back to the facilitator.
Prompts to use +
Prior to running the energiser, mark out a platform shape on the floor with masking tape. The size should be just enough to allow all of the participants to stand within the ‘platform’.
Ask participants to stand within the platform area and once they are all in, explain that they are one hundred feet in the air, stood on a platform that did have a ladder stood up against it. Unfortunately, someone has removed the ladder and they are all stuck!
Start the challenge using some of these examples as tasks…
Arrange yourselves in order of date of birth
Arrange yourselves in order of time at the company
. Prior to running the energiser, mark out a platform shape on the floor with masking tape. The size should be just enough to allow all of the participants to stand within the ‘platform’.
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: Vertigo. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Prior to running the energiser, mark out a platform shape on the floor with masking tape. The size should be just enough to allow all of the participants to stand within the ‘platform’.; Ask participants to stand within the platform area and once they are all in, explain that they are one hundred feet in the air, stood on a platform that did have a ladder stood up against it. Unfortunately, someone has removed the ladder and they are all stuck!; Start the challenge using some of these examples as tasks…; Arrange yourselves in order of date of birth. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The current corpus has one observed source organization: TrainerBubble. (1 source observed, including TrainerBubble.)
- 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.