Water Fountains
Water Fountains is a team reflection exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- Instead of having 2.5 hours of PowerPoint presentations, have presenters "present" their information to small subsets of the participants in parallel
- When one round is complete, participants move to another water fountain for the next round
- After all rounds have been completed
- Water Fountains Timing 60 180 minutes Purpose/Objectives Quick Description The most effective way to communicate large amounts of information that would traditionally be shared with one large group as a whole.
- Small Water Fountains of information, each with its own leader shares in depth discussions instead if lecture/presentation format Process Instead of having 2.5 hours of PowerPoint presentations, have presenters "present" their information to small subsets of the participants in parallel.
- After all rounds have been completed, debrief as a large group.
- Example set of Water Fountains 6 Water Fountains with 6 discussion leaders Round 1 20 minutes.
- All participants choose their choice Only set enough chairs so that every seat is filled and all the Water Fountains have a balance of people Round 2 20 minutes.
- All participants choose their choice Round 3 20 minutes.
- Debrief the Water Fountains by having each presenter share their insights from hearing from different group...
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Prompts to use +
Instead of having 2.5 hours of PowerPoint presentations, have presenters "present" their information to small subsets of the participants in parallel
When one round is complete, participants move to another water fountain for the next round
After all rounds have been completed
Water Fountains Timing 60 180 minutes Purpose/Objectives Quick Description The most effective way to communicate large amounts of information that would traditionally be shared with one large group as a whole.
Small Water Fountains of information, each with its own leader shares in depth discussions instead if lecture/presentation format Process Instead of having 2.5 hours of PowerPoint presentations, have presenters "present" their information to small subsets of the participants in parallel.
After all rounds have been completed, debrief as a large group.
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Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Water Fountains. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Instead of having 2.5 hours of PowerPoint presentations, have presenters "present" their information to small subsets of the participants in parallel; When one round is complete, participants move to another water fountain for the next round; After all rounds have been completed; Water Fountains Timing 60 180 minutes Purpose/Objectives Quick Description The most effective way to communicate large amounts of information that would traditionally be shared with one large group as a whole.. 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 Relationship Makers Handbook; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook.)
- 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.