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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/What have you been reading?
Name Learning ยท Relationship Mapping

What have you been reading?

What have you been reading? is a name learning exercise for relationship mapping: it helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25)GROUP SIZE
BalancedENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
Medium cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. 6 Debrief
  2. Set Up Ahead of time, the organizer surveys each team member, asking "What book have you read recently?" [ see alternative below).
  3. She then makes a list of the names of all team members.
  4. Directions Invite everyone to guess (but not ask/tell each other) which name goes with which book title.
  5. Each participant draws a line from the person's name to the book title (some guesses may be the same, so lines will coincide in which case each guesser should use a different color).
  6. Debrief People can then have discussions with each other about the books and related ideas.
  7. Alternatives Instead of books, the list can be of magazines; websites; movies; songs.
  8. What have you been reading?
  9. 1 Objectives 2 Group Size 3 Materials 4 Set Up 5 Directions 6 Debrief 7 Alternatives
Live facilitator

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.

Prompts to use +

Set Up Ahead of time, the organizer surveys each team member, asking "What book have you read recently?" [ see alternative below).

She then makes a list of the names of all team members.

Directions Invite everyone to guess (but not ask/tell each other) which name goes with which book title.

Each participant draws a line from the person's name to the book title (some guesses may be the same, so lines will coincide in which case each guesser should use a different color).

Debrief People can then have discussions with each other about the books and related ideas.

Alternatives Instead of books, the list can be of magazines; websites; movies; songs.

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: What have you been reading?. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Set Up Ahead of time, the organizer surveys each team member, asking "What book have you read recently?" [ see alternative below).; She then makes a list of the names of all team members.; Directions Invite everyone to guess (but not ask/tell each other) which name goes with which book title.; Each participant draws a line from the person's name to the book title (some guesses may be the same, so lines will coincide in which case each guesser should use a different color).. 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: Teampedia. (1 source observed, including Teampedia.)
  • 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.

Pairs well with