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: 6cf20872b2e7d40938c92ec084709a29bac80c2263868f7c7b4b792b56f700fb

# World Café

Participants discuss a central question in small groups at tables covered in paper, sketching ideas as they talk. After each round, ambassadors move to new tables while a stationary host welcomes newcomers, culminating in a town hall synthesis.

**Time:** 80 minutes. Gamestorming lists 1.5 hours (90 minutes) for three 20-minute rounds plus synthesis. This 80-minute run sheet uses three 18-minute rounds, a 5-minute role orientation, and a 21-minute debrief.
**People:** 12 to 24. Tables of 4 to 5 participants, with 1 host remaining at each table and others rotating as ambassadors.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Cross-pollinate perspectives across multiple small-group rotations to map common themes on a shared question.
**Use it when:** Use when a group needs to examine an open-ended strategic challenge from multiple angles and build collective insight across subgroups.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the goal is rapid decision-making, binary voting, technical troubleshooting, or when available session time is under 45 minutes.

## Materials and tools

- Large paper tablecloths or flip chart sheets taped to each table (1 per table)
- Colored markers (4 to 6 per table, with one set aside as a talking stick token if needed)
- Table number cards (1 per table)
- Chime, bell, or digital timer

## Before participants arrive

1. Arrange at least 3 round tables with 4 to 5 chairs each, spaced so ambient noise remains manageable.
2. Cover each table top with blank flip chart paper or a paper tablecloth and place markers in the center.
3. Designate one distinctive marker at each table to serve as a talking token if groups need to balance conversation.
4. Post the central question prominently where all participants can read it.

## Say this to open

Welcome to our World Cafe. Today we are exploring a central question: 'How might we improve real collaboration across our teams?' We will hold three rounds of conversation. Sit with four or five people at a table. At each table, one person will volunteer to stay as host. Everyone else is an ambassador who will rotate to a new table when time is called. Hosts brief newcomers, and ambassadors bring insights from their prior tables. Draw, write, and map your thoughts directly on the table paper. If needed to balance speaking time, use one designated marker as a talking token.

## How to run it

### 1. Form tables and assign roles (5 minutes)

Direct participants to seat themselves at tables of 4 or 5. Ask each table to select one volunteer to serve as table host for all rounds. Confirm that all other participants are ambassadors who will rotate between rounds. State the central question clearly.

### 2. Hold Round 1 conversation (18 minutes)

Start the timer. Groups discuss the central question. Everyone is invited to doodle, sketch diagrams, write quotes, and map ideas directly onto the paper covering the table. Announce a 2-minute warning before the round ends.

### 3. Rotate and hold Round 2 (18 minutes)

Ring the chime. Table hosts stay seated. Ambassadors move to a different table without repeating prior table companions. For the first 2 minutes, the host summarizes table themes from Round 1. Over the next 2 minutes, ambassadors briefly share key ideas from their prior tables. For the remaining 14 minutes, the group builds on these ideas and records emerging patterns on the table paper.

### 4. Rotate and hold Round 3 (18 minutes)

Ring the chime. Ambassadors move to a third table. Table hosts stay in place. Allocate the first 2 minutes for the host to summarize current table findings, and the next 2 minutes for ambassadors to share highlights from their prior tables. For the remaining 14 minutes, participants identify recurring themes, connections, and deeper insights, writing summary concepts toward the center of the sheet.

### 5. Synthesize in a town hall debrief (21 minutes)

Call the whole room together. Invite 3 or 4 table hosts or participants to share one significant pattern or breakthrough captured on their paper. Open the floor for brief reflections on how ideas linked across tables, fitting 4 to 6 brief verbal comments into the remaining time.


## Debrief questions

- What common patterns or themes emerged across multiple tables?
- What was an unexpected perspective that shifted your table's conversation?
- What is one concrete next step suggested by the notes on your table?

**Finished output:** Tablecloth artifacts containing diagrams, written notes, and clustered themes, plus a list of whole-room insights on the focal question.

## Remote

Set up breakout rooms labeled by table numbers. Configure the platform so participants can choose their own breakout rooms, or manually rotate ambassadors between rounds while each host stays in place. Use a shared online whiteboard with a dedicated canvas frame for each table containing digital pens and shapes.

## Hybrid

Set up remote participants at virtual tables using a shared digital canvas while in-person participants work at physical tables. A designated room liaison projects the digital boards onto the room screen during the synthesis step so all participants see recorded artifacts across both environments.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may contribute by speaking aloud, writing notes, or sketching diagrams directly on the table paper.
- Any participant may choose to act as an ambassador without speaking as a primary spokesperson, listening and adding written notes instead.
- The table host role is voluntary, and any participant may pass on presenting during the town hall debrief.

## If the session gets stuck

**One table finishes early or conversation stalls before time runs out.**

Prompt them to review drawings on their sheet, look for unstated assumptions, or draw lines connecting contrasting viewpoints.

**A participant dominates the conversation at a table.**

Remind tables to use their designated token marker so that only the person holding it speaks while others listen.


## Terms used here

- Host: The participant who remains at one table across all rounds to anchor notes and brief incoming ambassadors.
- Ambassador: A participant who moves to a new table after each round to bring ideas across groups.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Gamestorming, which notes that a community of practitioners maintains the methodology and design principles at theworldcafe.com.

Preserved core mechanics from Gamestorming: stationary table hosts, rotating ambassadors, drawing on table paper, and whole-room synthesis. Set minimum group size to 12 so at least three tables exist for three rotation rounds. Set an 80-minute structure to fit standard session blocks, added precise step timings for newcomer briefings, and included specific hybrid and remote setups.

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/world-cafe)

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/world-cafe/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/world-caf/