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: adf5e21ef3798010849968853a844846b04ec31356e6b356135c205ebfb7a052

# World Cafe

Small groups explore a shared question at separate tables while sketching thoughts on paper tablecloths. Participants rotate between tables across three rounds before gathering as a full room to identify common patterns.

**Time:** 90 minutes. Based on the 90-minute duration stated in WorkshopBank source evidence.
**People:** 8 to 24. Small tables of 4 or 5 participants (triads of 3 permitted for counts such as 9 or 11), with 1 volunteer host remaining at each table while others rotate.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Gather and cross-pollinate perspectives on an open inquiry question across multiple small subgroups.
**Use it when:** Use when a medium or large group needs to explore a complex topic without forcing an immediate single decision.
**Skip it when:** Skip when you need an immediate binary vote, strict technical troubleshooting, or rapid status updates.

## Materials and tools

- 1 round or square café table per 4 to 5 participants
- 1 large sheet of flipchart paper or butcher paper per table to serve as paper tablecloths
- 3 to 4 colored markers per table
- 1 roll of painter tape to post sheets during harvest
- 1 timer or chime for the facilitator

## Before participants arrive

1. Arrange tables in café style with 3 to 5 chairs each, spaced apart to permit quiet parallel conversations.
2. Cover each table with a paper tablecloth sheet and place markers in the center.
3. Write the central inquiry question clearly on a display visible from all tables.

## Say this to open

Welcome. Today we explore our central question using the World Cafe format. You will discuss the question in small groups, capturing thoughts, key words, and diagrams directly on your paper tablecloth. We will complete three rounds. In each round, you may speak, write notes, or listen. After round one, one volunteer stays at each table as host while everyone else travels to bring ideas to a new group.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce context and café guidelines (10 minutes)

Explain the inquiry question and the working agreements: listen with curiosity, offer individual viewpoints, and capture thoughts directly on the paper tablecloth. Emphasize that notes and sketches are public to the room. Give an example of acceptable notes: short phrases, circled questions, or connecting arrows, not polished summaries.

### 2. Run conversation round one (20 minutes)

Groups explore the inquiry question together. Participants sketch and write thoughts directly on the paper tablecloth. At 18 minutes, ring the chime and prompt each table to confirm 1 volunteer table host who will remain for round two while others prepare to travel.

### 3. Transition and run round two (20 minutes)

Travelers move to different tables, ensuring traveling partners separate. The table host welcomes newcomers, spends 2 minutes summarizing prior ideas from the paper, and invites new arrivals to build on those notes. Participants write additional insights directly on the tablecloth.

### 4. Transition and run round three (20 minutes)

Participants rotate to a third table. Table hosts brief the new group for 2 minutes on existing notes. The group synthesizes connections across rounds and adds final ideas and themes to the tablecloth.

### 5. Harvest patterns across tables (15 minutes)

Reconvene the full room. Table hosts hang their tablecloth sheets on the wall with painter tape. Give participants 3 minutes to view the posted sheets quietly. Then facilitate a whole-room harvest, inviting 3 or 4 brief shares focused on recurring patterns or tensions.

### 6. Close and confirm next steps (5 minutes)

Summarize how the harvested notes will be captured and used in upcoming work. Thank table hosts and travelers for their contributions.


## Debrief questions

- What connecting themes or recurring patterns showed up across multiple tables?
- What surprising tension or perspective emerged that shifted your original thinking?
- Which single insight from another table feels most important for our work moving forward?

**Finished output:** Completed paper tablecloths filled with notes and diagrams, with 3 to 4 cross-table patterns documented by the whole room.

## Remote

Form breakout rooms of 3 to 5 people and provide a shared digital whiteboard with a canvas for each table. One volunteer remains in the breakout room while the host manually reassigns other participants between rooms for rounds two and three.

## Hybrid

Place in-person participants at physical tables with paper sheets and remote participants into dedicated online breakout rooms with a shared canvas. During the harvest, photograph physical sheets and paste them into the digital canvas so all participants view the full set.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may contribute by speaking, writing on the paper, or listening quietly.
- Serving as table host is entirely voluntary; any participant may choose to travel every round.
- Passing during small-group discussions is permitted without explanation.

## If the session gets stuck

**Nobody volunteers to remain as the table host at the end of round one.**

Invite the person whose birthday is nearest, or allow the whole group to leave a 2-sentence written summary card on the table and all travel.

**One dominant speaker takes over the small-group conversation.**

Remind tables to write ideas directly onto the paper to make space for quiet thinkers, and ask the table host to invite quieter members to share.


## Terms used here

- Table Host: A volunteer participant who stays at one table across rounds to welcome newcomers and summarize previous discussions.
- Harvesting: The collective phase where small-table insights are shared and common themes across the whole room are documented.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in WorkshopBank materials describing a 90-minute World Cafe format.

Retained the core World Cafe mechanic from WorkshopBank source evidence, including small table discussions, tablecloth recording, table hosts, three conversation rounds, and whole-group harvesting across 90 minutes. UWT adjusted group format wording to explicitly handle room counts like 9 or 11 with triads, and added exact step timing, hybrid options, and participation guidelines.

[WorkshopBank](https://workshopbank.com/workshops/world-cafe)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/world-cafe-workshop-workshopbank/