Find My People — for facilitators

Samvinas

• Add it from the Warm-ups section of the toolbox. Each step asks one question, so for a run of five questions add five steps.
• Put the question in the step's Prompt (Basics tab). On the Settings tab, enter the answers one per line (2 to 8) and the seconds to answer. You can also add an activity that appears once the groups have formed, e.g. "Share one reason you chose this."
• Focus the step to start the countdown. Everyone's phone shows the answers as large coloured buttons.
• To stop early, press End now on the step's row in the flow list.
• At the reveal, every phone fills with its group's colour, symbol and name (● Blue, ▲ Gold, …), so groups can find each other across the room even in poor light or with colour-blindness. Anyone who didn't answer becomes a grey Wildcard and joins any group.
• The projector shows the countdown, then a bar for each group.
• To reuse the step, press Run again on its Data tab. Focusing a finished step again keeps its results.

Paper and pen

You need: a sign for each answer, taped up in different corners of the room.

• Read the question and the answers aloud, and point to each answer's corner.
• Give people a moment to decide before anyone moves. Otherwise they follow their friends rather than their answer.
• Say "Go!" and let everyone walk to their corner. Anyone who can't decide stands in the middle and joins whichever group is smallest.
• The failure mode is too many answers. Past five or six corners the room becomes a scramble, so keep the list short.
• Harvest: count each corner aloud, or take a photograph from the front.

When & why

Reach for Find My People at the start of a session, or after a break, when you want people on their feet and talking to someone new.

• Light questions first. Start with something easy ("Coffee or tea?") before asking anything that reveals a view on the work itself.
• The groups are the point. Use the activity prompt to give each group something short to do together, so that the movement turns into conversation.
• Use answers to form working groups. A question about experience or interests ("Which part of the problem do you know best?") builds groups you can keep for the next activity.
• What usually follows: a generating tool such as Brainstorm, with people staying in their new groups, or Vote With Your Feet for a statement where the spread of opinion matters.