ThemeDesigning the journey
CardCard 46 of 60
Questions5 to explore
StepDesign the journey

Exercises

Facilitated exercises, tasks & energizers

An exercise is the unit of work in a workshop: the designed activity that gives the group something specific to do, produce, or experience together.

Exercises are what make a workshop different from a meeting. They are not discussions that happen to have a question attached; they are designed experiences with a clear setup, a process, and an intended output. A good exercise does something the conversation alone cannot: it gets people working in parallel, produces tangible material, or shifts the group's perspective.

Each exercise needs three things: a clear instruction that people can follow without asking for clarification, a time limit they know in advance, and a defined output (a list, a sketch, a vote, a decision). When any of these is missing, the exercise tends to drift into open discussion and the group is not sure when they are done.

Energizers are a specific category of exercise: short activities whose purpose is to shift the group's physical or mental state rather than produce content. They are often underestimated. A two-minute energizer at the right moment can unlock the next hour.

Easy to missWrite the full instructions for each exercise in the facilitation plan before the day, since an exercise that seemed obvious in your head often has one step missing when you actually read it aloud.

How experienced facilitators handle it

The same building block, handled by people who have run a lot of workshops. Patterns and illustrations to react to, not rules to follow.

Test the instructions aloud

Experienced facilitators read their exercise instructions out loud to themselves or a co-facilitator before the day. If there is a moment of 'wait, what?' in the explanation, the instruction needs a rewrite.

Name the output

They are explicit about what the group is producing: three ideas per person on sticky notes, one sentence per group on a card, a ranked list. The named output keeps the group oriented and makes the debrief easier.

Have a shorter version ready

For each key exercise, they know how to run a shortened version if time is short: which step to cut, what the minimum viable output looks like.

Match the energizer to the room

They choose energizers that fit the group's context and comfort level. A highly physical game that works well with a group of designers can fall flat, or feel alienating, with a group of senior executives.

Questions to plan around

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

Are the instructions for each exercise written out fully, in the words you will actually use?
What is the output of each exercise, and have you told participants what they are producing and why?
Have you built in a debrief after each exercise, even a short one, to draw out what happened?
Do you have a shorter version of each key exercise ready if you are running short on time?
Where in the day have you placed an energizer, and is it the right type for this group?

Watch for

Writing exercises that make sense in your head but whose instructions, when read aloud, leave a gap. Read them out before the day.
Forgetting the debrief. The exercise produces material; the debrief produces meaning. Skipping it wastes much of what the exercise just generated.
Energizers that assume physical comfort or willingness to play that the group has not yet demonstrated. Calibrate to the room you have, not the ideal room.