This is a two-part drawing exercise. It demonstrates the shift from conventional to user-centered thinking. It's engaging and helps teams build connection and shared understanding. The vibe is fun and interactive, designed to boost energy.
Duration
10 mins
Group Size
6-20
Category
Design Thinking
Energy
4
• Introduce service design mindset • Demonstrate user vs self-centered thinking • Build design foundation
Expect increased team cohesion and better interpersonal connections. Participants should have higher energy and engagement. Aim for deeper mutual understanding, which will create a foundation for productive collaboration.
Most participants initially draw a box. The second drawing is usually more conceptual. This highlights the difference between describing something and experiencing it.
Introduction (1 min): Draw a present as you see it now (usually a box). Then, draw the perfect present. Exchange with a partner to test user-centeredness.
Individual Work (3 min): Participants prepare their contributions.
Sharing Round (5 min): Each person shares their drawings and insights with the group.
Wrap-up (2 min): Reflect on common themes and insights. Sometimes the 'perfect' present is harder to draw!
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Before you run the room, you read it. Steal from facilitators who've made every mistake, study the moves that worked, and stockpile exercises you can pull when the agenda goes sideways. Your reading list now is your toolkit later.
A workshop is a sequence of decisions you make before anyone walks in: who's there, what changes by the end, where the energy spikes and dips. Block out the time, name the moves, leave room for the room. Plan tight enough to start, loose enough to follow what actually happens.
The plan meets the room and the room wins. Your job is to read what's actually happening, not what you scripted, and steer with small, specific moves. Hold the timer. Surface the unsaid. Cut what's not landing.
The hour after the workshop is when the value either compounds or evaporates. Capture what surfaced, send the artifacts before momentum dies, and write down the one thing you'd do differently. Run enough sessions and the patterns become a craft.
Workshop tips picked for the rooms you actually run. Three times a week. No "10 tricks for hybrid" listicles, no synergy slides, no hot takes dressed as frameworks.
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