Research/Insights

Insight Fortune Cookies

Participants create and share "fortune cookie" insights. These are short, memorable statements about users, design, or research. This helps teams distill complex insights into clear, actionable statements. The format makes synthesis practice fun while producing useful research artifacts.

Duration
15 mins
Group Size
6-16
Category
Research/Insights
Energy
Medium
Practice distilling complex insights into memorable statements Build excitement for research synthesis and insight generation Create shared understanding of what makes insights powerful Help participants think about communicating insights effectively Gene
The team gets energized about insight generation and synthesis. You'll share examples of well-crafted insight statements. This increases comfort articulating observations clearly and builds a common understanding of insight communication principles. It also creates a foundation for effective synthesis.
Real research insights: Use actual research findings from recent projects. Anti-insights: Create examples of bad insights to learn what to avoid. Themed fortunes: Focus on specific topics like user behavior or design principles. Prediction fortunes: Create prediction fortunes.
Encourage surprising or counter-intuitive insights over obvious ones. Model with examples: "Users don't want more features; they want less confusion." Keep statements short—aim for one sentence maximum. Celebrate insights that make people say, "Aha!" or "

  1. Set up (3 min): Explain that insights are like fortune cookies: short, memorable, and surprising.

  2. Write fortunes (5 min): Each person writes 2-3 insight statements on small papers.

  3. Fortune exchange (5 min): Pass fortunes around; each person reads one aloud.

  4. Best fortune vote (2 min): Quick vote on the most memorable or surprising insights.

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For Facilitators

  • Review participant profiles and expectations
  • Prepare all materials and supplies
  • Test technology and room setup

For Participants

  • Complete pre-session survey
  • Review background materials
  • Prepare examples or case studies

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Small strips of paper (fortune cookie sized)
Pens or markers
Bowl or container for collecting fortunes
Optional: actual fortune cookies as props

  • Wall space to post favorite insights

Unlock Materials Required

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  • Facilitator Guide (PDF)
  • Participant Workbook Template
  • Presentation Slides
  • Printable Materials

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Discussion

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