The Human Machine
One person starts a movement. Everyone else becomes part of it.
Someone steps into the middle with a repeating movement and a sound. One by one, everyone joins on, adding a part that connects to what is already running. What you end up with is a ridiculous, functioning machine made of the whole room, and a shared thing that gets referred back to for the rest of the day.
Split into teams of 6–7. I'll show a machine name with 6–7 parts. Each person takes one part and creates one movement and one sound. Build it together. First complete machine gets a round of applause.
The room is warm, you have ten minutes, and you want one shared, slightly absurd thing that the group built together and will still be referencing after lunch.
Props: None
Run this when…
If none of these is your room, pick another.A creative warm-up before anything about systems or process
A group that has warmed up and is ready to be silly
Building something the whole room contributed to
How to run it
Written to be glanced at mid-room, not memorised.
- Give the machine a theme: coffee machine, factory, time machine, Monday morning, rocket launch.
- Ask for a volunteer to start. They do one repeating movement with a sound.
- "Now join on, one at a time, wherever you think you fit."
- Each new person adds a movement and a sound that connects to what is running.
- Keep going until everyone is in.
- Once it is complete, run it for fifteen seconds as it is.
- "Faster." Then: "Slow motion." Then: "Freeze."
- Take a photo if the room is happy with that. This is the one people want.
Running it well
Only the host sees these. Participants never do.
- Start it yourself if nobody volunteers within five seconds. Waiting out the silence costs more than going first.
- "Connected" is loose — touching is not required and should not be. Standing near and moving in rhythm is plenty.
- Speeding up and freezing at the end is what turns it from a nice idea into a moment.
- Over about thirty people it takes too long to assemble. Build two machines and have them run at each other.
Watch out for
Space, safety and the traps worth knowing before you start.
- No contact required at any point. Say so before the second person joins, or it drifts that way.
- Sounds can get loud — check what is happening in the room next door.
- Anyone who would rather not be in the middle can join at the edge with a small movement, or operate the speed controls.
Seated version
“Everybody stand up” is not a neutral instruction. Offer this alongside, not instead.
Build the machine from chairs in a circle, with each person adding a movement and sound from their seat.
If you want a debrief
Optional. Plenty of energisers are better left as the thing that woke the room up.
- What happened when someone joined in a way you didn't expect?
- Which part turned out to be holding the whole thing together?
Run it yourself
Free for thirty days, no card. Put it on the projector and step through it — nobody in the room needs a phone.
Start freeAlready have an account? Sign in
- Where
- Needs a room
- Props
- None
- Big screen
- Required
- Teams
- Supported