The Echo
Whatever the room hears, it claps straight back.
The screen claps a rhythm — you hear it and see it — and the room claps it back. The patterns get longer and more awkward until somebody drops one. It needs no explanation at all, works on any number of people, and is the fastest way to get a distracted room paying attention to one thing.
Whatever the screen claps, you clap straight back. That's the whole thing. Listen.
A room is scattered and talking and you need attention in ten seconds without raising your voice.
Props: None
Run this when…
If none of these is your room, pick another.Calling a noisy room back together
The first ten seconds of a session
Any moment you need attention without shouting
How to run it
Written to be glanced at mid-room, not memorised.
- Put the first card up without announcing anything. The screen plays a three-beat pattern out loud and shows it.
- Some of the room will clap it back. Replay it until most of them do.
- Each pattern is slightly longer and more awkward than the last.
- One has a gap in it — that is the one that catches people.
- It finishes on a single short clap. Talk into the silence.
- Total time about ninety seconds. Check the laptop's volume reaches the back of the room first.
Running it well
Only the host sees these. Participants never do.
- Do not explain it first. A rhythm coming out of the speakers with no introduction is what makes the room work out that something is happening.
- The screen plays each pattern when the card lands, and the replay button is there if the room missed it. Use it rather than clapping yourself, so the room follows one source.
- Finish short and sharp, then speak immediately. The silence after a single clap is the quietest a room will be all day.
Watch out for
Space, safety and the traps worth knowing before you start.
- It needs sound the whole room can hear — test the speakers before you start.
- Clapping is not available to everyone. A tap on the table or a click works identically and the room follows either.
Already seated
Nobody has to stand for this one.
It is already seated and needs nothing at all.
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
- Individual only