Human Shapes
Ten seconds. Your team is now the letter W.
Small teams have ten seconds to become a letter with their bodies. Three letters in, they put them together and realise what they have been spelling — and the last one is their own company's initial. There is no time to plan, so somebody starts and everyone else adapts, which is the whole point.
In your teams. I'll put a letter on the screen and you have ten seconds to become it with your bodies. Three letters, then we put them together. No planning — just move.
You want small teams working together in seconds, with a visible result and no chance for anyone to over-plan it.
Props: None
Run this when…
If none of these is your room, pick another.Teams who need to do something together quickly
A session on collaboration or improvisation
A large room split across tables
How to run it
Written to be glanced at mid-room, not memorised.
- Split into teams of four to eight. Existing table groups are fine.
- "I'm going to put a letter on the screen. You have ten seconds to become it. Go."
- W, then I, then N — count down from ten out loud on each one.
- "Now put all three together." Let the room work out what it spells.
- Hold it, and tell them to look around at the other teams. This is the moment the activity pays off.
- Finish on their own company's first letter, made by every team at once.
- Applause, and sit down. Do not add rounds after this one.
Running it well
Only the host sees these. Participants never do.
- Count down out loud. The countdown is what stops the planning, and the planning is what kills it.
- Keep it to letters. Ask for an object and teams stall arguing about what one looks like; a letter has one answer and they just move.
- Do not rank the teams. The moment it is scored, they negotiate instead of moving.
- Give the HOLD IT cards real time. Everyone making the same letter at once is the picture people remember.
Watch out for
Space, safety and the traps worth knowing before you start.
- No lifting, no climbing, no getting on the floor unless the team chooses to and the floor is suitable. Say it once at the start.
- Every shape must be makeable standing up.
- Teams need a couple of square metres each. Push chairs in first.
Seated version
“Everybody stand up” is not a neutral instruction. Offer this alongside, not instead.
Teams make the shape with hands and arms above the table instead of with whole bodies. Works well and is much faster to reset.
If you want a debrief
Optional. Plenty of energisers are better left as the thing that woke the room up.
- Who started, and how did everyone else know what to do?
- What happened when nobody had time to plan it?
Variations
For the second time you run it with the same group.
- Silent version — no talking while building.
- Spell a different short word: Y, E, S.
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.
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- Where
- Needs a room
- Props
- None
- Big screen
- Required
- Teams
- Supported