# One-Minute Meetup — Facilitator Guide

> Folder: `one-minute-meetup` · Category: icebreakers · 6–20 people · 15 min · offline + online · print props · tool pack
> License: CC BY 4.0

Pairs get exactly one minute to find a single *surprising* thing they share — not their job, not their city. The chime ends the pair, everyone rotates. Three rapid rounds, then each person names the match that surprised them most. The constraint is the point: a timer and a "surprising only" rule surface real common ground faster than any open mingle.

## Objectives

By the end of the activity, participants will have:

1. Learned one surprising true thing about at least two people they did not really know.
2. Felt how a hard one-minute clock clears small talk faster than an open mingle ever does.
3. Surfaced at least one shared thing that changes how they would work together.

## When to use this activity

- A room of semi-strangers is sticking to business cards and weather before a session that needs them to actually know each other.
- You have 15 minutes, not an hour, and want energy up and names learned fast.
- Remote: run it in breakout rooms with the same chime; it transfers cleanly.

## What the rounds change

| Round | The ask | What it surfaces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Find one surprising shared thing | How fast "no small talk" gets past the job title |
| 2 | Find one neither of you told anyone before | Trust ticked up in sixty seconds, on purpose |
| 3 | Find a thing that changes how you'd work together | The match that mattered, not just the funniest |

## Setup

**Space:** standing room to mingle; no tables needed between pairs. If seated, pairs face each other and rotate one seat each round.

**Materials per person:** one tally card and a pen — tick a box each time a round lands a real match.

**Materials for the room:** three round-ask cards (`one-minute-meetup-prop-cards.pdf`), and something to chime with (a phone timer is fine).

**Grouping:** pairs who rotate every round — nobody talks to the same person twice. With an odd number, one person sits out round one and rotates back in for round two.

**Roles:** both people in a pair are equal finders; you are on the clock and on the "surprising only" rule.

## How to run it

| Time | Phase | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 0–2 | Set up | Everyone gets a tally card and a pen. Pair off; odd person sits out round one and rotates in next. |
| 2–4 | Round 1 | One minute per pair to find a surprising shared thing. Chime, then rotate to a new partner. |
| 4–7 | Round 2 | Same clock, deeper ask (something neither told anyone). Rotate once more. |
| 7–10 | Round 3 | Same clock, ask the work-changing one. Everyone ticks their tally card after each hit. |
| 10–14 | Gallery | Go around: each person says the match that surprised them most, in one line. No re-telling the whole conversation. |
| 14–15 | Bridge | One line each: what you found out about someone you'd already "met". |

## The rules that make it work

- One minute, hard stop. The timer is not a suggestion — it's what forces you past small talk.
- No job, no city, no "how was your weekend". If it's obvious, it doesn't count.
- Everyone rotates; nobody talks to the same person twice. The gallery names matches, not monologues.

## The card

Use the faces from `one-minute-meetup-prop-cards.pdf`: three round-ask cards (surprising thing / something neither told anyone / a thing that changes how you'd work together), a per-person tally card, and blank ask cards to author your own. The three asks are the only thing to change for your team — the one-minute, hard-stop rule stays.

## Failure modes

- **Pairs keep chatting past the chime.** Hold the stop; the rotation is the engine. Run it loud.
- **The room drifts back to business cards.** Read the round's ask aloud every time and hold the "surprising only" rule.
- **The gallery turns into speeches.** One line per person, the surprising match only; you keep the clock.

## Variations

- **Remote:** same thing in breakout rooms, three rotations; ring the chime on mute-all. The paper version works identically on a screen.
- **Large group (20+):** every pair runs at once; hold the gallery to a show of hands plus a few volunteered lines so it stays one-line-per-person.
- **Make the asks yours:** swap the three round-asks on the blank cards for your team's real ice — a project, a hobby, a hard-earned lesson.
- **Longer, deeper (25 min):** add a fourth round ("how we'd actually work together") and let the gallery run one line per pair instead of per person.
- **No-print fallback:** everyone uses a scrap of paper as a tally card and you read the three asks aloud.

## Facilitation notes

- The strongest moment is the gallery, when someone says "I had no idea you'd done that too" about a person they'd met ten minutes ago.
- Keep it fifteen minutes; the energy comes from the squeeze, not the length.

## Put it on the wall

Print `one-minute-meetup-activity-poster.pdf` (A3) to put the run of show, the two rules and the gallery prompts on one wall while you facilitate.

## Props in this folder

- `one-minute-meetup-prop-cards.pdf` — poker-spec print sheet (63.5 × 88.9 mm, bleed and cut guides): three round-ask cards, a per-person tally card, blank ask cards, branded backs
- `one-minute-meetup-run-sheet.pdf` — the print edition: this run sheet + the debrief, bound as one A4 document with bookmarks (`-Letter.pdf` is US Letter)
- `one-minute-meetup-activity-poster.pdf` — the whole energizer on one A3 wall sheet
- `one-minute-meetup-guide.md` · `-debrief.md` · `-start-here.md` — the facilitator guide, the debrief, the one-page start here
- `one-minute-meetup-license.md` — what you may do with all of this
- `SKILL.md` · `one-minute-meetup.zip` — the machine-readable manifest, and the whole folder in one download

## Agent version

Every file in this folder has a stable public URL — an AI agent can fetch the cards, the debrief and this run sheet with three curl commands (see `SKILL.md`). The paper version needs nothing but a room, three ask cards and a chime.