Two Truths and a Lie
A 15-minute icebreaker with two guardrails
The classic getting-to-know-you game, rebuilt so nobody gets embarrassed in a professional room.
WorkshopSkill · Two Truths and a Lie — Slide Deck · CC BY 4.0What are three checkable facts
about the person sitting next to you?
WorkshopSkill · Two Truths and a Lie — Slide Deck · CC BY 4.0The two guardrails
- Public work facts only: projects, skills, first jobs, countries worked in.
- Nothing about health, family or finances — unless the person offers it.
- The group votes with eyes closed. Nobody is publicly wrong.
How it runs
- The facilitator goes first — two truths, one lie, all work facts.
- Each speaker: three statements, then “eyes closed — hands up for A, B or C.”
- Reveal, one line of story, next. Over twelve people: split into two circles.
What actually happens
- First impressions get beaten by at least one lie — that is the point, not the failure.
- The truth nobody believed is the room holding up a mirror.
- Everyone leaves holding three checkable facts per colleague.
Three ways it fails, three rescues
- A lie too good to recover from → after the reveal, ask for the one-line true story behind a truth.
- A statement crosses the privacy line → cut in before the vote: “public facts only — swap that one?”
- Dead time in a big group → two circles, or table rounds of four with a 20-second timer.
Three questions in the light debrief
1. Name one fact you learned today — the person’s name, then the fact.
2. Whose truth did the room refuse to believe? What does that say about first reads?
3. Which statement made you want a follow-up question? Ask it now.
WorkshopSkill · Two Truths and a Lie — Slide Deck · CC BY 4.0The measure
- Before the circle: four rows about how well you really know your colleagues.
- After the debrief: the same four rows about this game.
- Recall, not cleverness, is the goal — the delta tells you if the ice broke.
The goal is not to fool people.
It is to leave knowing three facts about everyone.
Nobody won. Everybody learned.
WorkshopSkill · Two Truths and a Lie — Slide Deck · CC BY 4.0.
Run it standing · keep it five minutes in the debrief
An icebreaker is working when someone asks a follow-up question out loud.
WorkshopSkill · Two Truths and a Lie — Slide Deck · CC BY 4.0Take this folder with you
Scan for the digital edition — the printable kit, the live form and the agent file. Swap this href for your own QRCode-AI code or FormLM link.