Method guide · Arrange people and ideas
People bingo
Broaden opening conversations with one optional question per person, without competing over completion or collecting private answer sheets.
- People
- 5–40
- Base procedure time
- 20 minutes
- Recording
- Individual record
Purpose: Begin together; Build working relationships.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
An opening method for broadening conversation by asking one question per person and changing partners. Use no more than ten questions, all about experiences or preferences that people can answer voluntarily. Participants receive just one answer from each person, write it on their own question sheet, and move to the next partner. Do not compete over how many fields are filled or how fast; stop on the finish signal. Each person keeps their sheet, and whole-group sharing is limited to one conversation for which the other person has given permission. Return sheets to their owners at the end; the facilitator does not collect or copy them. Do not use this where disclosure of personal attributes is dangerous or alternatives to movement or changing partners cannot be provided.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Check questions are optional0–2 minutes from the start (2 minutes)
Action: Check. Participation: Small groups with movement.
Individual record
- Ask one person one question and write2–7 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Record. Participation: Small groups with movement.
Individual record
- Change partner and question7–12 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Change. Participation: Small groups with movement.
Individual record
- Visit partners until the finish signal12–17 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Visit. Participation: Small groups with movement.
Individual record
- Reflect on conversation without winners17–20 minutes from the start (3 minutes)
Action: Reflect. Participation: Small groups with movement.
Individual record
Facilitation steps
- For 2 minutes, distribute no more than ten optional questions and explain the choice not to answer.
- For 5 minutes, ask the first person just one question and write only the answer they chose to share on the question sheet.
- For 5 minutes, change partner and ask and write just one different, unused question.
- For 5 minutes, continue changing partners until the finish signal, without collecting two answers from the same person.
- For 3 minutes, do not decide winners from completed fields; share only one conversation for which the person concerned has given permission.
If something changes
If
Before distribution, one or more questions do not allow a choice not to answer.
Then
Remove those questions and replace them with questions about experiences or preferences that can be answered voluntarily.
If
10 minutes after the start, one or more sheets have two or more answers from the same person.
Then
Invalidate the second and later answers and return to asking just one question of a different person.
If
Even one person receiving a question says it is uncomfortable or dangerous.
Then
Stop answers to that question without asking why, and let the person choose passing or another question.
Preparation
Materials
- One question sheet per person
- One writing implement per person
Room and setup
- A route allowing people who move and people who wait in a fixed position to converse
Adjust for people and time
With 5–20 people, use one venue; with 21–40, divide the routes into two. With 41 or more, divide the participant count by 20 and round up to determine the number of groups, distributing people evenly into groups of 10–20. Use only the same question sheet across groups; answers and sheets remain with their owners. At the end, optionally check only the number of people each person spoke with; do not integrate individual answers between groups.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Use only optional questions and provide alternatives to movement or changing partners. Stop a question when someone finds it uncomfortable or dangerous, without asking for a reason. Keep answers and sheets with their owners; do not collect, copy, or merge them, and share at most one permitted conversation. Do not assess completion speed or declare winners.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Seeds for Change Facilitation Tools: People bingo
https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/tools
anti-copyright adaptation; changes made
- Conditions for applying anti-copyright
https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/resources
anti-copyright
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.