Idea speed dating.

Idea speed dating does three things at once. It produces a lot of ideas. It makes people build on each other’s ideas instead of defending their own. And it connects the people in the room, because everyone has worked on everyone’s idea.

The result is often a big, colourful wall of thoughts that you can come back to later in the day, or months later.

How do you run it?

1. Set the question. Everyone works on the same subject. Make it clear enough that people can build on each other’s ideas without first asking what is meant.
2. Explain the moves. Everyone starts with their own idea. When the timer goes, everyone moves one place in the same direction and adds to the idea in front of them. Agree on the direction and on how you call time before you start.
3. Write your own idea. One or two minutes.
4. Move and build. Read what is there, then add to it: make it better, bigger, or take it somewhere else. One or two minutes per round.
5. Keep moving until everyone is back at their own idea.
6. Look back. How did your idea change? What do you like that others added, and what not? Leave time for the group to talk.

One rule from start to finish: no judging while you generate. Nobody crosses anything out or writes down why something won’t work. You are after volume, not perfection.

Paper, post-its or online?

• One big sheet. People draw and sketch, the bigger the better. Allow two minutes a round, and make sure everyone can reach the paper.
• Post-its. Put each first idea on a different colour and leave room around it. One minute a round keeps the reactions quick and instinctive.
• Remote, on a shared whiteboard. This is close to the post-it version, since sketching is harder online. Give extra time in the later rounds: there is more to read before people can add.

What makes it work?

Time. Everyone has to move at the same moment and in the same direction, and nobody should drop out halfway. Some facilitators start and stop music to mark the rounds.

Remotely, watch who is struggling with the tool, and keep track of the rounds so you know when people are back at their own idea.

Origin: a known workshop format; I don’t know who came up with it. It is close to brainwriting (method 6-3-5, Bernd Rohrbach, 1968). First published here on 14 April 2020, rewritten in October 2026.