Look, it’s tough to declare one card in our deck a favorite, but we can safely say that Minute Papers is one of the most versatile and quietly transformative processes we know of.
Minute Papers is a surfacing activity during which participants have a minute (or more, but we like to keep it brief) to gather their thoughts on paper. We use it before an activity, as a quick debrief, a way to capture thoughts or emotions in response, and it can even be a great release valve after a high-stakes conversation.
Minute Papers are great because they provide a quick moment of pause. We find that participation always increases when we pop in a Minute Paper before doing a brainstorm or asking for questions. It gives internal processors a moment to gather their thoughts, reduces groupthink, and increases the overall confidence and quality of shares from the group!
Is there anything Minute Papers can’t do?
When To Use Minute Papers
Due to its brevity, it’s easy to plug Minute Papers into any part of an agenda. Anytime you have a dense conversation that made people feel things, strong imagery, content or context, use a Minute Paper to help everyone digest.
You can use Minute Papers to:
- Check-in with the group and allow them to check in with themselves
- Begin the session and get a read on how they’re feeling upon arrival
- See how much the group already knows about the topic or subject
- Before a conversation to help avoid groupthink and increase the likelihood of hearing from different people
- At the end of a discussion to exorcise any lingering thoughts that people may have not been able to share
- Allow for solo ideation before brainstorming with the large group
- Create a moment of pause to change the energy of the room
- Get the group back on track if a conversation goes off the rails
- Collect reflections rather than doing a formal evaluation—during multi-day sessions, we’ll have participants write a Minute Paper at the end of day one to indicate what they would like to focus on the next day
- Have small groups condense their conversations for sharing with the large group
Like all activities, overuse in one session can always diminish effectiveness! You can always plan ahead (that’s what Facilitator Cards are great for!) or use it on the fly.
Prompts and Examples
Minute Papers is focused on surfacing the emotions, thoughts, and feelings that participants are experiencing. When creating the prompt, walk participants towards bringing their own opinions to the page rather than reciting facts.
“How are you feeling about the session so far?”
“When thinking about the conversation the group just had, what is something that for you was left unsaid?”
“If someone wasn’t able to attend today’s session, what is one thing you would share with them that you learned?”
Powerful Combinations (use this card + another card)
Minute Papers → Pair & Share
This series is a great way get participants to share their thoughts while keeping the social risk low. Level up the processing done with the Minute Paper by increasing the group size by 1 person and having them process and share their thoughts with each other.
Minute Papers → Generate A List
Before Generating A List with the full group, ask everyone to write their own lists as a Minute Paper. It increases the variety of responses and lowers groupthink.
Minute Papers → Go-Around Share
Asking for everyone’s response can take time. By having everyone write a Minute Paper first they will increase the variety of what gets shared as well as shorten the length of time needed to come up with their idea.
Why We Love It
We could seriously go on (and on) espousing how powerful this simple activity can be. It hits all of our facilitator needs! Minute Papers engages the entire group, increases participation across the board, and can even be a sneaky way to give yourself a micro-break to gather your own thoughts mid-session.
Whether you’re running a Minute Paper for the first time or always pop them into any sessions agenda (👋) we’d love to hear what you love about Minute Papers!