Where Do You Sit in the Room?

The session is built on a set of tensions every participant navigates — map yourself honestly across three of them.

Your own 'session'

Name one group activity in your own life — at work, in study, in a hobby — where you make something collectively without a formal leader. Write it here as your reference point for the rest of the canvas.

Leading vs. following

In your group activity, mark honestly where you sit: do you tend to start things (set the tempo, choose direction) or do you tend to join once others have begun?

I always initiate

I always follow

Oral vs. written knowledge

The session runs on absorbed, unwritten knowledge. In your group activity, how much of what makes it work is written down versus carried silently in the participants?

Entirely documented

Entirely unwritten

Cohesion vs. spectacle

Look back at your marks in steps 2 and 3. Now mark this: does your group activity prioritise holding itself together internally, or performing well for an outside audience? Be honest — most groups say 'cohesion' but behave like 'spectacle'.

Pure internal cohesion

Pure external spectacle

The pattern you drew

Look at your three marks together. What shape do they form — are they consistent, or do they pull in different directions? Write one word that captures the tension or harmony in your pattern, then write one sentence explaining why that word fits.

Why that word?

Discuss Share your word with a partner — did you land in the same part of the room, or opposite ends?

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