PRACTICAL GUIDE
Plan a Three-Round Workshop Without Promising Perfectly New Teams
A practical 24-person discussion plan with balanced group sizes, repeat-pair checks and a clear handoff between rounds.
For a workshop with 24 people, six groups of four make a useful starting layout: each table can discuss one question and return one short answer. A three-round session needs more than three clicks, though. Decide what each round produces and how much movement the room can comfortably handle.
Prepare the room and roster
Number six tables and put the same instructions at each one. Enter only people who are participating. Give people who share a name distinct labels, such as Alex M and Alex R, so they can find their assignment without guessing.
In the group maker, choose six groups. With 24 participants, each group has four members. If two people are absent, six groups contain four groups of four and two groups of three. Choose the setting for the room you have rather than leaving the smaller groups to improvise somewhere else.
Give each round a different output
- Round one, eight minutes: identify one obstacle and write a one-sentence description.
- Round two, eight minutes: take a fresh example and suggest two possible responses.
- Round three, eight minutes: choose one response worth trying and name its first step.
Allow time between rounds to read assignments and move. These timings are an example agenda, not a timer built into the group maker. Keep a separate clock and extend a round when access or discussion needs call for it.
Use the repeat-pair option honestly
After the first result, enable “Try to reduce repeat pairings” before generating the next arrangement. The tool checks candidate mixes against the immediately previous result. It can reduce familiar pairings, but it does not guarantee that everyone meets only new people.
In round three, a person from round one can reappear in your group. The comparison does not cover the entire workshop history. If avoiding all previous partners is essential, record pairings separately and use a planning method designed for that constraint. Repeatedly clicking until a favored arrangement appears also changes the selection process.
Finish each round cleanly
Ask groups to choose a recorder and a reporter themselves, or agree a simple role rotation before the activity. The whole-roster name picker does not automatically select one reporter from each generated group.
Export each arrangement as CSV if you need a session record, and label the downloaded file with the round number. Save stores the roster rather than a history of generated arrangements, so export each result before generating the next one. Review practical needs before people move. Balanced headcounts do not establish balanced skills, accessibility or interpersonal fit; those remain the facilitator’s responsibility.