A moving network of mini-conversations. No one has the whole picture, so we build it together.

Why use this process

Carousels is a lively alternative to traditional information sharing. Instead of sitting through slide decks, people follow their curiosity and engage in short conversations around the room. 

It’s a great way to:

• turn passive listening into active conversations
• encourage movement and choice
• surface diverse insights and ideas
• democratise and distribute knowledge
• build collective understanding

Overview

In this interactive format, subject-matter sharers (aka “experts”) are stationed around the room. Participants move between them over a series of timed rounds. Each round features a 3-minute lightning talk followed by a 7-minute discussion.

Because there are more carousels than time to visit them all, participants need to share and compare insights afterwards, encouraging distributed learning, memory, and meaning-making.

Carousels help to:

• Animate dry or complex material
• Get people physically moving
• Connect people & ideas
• Foster informal peer-to-peer learning
• Avoid death-by-powerpoint

Activity flow

Set-Up

• 4–6 sharers (“experts”) 
• Each prepares a single insight, idea, story, or question.
• Each is stationed at a location in the room, usually with a visual prompt or object to talk to.
• Everyone else gathers in small groups at the carousels

Round Format

• Each round = 10 minutes
  • 3 minutes: lightning talk
  • 7 minutes: discussion / questions
• At the end of each round, participants “follow their feet” to a new carousel.
• Adjust timings to suit but ten minutes per round seems to be the sweet spot

Repeat for 3–4 rounds

If you have 5 experts then have fewer rounds 3 or 4 rounds so people can’t get to every station. This creates a self-organising, networked learning pattern. Each participant gets a personalised path through the material.

Optional market space round

Let participants mingle and share what they learned from different carousels – or time this activity just before a break.

Optional Closing:
Bring the group together for a quick share of key takeaways.

Notes

• Prep matters. A 3-minute talk goes quickly. Help sharers distill it down to the essence.
• Encourage memorable anchors: one powerful image, object, statistic or diagram helps make talks memorable.
• The best sharers are clear, curious, and concise not encyclopedic.
• Can also be used for storytelling, sharing lived experience, or provocations.
• Can be entirely self-organised in the moment. Invite participants to host carousels on the fly, Open Space style. Emphasise: you don’t have to be an expert—just willing to hold space for a conversation.

Source
Alex Menhams