Why use this process
A lively process for sharing information with multiple learning tracks. Carousels gets people moving around the space and asking questions. A good alternative to death-by-powerpoint. 

Overview
Over a series of rounds, participants engage with subject matter experts located around the space at ‘carousels’ which usually have a flip chart or a table. Each round consists of a short talk based on a single idea or insight followed by a brief discussion. 

Having fewer rounds than there are experts available demonstrates that no-one has the complete picture and increases reliance on collective intelligence.

Set up
An example of this process could be:

• 5 people positioned at around the space where they will give a 3 minute ‘lightning talk’ and then host a discussion for7 minutes. Each of these stations is a ‘carousel’.
• Each person sharing to briefly outline their topic to the whole group.
• Participants are encouraged to ‘follow their feet’ to whichever topics attract them.
• After ten minutes signal to the group that the round has finished and that they are to move to a new carousel.
• Timings. For 5 carousels it is sufficient to have 3 rounds of 10 minutes each, plus a further 10 minutes for orientation and pitching the carousels. 40 minutes total.

 

Notes
While carousels is a relatively simple process, it works best with a bit of preparation.

• A three minute presentation goes fast and these work best when the person sharing has been given time to prepare, ideally in advance.
• Encourage the people sharing to have only one image, object, statistic or diagram (or one of anything) as the focus of their talk. This differentiates each of the talks and can lead to some creative approaches.
• Carousel can be used for sharing stories or lived experience as well, in which case it’s best to extend the timings for the story share and the discussion.
• Can be self-organised on the fly by inviting participants to suggest the idea or insight they want to share at a carousel – kind of like a mini version of Open Space. In this case it’s good to encourage people by saying: you don’t have to be an expert or have all the answers to host a carousel.