Are You More Like...
Are You More Like... is a mingling icebreaker in which each person holds one half of a word pair, finds the person holding the other half, and the two discuss which of the two words they are more like and why. The activity is credited to Mark Collard of playmeo and builds on the older practice of forced-choice metaphor questions. Cards are reshuffled between rounds, so people talk with several partners in a short time.
Facilitation script
- 1
Explain the game, hand one card to each person and show an example pair with your own answer.
2 min - 2
Round one: people find their counterpart and both answer which of the two they are more like and why.
4 min - 3
Collect, shuffle and redistribute the cards; run round two.
3 min - 4
Reshuffle again for round three.
3 min - 5
Gather the group and hear one or two answers or surprises.
2 min
Tips
Write pairs that have no right answer and invite a reason, such as sprint or marathon, sketch or blueprint; pairs with an obviously better side produce one-word answers.
Make clear that the matching is only the route to the conversation, otherwise people treat finding their partner as the goal.
With an odd number, take a card yourself or let one trio share a pair.
Common pitfalls
Pairs where one side sounds better than the other: everyone picks the same word and there is nothing to talk about
Pairs that are not obviously matched: people wander around unsure who their partner is and the round runs out of time
Stopping at the choice without the reason: the exchange lasts ten seconds and nobody learns anything
Reading the choices as personality labels in the debrief: a playful metaphor gets treated as a diagnosis and people feel boxed in
Miscounting cards for the group size: several people are left without a partner in every round
Variations
Write the pairs to fit the session, for example pairs about working styles before a team agreement or about change before a transformation workshop. Skip the cards and call out a pair for the whole room, with people moving to one side or the other, which makes it close to a spectrum line-up. Online, send random pairs into breakout rooms with one pair of words posted in the chat per round. The matching step can also serve as a way of forming random pairs for the next exercise.
Where it fits
When to use it
A group of 15 or more who mostly do not know each other and need several short conversations quickly
You want people to talk about preferences and working styles without a formal assessment
The next exercise needs random pairs and you want the pairing to carry some content
A kick-off where a playful, low-risk question suits the mood better than a personal one
You can tailor the word pairs to the theme of the session
When not to use it
The group is smaller than about fifteen; finding a partner takes seconds and a round of Check-In Questions in the circle is simpler
People cannot move around the room; use a seated pair exchange instead
You want to see where the whole group stands on a question; a Spectrogram makes the distribution visible
There is no time to prepare cards and no deck at hand; Impromptu Speed Networking needs only a question
The group needs a deeper conversation; metaphor choices stay light and will not carry it
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Are You More Like...?▾
Are You More Like... is a mingling icebreaker credited to Mark Collard of playmeo. Everyone gets a card with one word of a pair, finds the person with the matching word, and both say which of the two they are more like and why. The cards are reshuffled for further rounds.
What word pairs work well?▾
Pairs that are balanced and open to interpretation work best, such as mountain or beach, sprint or marathon, map or compass. Avoid pairs with a socially preferred answer. You can also write pairs that relate to the workshop topic, which gives the conversations a link to the later content.
How many people do you need?▾
The activity is designed for roughly 15 to 30 people, in any even number. With an odd number the facilitator joins or one group of three shares a pair. Below about fifteen people the mingling loses its point.
How long does it take?▾
Ten to fifteen minutes covers a short explanation and three or four rounds with different partners.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Mark Collard, playmeo.