ThemeClose & follow up
CardCard 34 of 63
Questions5 to explore
StepRun it

Shareouts

Present outcomes of exercises in the session

Presenting back what the group has made turns private work into a shared resource and gives the session a sense of having produced something real.

Shareouts are the moments when pairs or small groups report back to the full session: what they discussed, what they made, what they decided. They close the loop between breakout work and plenary, and they give participants the sense that their output was seen and mattered.

Online, shareouts require a bit more scaffolding than in a physical room. Walking up to a table to look at someone's sticky notes is not possible. Someone has to actively share their screen, paste into a shared space, or summarise verbally, and without structure that transition is awkward and slow.

Online, specificallyOnline you cannot see other groups' work by walking around the room, so you need a deliberately designed moment where work becomes visible, whether that is screen sharing, a shared board, or a structured verbal report.

In a remote session

The same building block as it plays out online: how experienced facilitators tend to handle it when the room is a screen. Illustrations to react to, not rules to follow.

Set a time limit

Experienced facilitators give each group a clear time box for their shareout (one to two minutes for most exercises) and stick to it, so the session does not slow to a crawl when twelve pairs all need to report back.

Use a shared board

They ask groups to paste their output into a shared Miro or whiteboard before the shareout starts, so the whole group can see it while the group explains rather than only hearing it.

Name who goes first

They assign the order in advance ('group A in room one, then group B') rather than asking who wants to go, which online tends to produce an uncomfortable silence.

Synthesise after

They close the shareout round with a brief synthesis of what they heard across all groups, naming common threads or surprising divergences, so the shareout produces insight rather than just parallel reports.

Questions to plan around

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

How many groups or pairs will need to share back, and how much time does that actually require?
Where will participants put their output so others can see it, not just hear about it?
How will you keep shareouts from overrunning and eating into the next part of the session?
What do you want the group to take away from the shareout round as a whole?
How will you handle a group that produced nothing to share?

What trips people up online

Asking 'who wants to share first' online usually produces silence; always have an assigned order ready.
Verbal-only shareouts are harder to follow online than in person, so give people something to look at while someone speaks.
If every group shares the same thing in slightly different words and nothing is synthesised, the shareout round adds time without adding insight.