Lost at Sea: a facilitator’s planning guide
Updated
Short answer
Turn individual choices into a useful team discussion. In a Lost at Sea exercise, people consider a fictional survival situation, make their own ranking, then agree on a team order and discuss what changed. This planning guide helps you prepare the room or remote call and lead the debrief. Use it alongside an exercise edition you have permission to run.
The session at a glance
Think independently
Explain the fictional situation and the chosen edition’s task. Give everyone quiet time to make an initial choice before hearing the most confident voice in the room.
Agree as a team
Ask each team for one shared ranking and a short explanation of its criteria. Invite different reasons before converging; ask what would change the decision.
Reflect on the decision
Use the edition’s authorized comparison at the intended point, then discuss which information mattered, whose view changed and which assumptions remained uncertain.
Before you begin
- Check the edition, usage rights and comparison notes before inviting the group.
- Give people independent thinking time before team discussion.
- Make reasons, assumptions and changes of mind part of the team’s output.
- Debrief the decision process without treating a ranking as a judgment of a person.
Before you begin
- Check the edition, usage rights and comparison notes before inviting the group.
- Give people independent thinking time before team discussion.
- Make reasons, assumptions and changes of mind part of the team’s output.
- Debrief the decision process without treating a ranking as a judgment of a person.
Choose an exercise edition
Start with the materials, rather than assuming that every exercise called Lost at Sea has the same setting, items or suggested comparison. The UNC Gillings handout is one published example of an individual-then-group ranking activity. A publisher’s comparison belongs to that edition; it is not evidence that every survival-ranking game uses the same answer.UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
- Confirm permission to use and distribute the chosen materials in your setting, including remote delivery.
- Read the task, assumptions and facilitator notes together so the group receives one consistent version.
- Keep any publisher-supplied comparison separate until the intended discussion stage.
- Check readable formats, participation needs and a backup way to record individual and team choices.
Plan the session around three steps
Set an agenda that leaves time for reading, individual choices, team discussion and debrief. Follow the chosen edition’s timing advice and adjust your facilitation plan for group size and access needs. For a large audience, use small discussion teams and a shared way to announce transitions rather than trying to negotiate one answer across the whole room.Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation
Prepare for in-person or remote discussion
| Planning choice | In person | Remote |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | Provide permitted, readable individual sheets and one team record. | Share materials through a method permitted by the publisher; keep individual records private before discussion. |
| Discussion space | Use tables where people can hear each other and see the task. | Use a small-group call or breakout space with clear written instructions and a return plan. |
| Contributions | Offer writing, speaking, pointing or a participant-chosen scribe. | Allow spoken or written contributions and a way to ask for help without leaving the task. |
| Facilitation | Observe how reasons are exchanged without steering the ranking. | Explain how teams contact you and how transitions will be announced. |
| Fallback | Keep permitted printed materials and a simple manual team record. | Agree how to rejoin or continue by voice if the shared tool fails; preserve work already recorded. |
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Check the actual room or call, readable text, sound and the recording method before the session. Ask about access needs in advance and offer a way to contribute without a public solo performance. The W3C accessible-events guidance provides a broader planning checklist.W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
Run a debrief people can use
Begin with what the group noticed, then connect it to a decision habit they can try in a real meeting. Invite examples rather than diagnosing personality, intelligence or team quality from a score. You can use these original questions with your chosen edition.
- What changed your mind during the discussion?
- Which assumption did your team test, and which did it leave untested?
- What useful information arrived late? What would help it surface sooner?
- How did the group handle a minority view before agreeing?
- Where did agreement become easier without the evidence becoming stronger?
- What will you try in the next meeting, and how will you notice whether you used it?
A related Escape Scenario original
Use Ocean Survival when its hosted individual-to-team flow fits the discussion you want to lead. Its facilitator guide includes a planning agenda, debrief questions and a blank observation record.
- Open the Ocean Survival facilitator guide
Review or print the current planning assets; the guide checks the supported public scenario before showing them.
Sources and limits
This is original facilitation and planning guidance. The UNC source illustrates one published exercise; Cornell and W3C provide broader group-learning and accessibility context. These sources do not endorse Escape Scenario or grant permission to reproduce an exercise. No third-party item list, reference ranking or private game answers are included.
- Instructions for Lost at Sea ExerciseUNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Uses individual ranking, group ranking, and process discussion; this guide does not reproduce the item list or suggested answers.
- Collaborative LearningCornell University Center for Teaching Innovation. Practical guidance on structured pair and group learning.
- Making Events AccessibleW3C Web Accessibility Initiative. A checklist for inclusive in-person, remote, and hybrid meetings, conferences, training, and presentations.