Hot Seat

How to Play

Setup

1. Arrange chairs in a semicircle facing one chair placed front-and-center as the "hot seat." For remote teams, ask participants to turn on cameras and spotlight the person in the hot seat.
2. Set a visible timer for 2–3 minutes per person and appoint a timekeeper. A phone timer works fine.
3. Share boundaries for appropriate topics (fun, professional, inclusive). Offer a few sample prompts to get people started: favorite vacation spot, hidden talent, worst job ever, celebrity dinner guest, superpower they’d choose.
4. Decide the rotation order. Start with volunteers, then continue clockwise (or down the participant list online).
5. Optional: Capture fun facts in a shared doc or chat for a recap (do not record sensitive info).

How to Play

1. Invite the first volunteer to sit in the hot seat facing the group (or the webcam).
2. Start the timer. Participants ask rapid-fire questions, one at a time. Keep the pace lively and questions short.
3. The person in the hot seat answers quickly in a sentence or two without overthinking. If they prefer not to answer, they say "pass" and the group immediately asks a new question.
4. The facilitator keeps the rhythm, ensures variety, and can seed a question if there’s a lull.
5. When time is up, give a quick cheer or reaction emoji, then rotate to the next person. Continue until everyone who wants a turn has had one.
6. Optional closing: a fast round where participants share one fun thing they learned about the last person.

Rules

1. Respect and inclusion first: questions must be appropriate for the workplace/school and culturally sensitive.
2. Off-limits: politics, religion, deeply personal health/finance topics, or anything that could embarrass or single out someone.
3. Timebox strictly: 2–3 minutes per person keeps energy high and the game moving.
4. One speaker at a time; the facilitator manages turns to avoid cross-talk.
5. "Pass" is always allowed without explanation.
6. Keep answers brief (under 10 seconds) unless the facilitator invites a follow-up.

Tips

• Prime the pump with a slide or chat list of 20+ fun prompts to reduce pressure on question askers.
• Mix light and meaningful prompts (e.g., "first concert," "best advice you’ve received," "a small thing that makes your day better").
• Start with confident volunteers to model quick pace and safe boundaries, then invite quieter members.
• For large teams, split into smaller circles or breakout rooms so everyone gets a turn within the time window.
• Tie prompts to the occasion (onboarding, work anniversary, farewell) for relevance.
• Keep the tone celebratory—applaud, react with emojis, or use a short fanfare sound when time ends.

Variations

• Themed Hot Seat: focus all questions on travel, hobbies, or work wins.
• Lightning Round: 60 seconds of either/or or yes/no questions only.
• Reverse Hot Seat: the person in the seat asks the group questions to learn about teammates.
• Pair Hot Seat: two people share the seat and tag-team answers for extra energy.
• Virtual Mode: spotlight the hot seat person, use chat for queued questions, and reactions for applause; use breakout rooms for large groups.