This infamous plot device will make the storyline of your next experience design 10x more coherent and add a foundation of vibrant substance that participants can naturally build on
Before we dive into the article, I invite you to take a guess:
How many Spaghetti are in this jar?
1: 0 – 250
2: 251 – 500
3: 500+
Highlight your guess in medium.. while we’re at it let’s turn this into a poll.
I will reveal the exact amount below.
But first some context in case you never heard of the Mac Guffin.
A Mac Guffin is a plot device used in movies. Something that carries the whole storyline.
an object, idea, or person — that motivates characters and drives a story forward but is ultimately insignificant to the plot itself. Popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, the MacGuffin is important to the characters on screen but not the audience, and could often be replaced with something else without altering the main narrative.
Examples
The briefcase in Pulp Fiction:
- The contents of the briefcase are never revealed and don’t matter to the plot’s outcome.
The “Heart of the Ocean” necklace in Titanic:
- The necklace could be swapped for a ring or an ankle bracelet without changing the overall plot. It’s the pursuit of the object that matters.
Why would you need a Mac Guffin in workshops?
Okay, we know what a Mac Guffin is now. But how might it enhance workshops or experience design?
Well, maybe you’ve experienced it yourself but sometimes workshops can feel more like activities stacked together than a well-rounded experiece. Regardless if it’s a networking event, cultur transformation day or a “learn-to-be-creative” drawing session. The Mac Guffin is the glue of experience-design that floats participants through the transitions by guardrailing their fleeting attention.
Regardless of the workshops main ingredients, the colorful post-it’s, the innovative ice-breaker, or the text-book ideation exercise — without a plot it feels like something is missing, it’s just too generic and boring.
Like a burger with soft buns, a juicy patty and fresh lettuce but no sauce.
No Sauce? Yes, no sauce!
I’m telling you, the sauce actually carries the burger.
But that’s another discussion.
Workshops with great experience design have a coherent storyline that carries viewers through the dullness of explanations, rules and contextual activities such as speaking with people from the another department. However, those activities are vital for the success of the movie’s outcome / the grand finale — the insights, todo’s, friction, inspiration and resolve we leave the workshop with.
How do you use a Mac Guffin in actual workshops?
Holding the idealism of innovative thinking in all honor, allow me to raise you an example from a recent networking event that I facilitated at EDGE Cowork in Amsterdam.
I titled the 1-hour event “Sip & Spark” with this edition carrying the theme of AI & Productivity.
The purpose was for employees of various companies to exchange their knowledge and current challenges with regards to AI use at their workplace.
Guessing Spaghetti was my Mac Guffin
I set up a Guessing Game with a prize that would be announced at the end. I placed a jar with uncooked Spaghetti near the entrance along with a flipchart that prompts participants guesses.
This served multiple purposes:
- Participants have something exciting to do and discuss during the walk-in time. This is great in case people arrive late and would prevent any kick-off delay from becoming akward or the energy in the room being too stagnant.
- Participants can already get to know each other and break the ice without me having to do anything. This is awesome because I can already start listening to the energy in the room instead of having to conjure it up myself first. Even though energy-bending is kind of a Facilitator’s job, why not make it easier on ourselves?
- The guessing game is the start of the workshop and the story line. Giving out the prize for the closest guess is the finale. Thereby, I have already created a full circle narrative without any activities.
- Lastly, the Mac Guffin: I could use the guessing game to drive the regular workshop and networking activities, and transition into the main plot.
Transitioning into the main plot
As I mentioned previously, the idea of the main plot is to hold space for participants to discuss their experiences and challenges with regards to using AI at work.
The main exercise I wanted to use for this is called “1–2–3-choice”.
Here’s how it works:
- Participants are presented with a question
- There are taped markings on the floor signifying the answer space for each option — Ideally 3 choices
- “If you choose answer 1 in your mind go and stand in space 1”
Link to the full exercise tutorial on my website
To ease into this interesting yet somewhat formal topic of AI & Productivity and to provide a tutorial for the unfamiliar 1–2–3-choice exercise, I kicked the exercise off with a question about particpants’ Spaghetti-Guesses.
Simply asking: “What did you guess?”
1: 0–250
2: 251–500
3: 500+
From there, we could proceed to the next question about AI & Productivity and actually get into the content part of the workshop:
We proceeded with a few more questions like this, harvested discussion and got a good momentum going.
After some more knowledge sharing and post-it activities that brought to light important challenges, we could finally announce the winner of the guessing game.
This revealing moment brought the energy required for an open end with snacks and more drinks before everyone would head home.
A succesful event, a happy client and inspired participants.
What more could you wish for?
There could only be one thing..
Knowing the amount of the Spaghetti that were actually in the jar
576
If you’re within 100 of the actual amount, you’re guessing abilities are quite impressive — Well done!
The mathematical distribution of all guesses actually gets quite close — interesting...
The winner at our workshop guessed 570 though, which is incredibly close! During the announcement someone else in the circle funnily remarked that he was italian which made us all laugh.
As a Facilitator these moments are the best. Where participants get to know each other in just 1 hour and (not me but) they create the vibrant energy that drives their value exchange, sparks ideas or smiles that stay with us even until after we left the venue.
This is why I like holding space — be it for innovation or for networking.
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