Table Talk · for groups

Something to talk about at the next meeting.

Free 10 to 20 minute discussion cards about AI and how work actually gets done now. Each one has a short scene, a few questions for the table, and nothing to prepare. Print one, read it out, and let the room do the rest.

See the cards Meet the cast

Why it works at a table

People at a business breakfast already talk about what worked for them, what they're planning and how they manage their teams. Every card starts with something AI does well, then asks what it's costing behind the scenes. None of it needs you to know anything about marketing.

You don't need to be an expert to join in, and "pass" is always a good answer.

Who uses them

For whoever has to fill the slot.

Networking organisers

Breakfasts, chambers, peer groups and co-working socials all need a fresh topic every week or month. One card covers the opening ten minutes.

It's your turn to host

In groups where members take turns, you can turn up with something ready instead of something improvised the night before.

Starting a new group

A run of cards gives a new group a reason to meet and a shape for the first few months, before it has a rhythm of its own.

Team sessions at work

For a team meeting, an away day or a lunch-and-learn. A manager and their team answering the same questions is often where the useful conversation starts.

How to run one

Ten to twenty minutes, no slides.

Set up. One printed card per table, and one cast sheet per table for Cards 4 and 5.
Read the scene out loud. About a minute. It sets up the topic without anyone having to admit anything about their own business.
Each table takes the questions. Six or seven minutes. Start with the first question, which is always about something that went well. Tables don't need to answer every question; the ones people care about are enough.
One thing back from each table. A couple of minutes. A single sentence each is plenty.
Close it. Each card has a closing line for the host. Anyone who wants more can find the free tools on this site afterwards.

If one person does all the talking

Go round the table for question two, one answer each (pass is fine), before anyone gets a second turn.

If a table goes quiet

Ask the host's question on the card: "Who at this table has dealt with this?" Let people pass if they want to.

If a table finishes early

Ask them to agree one thing they'd each do differently on Monday.

Printing

The cards print well in black and white. The cast sheet has a large-type, text-only version for home printers.

Ground rules for a breakfast or networking group

Talk about what happens, not who. No names.
"Pass" is always a good answer.
If anyone stops feeling comfortable, we move on.

Ground rules for a team session at work

Talk about what happens, not who. No names, no nods, no "we all know who that is".
The characters stay on the card. Nobody gets called one after today.
"Pass" is always a good answer.
This isn't a disciplinary conversation. If something comes up that needs fixing, we'll fix the process together, and you'll hear about it before anything else happens.
Only the actions we agree leave the room.
The most senior person speaks last.
If anyone stops feeling comfortable, we move on.

For the manager: a host can't promise that nothing will ever be acted on. If someone mentions customer or staff data in the wrong place, that may need checking under UK GDPR. Say so honestly at the start; it keeps trust.

Free to print, copy and share, as long as the web address stays on the card. No email address needed.

Free cards

Pick one and print it.

The scenes are illustrations, not real businesses.

Table Talk · Card 110 minutes

The morning that took half a week

A holiday lettings firm uses AI to rewrite sixty property listings in a morning. Everyone is delighted. Then the office manager reads them properly. One cottage has gained a hot tub, two now welcome dogs they don't allow, and the word 'nestled' appears thirty-eight times. Fixing it takes her two and a half days. At Monday's meeting, the morning is all anyone mentions.

For the table

Where has AI really saved you time this year?
Who checks what it produces, and roughly how long does that take?
Would the person doing the checking give the same answer to question one?

To take away: ask the person who checks the AI's work what they caught last week.

Host: open with "Hands up if AI has ever made something up for you." Close with "Who at your table would you ask about this next time?"

No names. Pass is fine. The characters stay on the card.

charliejacks.uk/groups

Table Talk · Card 210 minutes

Are we using AI?

The owner of a training company asks his management meeting whether they're using AI. Everyone says yes. Months later he finds most of the team have been using free accounts on their own phones, and one of them pasted in a whole customer list to help write follow-up emails. The emails were better than ever. Nobody had told them not to.

For the table

What's the most useful thing someone in your business has worked out how to do with AI?
Do you know which tools your people are actually using, including on their phones?
What's the one thing you'd never want pasted into one, and does everyone know that?

In a team: this isn't a disciplinary conversation. We're finding out which tools help, so we can make them safe. Answer on paper, without names, if you prefer.

To take away: ask your team which AI tools they use, and listen to the answer before saying anything.

Host: open with "Who here knows exactly which AI tools their staff use?" Close with "Who at your table has a rule about this you could borrow?"

No names. Pass is fine. The characters stay on the card.

charliejacks.uk/groups

Table Talk · Card 310 minutes

Twice as much

An owner asks the office to get twice as many quotes out each week, now they have AI. The office manager spends a fortnight writing down how long drafting takes and how long checking takes. Drafting has fallen by two thirds. Checking has doubled. He shows her a quote where the AI promised next-day delivery the warehouse has never offered. They agree on one and a half times as many quotes, not twice.

For the table

Since AI arrived, what have you asked your people for more of, or been asked for more of?
What, if anything, stopped to make room?
How would you find out if the quality had started to slip?

To take away: before asking for more, find out how long the checking takes.

Host: open with "Has AI made anyone here busier, not less busy?" Close with "One thing your table would check before trusting AI with a customer."

No names. Pass is fine. The characters stay on the card.

charliejacks.uk/groups

The characters

Who have you worked with?

Six characters who turn up in most businesses, whatever the trade. They're exaggerated on purpose. It's a bit of fun, not a personality test, and most of us are a different one on a Monday than on a Friday. Nobody here is good or bad: each is useful in the right measure, and the mix is the recipe. NEIL has just joined it.

Tap a picture to see it full size. The rule, printed on every card: talk about people you've worked with who aren't in the room. Picking one for yourself is optional and private.

Table Talk · The cast sheetPrint one per table

Meet the cast

They are not people. They are moments. Nobody is a Derek all the time, and everybody is a Derek some of the time. Any of us can be any of them, at any age.

Clara the one who keeps it all working

Knows where everything is, how it all works, and what happens if it stops.

At their best: Catches the problem before a customer ever sees it.

Watch for: Does it so quietly that nobody knows it was done.

Needs from others: Someone to ask what she's carrying, and to say so upstairs.

Fabz the keen one

Ambitious, quick, and first to try the new thing.

At their best: Gets things moving while everyone else is still discussing it.

Watch for: Confident before the knowledge has caught up. Drawn to the shiny win.

Needs from others: A Clara to check the work, and room to learn without being flattened.

Derek the steady one

Was once Fabz, probably. Has seen most of this before.

At their best: Experience. Knows which ideas came round last time and why they stalled.

Watch for: Has watched it fail before, so waits to be asked. Can look like coasting.

Needs from others: To be asked what he's seen before. It's usually worth hearing.

Max the big-picture boss

Sees the horizon. Sets the direction and makes the call.

At their best: Ambition and pace. Without Max, nothing big gets started.

Watch for: The plan arrives before the people doing it have heard about it.

Needs from others: The view from the team, in plain numbers, before the decision.

The Friction whoever asks the awkward question

Not one person. Whoever is willing, right now, to ask the question nobody else will.

At their best: Spots the problem early, while it's still cheap to fix.

Watch for: Can be heard as awkward, or negative, and stop asking. Sometimes wrong, still worth hearing.

Needs from others: To be heard the first time, not the third.

NEIL the AI

Brilliant at doing the work, not so good at caring what happens next.

At their best: Fast and tireless. Does in a minute what took a morning.

Watch for: Confidently wrong, and already writing the next one.

Needs from others: Someone holding it. Every time.

No names. Pass is fine. The characters stay on the card.

charliejacks.uk/groups

Table Talk · Card 415 to 20 minutes

Who have you worked with?

Give everyone two minutes with the cast sheet. Then go round the table: each person picks one character they have worked with, as a boss, a colleague, a supplier or a customer, and tells the table about them without naming names. Privately, you might notice one that looks a bit familiar in the mirror. You don't have to say.

Only talk about people who aren't in the room.

For the table

Who's the Fabz (the keen one) you've worked with, and what happened to the shiny idea?
What's the best thing a Derek (the steady one) ever taught you?
Who quietly keeps everything working where you are, and have you told them?

To take away: thank whoever keeps it all working where you are. There's usually more than one.

Host: if you're comfortable, go first and own up to being one of them. Close with "What's one good thing your table said about a Derek or a Fabz?"

No names. Pass is fine. The characters stay on the card.

charliejacks.uk/groups

Table Talk · Card 520 minutes · pairs or threes

Swap seats

Best for groups who know each other, and for team away days. Pair up (a three is fine). Each of you draws a character at random (fold the cast sheet into strips, or roll a dice). If role-play isn't for you, be the observer and report back what you heard. Pick one situation and take two minutes each to argue it from that character's point of view, as well as you can. Then, together, agree a plan that the boss, the person who keeps it all working, and the one asking awkward questions could all live with.

Quicker version for a breakfast: read a situation out and vote on paper, for or against. Then ask for a volunteer from each side to say why.

Pick a situation

The boss wants every customer email written by AI from Monday.
The office wants a new AI tool. Nobody has asked what it does with customer details.
A competitor says AI now answers all its customer enquiries.
A customer asks whether a person or the AI wrote the letter they've just received.

To take away: the argument you found hardest to make is the one worth listening to next time.

Host: close with "Did anyone change their mind?"

No names. Pass is fine. The characters stay on the card.

charliejacks.uk/groups

For teams who can take the heat

The Hot Seat

These are the questions people usually only answer in the car park afterwards. They're personal, a little uncomfortable, and they tend to land close to home. Expect a few winces, some laughter nobody planned, and at least one answer that's a little too accurate.

Use them when

The team knows each other and already trusts each other. The manager is ready to hear things they might not like, and the session is clearly not disciplinary. Best run by someone outside the team's reporting line.

How to run them

Answers go on paper, without names, and the host reads them out. The most senior person speaks last, and only to say thank you. Anyone can pass.

Not for

Networking breakfasts, first meetings, or any team going through a restructure, a dispute or the aftermath of a mistake.

Table Talk · The Hot Seat20 to 30 minutes · teams only

Questions for the car park, asked in the room

Answers on paper, no names. The most senior person speaks last, and only to say thank you.

Pick three

Which character does this team need more of right now, and which do we have too much of?
Which character would this team most like to hire, and what does that say about who's missing?
What does everyone here work round, rather than talk about?
What do we say yes to in the meeting and no to in the car park?
Where is AI work going unseen here: the checking, or the credit?
If this team were a recipe, what is there too much of?
What would someone new notice here that we've all stopped seeing?
What did we agree last month that nobody has actually done?

Manager's choice, only if the manager asks for it: "Which character would the team pick for me?" The manager leaves the room while answers are written, then reads them out and only says thank you.

To take away: pick one answer that stung a bit, and agree one thing to do about it before the next team meeting.

Host: open with "Nothing written today has a name on it. This isn't disciplinary; it's about how we work." Close with "Which answer do we most want to act on?"

No names. Pass is fine. Not a disciplinary conversation.

charliejacks.uk/groups

A room exercise

The Gap Check, done together.

Everyone answers eleven statements on their phone in about three minutes, from their own seat. Then answer again as you think your team would. Compare your two answers, then compare with the table. The gap between you and your team is usually the most interesting part.

A fifteen-minute slot

Five minutes to answer twice, eight to compare and talk, two to share one thing with the room. Nothing is stored and nobody has to show their answers. In a small team, answers are never truly anonymous, so share only what you're comfortable with.

Open the Gap Check

In development

A year of Table Talk.

Twelve sessions, all at once as a printable PDF. Each has a card, a single slide and a host's script, in a 15-minute version for breakfasts and a 45-minute version for longer meetings, plus a spare session for the month the speaker cancels. Separate team packs cover away days and bringing in AI, with notes for the manager running them.

If you run a group, host one, or would use it with your team, tell us which and roughly how many people come.