Investment Roulette
Investment Roulette is a participatory activity where participants present proposals that are assigned to randomly selected categories using a roulette wheel. This approach fosters creativity, strategic adaptation, and collective decision-making to prioritize resources or actions. It is ideal for situations where the evaluation process needs to be more dynamic and new perspectives encouraged.
Preparation
01 · Define the purpose
- Clarify the objective of the activity: allocating resources, prioritizing ideas, or categorizing proposals based on their relevance and impact.
- Decide which categories will be included in the roulette, such as thematic areas, evaluation criteria, or priority groups.
02 · Design the roulette wheel
- Prepare a physical roulette wheel (made of cardboard, wood, or plastic) or use a digital tool like Wheel of Names.
- Assign categories to each segment of the roulette wheel.
03 · Prepare the proposals
- Ask participants in advance to prepare their proposals or ideas.
- Each proposal should include a brief description, objectives, and potential impact.
04 · Necessary materials
- Physical roulette wheel or digital tool.
- Cards or tokens with the proposals.
- Boards or large sheets of paper to record results.
Step-by-step instructions
1
Introduce the purpose
- Explain to participants the objective of the activity and how the roulette will help explore new ways to allocate resources or evaluate proposals.
- Present the roulette categories and how they relate to the group’s priorities.
2
Presentation of proposals
- Each participant or team presents their proposal to the group.
- Allow a limited time for each presentation (e.g., 3-5 minutes).
3
Spin the roulette wheel
- Take turns spinning the roulette for each presented proposal.
- The selected category will determine the perspective from which the proposal will be evaluated or prioritized.
- Examples of categories:
- Social impact.
- Technical feasibility.
- Innovation.
- Profitability.
- Scalability.
4
Evaluate proposals by category
- The group discusses how the proposal aligns with the assigned category.
- Use guiding questions:
- How does this proposal meet the category criteria?
- What strengths and areas for improvement does it have under this perspective?
- Record observations on a board or document.
5
Resource allocation or prioritization
- Based on the discussions, allocate symbolic resources (e.g., tokens, points) to the most relevant proposals within each category.
- You may allow a group discussion to adjust allocations if necessary.
6
Closing and reflection
- Summarize the results and discuss how the assigned categories influenced the group’s decisions.
- Reflect on the key takeaways and the next steps.
Example categories for the roulette
- Social impact.
- Technological innovation.
- Scalability.
- Cost-benefit analysis.
- Technical feasibility.
- Urgency.
- Environmental sustainability.
- Social inclusion.
- Collaboration potential.
- Implementation time.
Materials
Physical or digital roulette wheel.
Tokens or sticky notes to record proposals.
Markers and boards for note-taking.
Symbolic resources to allocate to proposals (tokens, coins, points).
Digital tools
Practical recommendations
Diversity in categories
Ensure that the categories are varied and relevant to the objective of the activity.
Active facilitation
Guide the group in reflecting on how each proposal aligns with its assigned category.
Documentation
Record discussions and decisions for future reference.
Flexibility
Allow adjustments to categories or allocations based on the group's needs.
