Wheel of Names - name picker - to help you get others to respond

Screen shot by mobile phone of wheel of names. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

How do you persuade people to volunteer? Give them no choice.

In the old days you would toss a coin. Heads or tails. Decide in advance that whoever gets heads goes first.

That works with only two people. Or you could pick names alphabetically and toss between the first two, then the next two. Operate it like musical chairs by eliminating people until you have only one left.

Here is the modern, high tec version of leaving it to chance to pick the person.

Wheel Of Names
You fill in the names which then appear on the wheel. Click on the wheel to spin. Or press control & enter. Click to stop. The person whose name appear is the one who is first to speak or act or do the task.

I first saw this device used in the online Toastmasters International speakers' group, Singapore Online Speakers. We have table topics speakers. In the old days you would pick a topic from pieces of paper face down on a table.

Now spin the wheel and you wait to see if your name is chosen and you are the next speaker. If you allow speakers to decline to speak, they can still decline or choose another topic.

Uses of the wheel of Names
The Wheel of Names offers you several options.
1 Pick a speaker to speak next.
2 Dinner wheel - photos of food. Decide what to cook or eat from a menu.
3 Yes, no, maybe

Options include sounds and visuals during and after the spin, such as cheers, confetti, and words such as Dinner Is Served.

The first time I clicked onto the website the wheel appeared with male and female names on it. After I changed to the yes/no/maybe option, I could not see how to get back to the names options. So I closed and opened the website, but it came back to the same place. However, you can simply type in names in the box on the right of the screen.

When displaying the screen, if it is hard to see in a bright room, you may need to turn the lights in the room off. Then turn the lights on again for the lights to show your speaker on your stage or at the front of the room.

When we did it, a volunteer operated the lights, whose switches were on the left of the room, whilst the table topics speaker was on the right of the room.

Fun things to do are to add the option of cheering when a name is chosen, or confetti. You cannot add music to the system. However, you could add your own music played from another laptop or the same one in the room. 

Useful Websites
https://wheelofnames.com/
https://www.classtools.net/random-name-picker/

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and and photographer, author and speaker.