Five Minute Connection invites participants to spend five minutes talking with someone they don't normally interact with. Set out conversation cards at a lunch table, common area, club meeting, or other gathering place and invite participants to grab a card, find someone they don't know well, and start talking.

The questions aren't designed to lead to deep or personal disclosures. They're just an excuse to get past "I know who that person is" and spend a few minutes actually knowing something about them.

• Printed conversation cards
• A timer (phone or physical timer)
• A table or designated meeting area
• Optional: table sign explaining the activity
• Optional: small snacks or treats to invite people over

We share classrooms, hallways, lunchrooms, teams, and schools with people we may see every day without ever really knowing them. Five Minute Connection creates a small interruption in those familiar social circles. Participants practice recognition, inclusion, understanding, and benefit of the doubt by giving another person something surprisingly powerful: five minutes of genuine curiosity and attention.

1. Choose your location — during lunch, advisory, a club meeting, before or after school, or anywhere participants naturally gather.
2. Create an invitation — put up a sign such as, "Got five minutes? Meet someone new!" S4D members can also personally invite participants.
3. Pair up — invite participants to sit with someone they don't already know well. If someone comes alone, an S4D member can help them find a partner.
4. Pick a card — each pair draws a conversation card and takes turns answering. When the conversation slows down, grab another.
5. Set the timer for five minutes — it helps keep the conversation moving, but don't cut off a good conversation just because it goes off!
6. Switch it up — participants can stop after one conversation or meet someone new for another five-minute round.
7. End with a tiny challenge — invite each person to remember the other's name and say hello next time they see each other at school.

Conversation cards should be fun, low-risk, and easy to answer. Mix wacky questions with ones that reveal more about the person. Your organizers should create their own, but here are a few ideas:

Turn Five Minute Connection into a schoolwide lunch event with music, snacks, a conversation-card station, and optional five-minute table rotations. Recruit student leaders from different parts of the school to serve as table anchors: team captains, FFA officer, first chair in orchestra/band, drama student, student government member, club leader, peer mentor, or other student who others feel comfortable around. Their job is to welcome participants and get conversations started. Encourage everyone to visit tables outside their usual circle. If the football team comes because their captain is an anchor, great! Challenge them to spread out and meet new people.

Add a schoolwide goal, such as 5 minutes x 500 conversations, and track your progress throughout Dignity Week. Invite staff to participate too! Conversations with teachers, custodians, administrators, cafeteria workers, counselors, coaches, and other staff can build connections across parts of the school community that don't often interact.

Use Five Minute Connection during an S4D meeting. Pair participants with someone they don't know as well, hand each pair three conversation cards, and give them five minutes. Or, put a stack of conversation cards on one lunch table with a sign inviting anyone who sits there to use them.

Full designed PDF with the complete conversation card set — see the download button above.