Reciprocity Ring
a room full of people trading favors on purpose - and why it actually works
Grounded in the research on Wikipedia: Reciprocity ring / Wayne Baker & Cheryl Baker (Give and Take, University of Michigan)
step 1 - name it
A reciprocity ring is a structured round where everyone in a group asks for one real thing they need - a contact, advice, a job lead - and everyone else mines their own network to deliver. Not vague "let's connect" energy. A request gets named out loud, then the whole room hunts for who can solve it. It turns a pile of strangers into a favor machine.
step 2 - the receipt
Sociologist Wayne Baker and Cheryl Baker built this at the University of Michigan; it's the centerpiece of organizational psychologist Adam Grant's 2013 book Give and Take. They productized it as the "Reciprocity Ring" exercise (later the Givitas software). The science under it - generalized reciprocity, where you help A and get repaid by C - is solid Marcel Mauss / Alvin Gouldner gift-exchange theory, not a vibe.