PLIX at MIT Future Fest: Facilitation Tips for Tabling LLM-Algorithm Arcade

Author

Ada Ren-Mitchell

Date

October 30, 2026

Running with scissors

Over the past 18 years, I’ve run events for the MIT undergraduate population (through the MIT undergraduate group SaveTFP), education conferences, MIT Media Lab community (Festival of Learning), and helped table for my city’s arts council as a member of the board. These are the things I always have on me when I’m tabling or running an event:

Cardstock
Scissors
Masking tape
Permanent marker
Sticky notes

With these materials, I can create signage for tables, walls, and floor (to direct people to where we are), or explain something we’re always repeating. In the context of education, design, and logistics, signage helps foster agency, and give people permission to do something that might not be obvious. (Check your assumptions!)

The masking tape is also helpful when events are outdoors on a windy day. It can be used to hold down printed materials, and focus people’s attention on specific items on the table.

Materials I always bring when running an event: cardstock, scissors, masking tape, permanent marker, sticky notes

Attract people with vertical table signage

Ada posing with the PLIX letters

Use vertical space to draw people in! These PLIX letters and clouds are cut out of cardstock and held up by table place card holders. Using the handy masking tape, they are taped together in the back, with the clouds supporting connections between letters. Since the letters and clouds are flat, I transported them in a flat file folder.

Not everyone knows what PLIX is, so the text is added on with a permanent marker.

Materials for vertical table signage

Folder
Letters cut out of cardstock
Clouds cut out of cardstock
Table place card holders
Masking tape
Permanent market

Setting up Interaction & Activity Pathways

At MIT Future Fest, there are many demos and experiences for people to explore, so we wanted to support the different ways people might want to engage. We set up the space for people to play 2 of the games in the LLM-Algorithm Arcade activity: Build-a-sentence-bear, and Animal-gorithm Training.

Here are some ways the alumni volunteers invited people to participate:

30 seconds — take a printed PLIX LLM-Algorithm Arcade Zine

Say “Here’s our AI activity co-designed with librarians for library contexts”
Say “This is an introduction to how AI / machine learning / large language models works”
For younger audiences that might not have had exposure to AI, say “This is how machines work” (not entirely accurate or precise, but the goal is simplicity)

1 minute — play a part or step of the game that invites a simple choice, or spark their curiosity. Having the games already set up to be in the middle of a game lowers the barrier (or the attention that is required) to get started.

Say “What word would you like to see come next in the sentence? Use this wooden game piece to vote”
Say “Can you guess what’s the secret category on the left versus the right sides?”
Say “Which side do you think this next animal would go?”

2+ minutes — deeper conversation topics for those who linger:

What their understanding is of how AI works
What this is (games to teach how AI works, concepts: LLM word vectorization, machine learning algorithms)
Why we did it this way (designed for library contexts, need for AI media literacy, librarian anger and refusal to use AI)
What we’re part of (the MIT pK-12 Initiative) and other opportunities for families and youth to engage with MIT
Love for libraries!

In this setup for Build-a-sentence-bear activity

Printed game guides on the side, with zines in these small paper food trays invites people to grab a printout and go. The pocketable size helps a lot!

Set up for Animal-gorithm Training to invite people to guess the secret category.

We asked for a lower height table so youth can see the activity more easily. This 8-year-old (right) got so into the game, she brought her 5-year-old sister to the table and taught her how to play!

Additional chairs invite people to sit down and stay a while. Animal-gorithm Training can also be played with animal stickers (that people are welcome to take!).

By keeping the sentences people already created, we 1) model what the activity can look like, and 2) celebrate the creativity of the many people who have recently engaged with the activity. The strip of masking tape acts as a visual guide to draw focus.

We used implicit facilitation to entice people to color and decorate the blank wooden game pieces. Some are already decorated. The game already invites them to touch the pieces, giving them agency and permission to hold and look at the pieces. Having the markers available suggests they can color the pieces in.

Reflections

Appreciation for my volunteers

Having volunteers (who have incredible smiles) was amazing! They drew people in, introduced activities, and explained the goal of the program. This freed me up to jump in to conversations where people are asking deeper questions. Since we were there from 9:30am to 1pm, I made sure to have a stash of snacks for us. I made peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and brought canned drinks (aluminum is easier to recycle than plastic) and yogurt cups to keep our energy levels up. I also included some disinfecting wipes so we don’t have to worry about washing our hands before eating.

Overcoming adult non-participation

The visual design of the table and game interactions invited youth to play but also implicitly turned away adults. Some people noted “This is just games for kids?” or “oh this is not for me.” This is where I jump in with asking them about themselves and their understanding of AI, and with using high level STEM vocabulary like machine learning algorithms and LLM word vectorization. It could be helpful to more visually show that this work is built on STEM rigor using a rigorous co-design process that meets librarians at their emotions about AI usage.