How to Host a Great Online Workshop (for around $200)
Not too long ago, we did our first online workshop. Online workshops are one of the best ways to get your brand out. However, it was uncharted territory for us. Since it may be for you as well, I’ve decided to share some tips that I’ve gathered!
Choose a relatable topic
Since everyone needs help getting started, we decided to share our Blueprint process — a planning process that helps anyone plan a great learning experience. It could help our audience, and we were pretty confident we could share it well in under 40 minutes.
Since people probably wouldn’t be familiar with what “Blueprint” meant, we tried giving the workshop a friendlier title. We settled on “Designing through Empathy.”
Tips:
- Consider your audience. What idea will help them the most?
- Consider your time. Can you make this idea simple enough to explain in 30 to 40 minutes?
- Make it accessible. Give your workshop a clear title.
Script, Rehearse, and Announce from the Mountain Top
Script
Once we’d decided on our Blueprint process as a topic, we focused on making it relatable, which meant planning our talk.
It was tempting to wing it. After all, we should be able to talk about a process we created ourselves. But we wanted our workshop to be conversational. So we gathered the two extroverts on the team and planned out our script to feel like we were having a conversation. This way we were sure to cover all the most important information in the simplest way possible.
Don’t get me wrong! Scripting doesn’t mean you leave out all the fun stuff. We made sure to leave room for friendly banter.
Tips:
- Don’t plan to quote the script verbatim. It’s more important to take yourself through the process, so you don’t miss anything important.
- Scripting includes preparing slides. And slides are tricky business — don’t skip ’em, but be sure not to rely on them too much either!
Rehearse
Michelle (my co-presenter) and I practiced tons. Our philosophy was simple: Make a plan, know the plan, then deviate from the plan when needed. Again, do not improvise — that never goes well.
Not only did we rehearse several times alone, we also rehearsed in front of our whole team. Some of our coworkers aren’t experts in our Blueprint process, so they made a perfect audience. They told us whether or not our talk was introductory enough.
When you rehearse, here are a few pieces of feedback to ask for:
- Is the pacing right? Too fast or too slow?
- Is the information prepared for the right audience? To basic or too advanced?
- Are there enough practical examples to explain our big ideas well?
- Do we rely on visuals too much? Are they distracting to the talk itself?
Announce
While we prepared the talk, we also prepared our audience — people who expressed interest in this topic. We used Facebook ads and an email campaign to find them, then we created a simple lesson on Pathwright to share what people could expect.
- The “Welcome!” step introduced people to what they’d learn at the workshop.
- The Attend step, “Join the Workshop,” included a link to join the live video feed (we used Zoom for this) along with the time and date of the workshop.
- The final step, for after the workshop, shared a full course our learners could access after the workshop ended.
Prepare with the Right People and Tools
People
Although Michelle and I were the only ones on the screen, several other people on our team helped us behind the scenes.
- Two people helped us answer questions on the Zoom chat thread
- One person manned the camera and changed slides
- The rest of our team helped us in writing announcements, editing scripts, and setting up for the big day
You can probably do a workshop all on your own, but we recommend at least two people if possible. One person can give the talk while the other helps run the camera, answers questions online, or flips through slides.
Tools
We made sure to look presentable on camera by creating a mini studio in our office. We also used proper lighting and microphones for better sound quality.
The total of all the equipment came to a little more than $200. Not a huge investment considering the benefits of a live workshop! (We included a list of all the equipment below. You might find it useful!)
Our toolbox:
- Facebook ads and an email campaign to draw people in
- Google Docs for collaborating on scripts
- Zoom to host our workshop
- Keynote for our slide deck
- Pathwright to prepare our audience
- Lights from Limo Studio
- Camera from Logitech
- Mic from Jabra
If you want a recap of our workshop you can find that here. Our more extensive course on the entire Learner Profile and Blueprint process is here.
See you at the next workshop!
Thousands of teachers use Pathwright every day to design and teach courses to their team, class, or anyone in the world. If you’d like to design a course, we invite you to try out Pathwright for free. You’ve got nothing to lose!
