Want a successful virtual workshop?Don’t skip the warm up!

We’ll show you why warmups are important, share what we’ve learned about them, and provide a few techniques and templates for you to use yourself.

It’s tempting to be efficient

There’s a lot of pressure to make the most of our time. Our days fill with tasks, meetings and other distractions that keep us from doing the actual work. Planning workshops is no different. If you’re like us, you might be tempted to be ruthlessly efficient when planning your workshop. What we’ve found, however, is that one of the most trivial parts of a workshop, could actually be the most important.

We’re working in a new way

At Genesys, empathy is at the core of everything we do. We are a leader in creating empathetic customer experiences, delivered through Experience as a Service.

Like most software companies, we’ve gone 100% virtual (in response to the realities of Covid-19). We still have to collaborate frequently, however, to deliver these great experiences. Our leadership has committed to a human-centered way of work and is leveraging design thinking as the methodology.

In figuring out this new way of working, we’ve had some great successes, but we’ve also made some mistakes. One area where we learned the most, was transitioning from in-person to virtual workshopping. And a KEY learning opportunity was the discovery that we significantly undervalued the benefit of a good warmup activity.

What we learned using (and not using) warmups

Our first major virtual workshop centered on drafting Hills to help deliver a better experience for our Agent persona. Without hesitation, we jumped right into activities. What warmup did we use? None. And it showed. The participants performed admirably and we were able to deliver a solid outcome, but getting started on the activities was bumpy, use of the online tool (MIRO) was slow, and fatigue became an issue faster than normal.

Shortly thereafter, we led a second virtual workshop with twenty-six remote participants. This time, we started with the Two Truths and A Lie warmup activity. During the warmup, we noticed that participants had more time to become comfortable using MIRO, and started engaging in unprompted conversation with each other!

When we started our next large workshop, we decided to use the Would you Rather activity. It was a hit! The activity was fast paced, engaging, and fun. Participants were able to learn about each other in a comfortable and easy way. However, afterwards we realized this activity would likely work best “re-energizing” participants mid-workshop. It would be a great to wake them up.

By our third workshop, we learned the following:

1. Don’t skip the warmup.
2. Have clear goals in mind for the warmup activity.
3. Keep in mind the participant numbers & familiarity with each other.
4. Consider the amount of mental energy needed to complete the activity.
5. Know the time constraints for the warmup.
6. Schedule breaks.

What exactly is a warmup?

After we figured out how to properly include warmups in our virtual workshops, we noticed that the activities which raised the engagement level of the participants tended to fall into two categories: Warmups and Wakeups.

• Warmups are a tool to start workshops off on the right foot. They introduce participants to each other, to the workspace, and to the mindset that they’ll be embracing through the day.
• Wakeups are like warmups, but are used during the workshop to re-energize the team. They take some of the pressure off that sometimes builds during a workshop, and can realign everyone after a break from the Zoom call.

Warmups and Wakeups follow these principles:

1. Let them learn. Give your participants time to learn the tool(s). Not everyone is familiar with remote collaboration and some just need time to get situated while not being immediately put on the spot.
2. Use the tool. (In our case, MIRO). We want to improve participants facility with the collaboration software. By creating a live artifact, they can return to it when the workshop is done. This makes team contributions visual and lets the moment live a little bit longer.
3. Make it human. We build bonds between each other. Sharing and learning something out of the normal bounds of our work, helps us connect. Forming connections makes work more fun, coworkers more relatable, and collaboration less transactional.
4. Make it easy. Collaboration is hard — especially when it is tackling complex problems in remote environments using unfamiliar virtual tools. Your warmup should be just that — a way to loosen the muscle of the mind. Keep it simple. Stretch first. Then do your mental powerlifting.

What are some Warmups and Wakeups I can use?

We’ve compiled five useful Warmups and Wakeups and provided links to a downloadable Miro template for you to use in your workshops.

Artifact

Our history lives in the things we keep along our journeys. Share your artifact.

Instructions:

1. Take a picture of a small, nearby item of significance to you.
2. Place it on the MIRO board next to your name.
3. In 60 seconds, tell us the story of your artifact and its meaning to you.

Artifact is best used as a Warmup • MIRO Template >

Two Truths and a Lie

Learn about each other. Tell a harmless lie. Subvert expectations.

Instructions:

1. Write three statements about yourself. Two must be true and one a lie.
2. Place your statements on the MIRO board next to your name.
3. Once you read your statements aloud, let the team guess the lie.

Two Truths and a Lie is best used as a Warmup • MIRO Template >

About Me

Everybody learns. Everybody eats. Everybody has a story to share.

Instructions:

1. This activity must be prepared individually prior to the workshop.
2. On your board, find your name and share a picture of yourself.
3. Share a picture that represents this year so far for you.
4. Tell us one thing that you learned recently.
5. Share a picture of your favorite food.
6. In 60 seconds, Introduce yourself and what you contributed to your board.

About Me is best used as a Warmup • MIRO Template >

Would You Rather

Sometimes you have to choose what you’d rather do. Or be. There is no middle ground.

Instructions:

1. Ahead of the workshop, place the participants’ names in the boxes across the board.
2. Reading off each scenario, one by one.
3. Move your name to the side you would rather be/like
4. That’s it. Have fun!

Would You Rather is best used as a Wakeup • MIRO Template >

How I Work

We all have preferences for how we work with each other. Might be good to share that!

Instructions:

1. Ahead of the workshop, place the participants’ names and titles (in pairs) on the board.
2. Find your name and pick one of each trait and slide it under your name.
3. Once your done, each person will playback the other person’s board

How I Work is best used as a Wakeup • MIRO Template >

Conclusion

Time is a precious commodity. Making the space for Warmups and Wakeups ensures the time spent collaborating is truly productive. You still get to achieve your desired business outcomes, but also get to insert a little more humanity into your work.

Use the templates provided. Change them. Make them your own. And get your team engaged!

Special thanks to Winter Calaway, Matthew Cunningham and TJ Blanchflower for their contributions to this article.