How to organize a workshop 101
There are lots of resources out there that can help you to organize a workshop, so the aim of this article is sharing what worked for my first workshop, and I hope it can help you too!
A few months ago I had the chance to organize and facilitate a workshop about user-centered design. It was one of the personal goals I had set for this year so I was very excited about it. This is how it went.
DEFINING THE WORKSHOP (and also landing the opportunity)
The who-what-how brief
In this particular case, the workshop was in the context of a yearly event organized by Universidad de Palermo, so I had to apply for it. To do so I needed to submit a brief telling who the main audience for the workshop would be, what the expected outcome was (what would be the takeaway?) and how I was going to achieve it.
I had a general idea on the who, what and how, and wrote a brief that clearly showed so, but without much detail (I wasn’t going to prepare a whole 180-minute workshop without knowing if it was going to be approved!).
The benefits of this? It’s a great way to understand if you have a clear idea of what you want to share with the attendees. Even if you’re organizing the workshop yourself without needing to apply for it, writing the brief down helps you to put it into actual words (I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but it took me several drafts to get it just right)
The who-what-how brief is vital to understand what you want to deliver, and how you intend to do it.
Two months later, I got an email letting me know they had accepted the workshop! 🎉
GETTING READY
Working on the general layout first
So it was time to start working. As a first step, and with my brief in front of me, I started to create the layout of the workshop. I listed the activities we’d go through and assigned time for each of them. I used a spreadsheet like this:
As you can see, I included every activity, estimated time, and supplies needed (worksheets, pens, etc.). Also, remember to have some time at the beginning for introductions and a warm up activity, and at the end to receive feedback from the atendees.
Estimating times can be super tricky: you might over or underestimate activities and this can disrupt the whole session.
Whenever possible, the best way to mitigate this is to try the activities in advance with a small group of people (friends, coworkers) to see if instructions are clear enough, how long they take, how many questions arise and adjust times based on that experience.
If you don’t have the chance to live test it, it’s better to overestimate a bit so as to be sure you’ll be able to fit the whole schedule. This was my case, and even though I tried to overestimate, I had to cut off the feedback activity due to lack of time. Instead, I asked everyone to leave a quick review in a post-it and stick it on the whiteboard before leaving (hey, better than nothing, right?).
Creating content
Once I had a basic layout for the whole workshop, I started to create the content of the presentation and how the activities would roll out and connect with one another. This stage involved a lot of improvement to the layout, as I needed more or less time to explain some concepts and had to adapt the schedule for it. Later, it was the time to distribute it in slides and add illustrations.
I kept slides as simple as possible and used bulleted content and simple graphics. I used a template from slidesgo, which saved me a ton of time.
Being proactive about the location
If you’re not familiar with the venue, find out in advance! I emailed several weeks in advance to learn about the room I’d be assigned, if it had shared or individual tables, internet connection and projector so as to accommodate to it as much as possible. For example, one thing I didn’t ask was about stationery supplies, which I bought myself, and -later I learned- were provided free of cost by the organizers.
THE DAY(S) BEFORE
Have your supplies ready
Go through your supplies list and make sure you have enough (and a bit more) of everything you need. Also, print worksheets, write down how many of each you have, and keep them organized in a folder in the order you’ll distribute them. Print as well the schedule layout, so that you can have it always at sight during the event.
For me, having the schedule was a life saver! It helped me focus and track time for each of the activities.
Double check the presentation
Review the whole presentation one more time. Then ask someone else to do the same. You might find typos, some unpolished image, maybe you forgot to include your contact info!
Practice aloud
This will reduce anxiety, as you’ll be more familiar with the content you’re delivering, and how to explain it. You can do it alone, but also with a partner, so that they can tell you if you’re speaking too fast, hesitating a lot, etc.
ON THAT DAY
Arrive early
So the day came at last. As it was a University venue, I arrived in advance for acreditation. Fortunately! Because not only there was a queue at the entrance desk, also when I arrived at the workshop room I found that there was a huge window with sunlight coming through that made projections impossible (someone helped me to close it) and then the connector I had for my laptop was not right, and had to ask the organizers for a different one.
Arrive in advance! Murphy’s Law will probably make you lose time one way or another.
Bring some water
Best decision of that day, bring water with me (there was no water cooler nearby, and speaking a lot makes you thirsty very quickly). Also, I had something light to eat so as not to be sleepy at 3PM.
As an improvement for my next time, I’ll also bring some sweets for the attendees, as they were also working hard during the session!
Enjoy!
As long as you’re having a good time, attendees will too. Smile, be fun, keep in mind a workshop is as much about learning as it is about sharing a productive experience with others.
AFTERWARDS
Tidy up before leaving
Once it was finished, another workshop was starting in ten minutes. I used the time to clean up the room (basically removing dozens of post-its from the walls), so that the next lecturer found it as nice as I did.
You can find out in advance if there’s some cleaning staff available, but that’s not always the case.
Relax
If possible, save some me time afterwards to relax (don’t rush to a meeting, or a doctor appointment). I was exhausted after the workshop, in part due to being 2 1/2 hours on foot, speaking and going around the room moderating the session, but also it was my first time so I was anxious about it. My body and mind deserved a nice break!
Review the feedback
Take notes about the feedback you received, and a few days later review them to learn from the experience. What were the attendees most happy about? What did they regret? Were they satisfied? What can you do better next time?
Thank you for reading, I hope you found this little guide useful. What other tips would you add? Let me know about your experiences in the comments!
