Workshop Designer Reveals 3 Mistakes You Can Avoid
“One day, I want to design a workshop.”
About 3-4 years into my career, I had this thought. I bet you’ve had it, too. I was lucky enough to have the time to design some fun workshops, and it all started with saying "Yes."
Saying yes to "Can you design us a workshop?" did a lot for my career. Designing little workshops got me in front of the leadership team before I was a manager. These little workshops for my company went from internal brainstorms to a UX conference in Istanbul (Shout-out to UX Alive!).
The first time I ran a workshop outside my company, I almost didn't make it to the event on time. I was so nervous, I didn't sleep at all the night before. In fact, I didn't really sleep the night before the first 5 workshops. Here are some things I did that you should avoid:
Let’s dive into why these three things made my workshops underwhelming.
Jumping to slide design too quickly
I know you've done this, too you dirty little perfectionists. Slide design can be a huge distraction when designing workshops. Never jump into slides until you have a plan, and you've practiced the approach a few times.
I was comfortable designing slides, so I started with what I knew. Then I would want to change the structure, and then I had these beautiful but useless slides that didn’t fit anymore. I threw out so many well-designed slides. That's a big waste of time. Simple-text outlines, Miro boards, practicing, and even a blank piece of paper will keep you out of the slides until you know the structure.
Talking too much and not listening
When I started doing workshops, I thought that the presentation portion wasn't good enough to keep the audience's attention. Later, I realized that there was just too much talking. Keep it brief. You can introduce yourself and the topic in three sentences if you practice.
It's important to check in with the audience every now and then. I like to put up a slide that says "reflect" after every activity to remind me. These moments of reflection will tell you if the room is on the right track or not. Usually, this requires 10-15 seconds of waiting and listening through the inevitable........awkward........long........silence.
Relying on audience feedback alone
I had this monthly workshop called "Intro to UX" that I was doing at my old job. I wanted the workshop to improve, but participant feedback wasn't helping. After inviting a few friends, the truth started to come out. Anonymous feedback gets you 80% of the issues, but only a trusted friend will get you that final 20% of critical feedback.
Critical feedback is so important for workshop improvement. Don’t forget to thank anyone that is brave enough to tell you how to get better!
Design Audience-Centered Workshops
Use the Audience Strategy Worksheet to design an audience-centered workshop that is sure to engage.
