How many workshops have you been to that are poorly thought out or badly run, that drift aimlessly or have vague outcomes?
Workshop facilitation is a design skill that you can apply in all kinds of situations including ideation, gathering requirements and building consensus with cross functional teams. It's also an essential skill for anyone trying to reconcile differing viewpoints or align diverse needs.
This session will provide you with:
an understanding of what facilitation is and when to use it
an easy to remember framework for planning workshops
tips and tricks for making workshops go smoothly
ways to build trust, encourage participation and stay focused on outcomes
2. • Director of UX at MTT (soon
to be Travelport Digital)
• Managing design teams for
over 10 years
• Background in research and
information architecture
You can get me @matthewovington
4. WHAT WE WILL COVER
• Walk through the agenda
• Conflict, trust and facilitation
• The framework and the 4 flows
• Workshop practice
5. UNILATERAL vs MULTILATERAL
• I am right and have others
interests at heart.
• Others are misinformed or have
bad motives.
• Purpose is to convince other to
do what I want.
• I have one perspective.
• Others might see things I don’t.
• Purpose is to make informed
choices.
THE ROOTS OF CONFLICT
7. FACILITATION
The art of guiding people through a process to agreed upon
outcomes in a way that encourages creativity and
participation from all involved.
9. FACILITATION IS ABOUT BUILDING TRUST
Different
experience
Same
experience
Same values Different values
Multi cultural
groups
Cross functional
teams
Trust
15. OUTCOMES
Purpose e.g. Improve interdepartmental processes
Outcomes e.g. Shared understanding of issues and
solutions
Outputs e.g. List of actions for team leads
16. DEFINING OUTCOMES
• Review the expectations of stakeholders
• What do they hope to gain? e.g. an agreed position, a final decision, inspiration
• What concerns do they have?
• What background information or resources can they provide?
• Identify themes
• Echo their words in describing the outcomes
• Write them down
• Check outcomes against the initial purpose
18. AGENDA
• Clearly communicates the purpose, outcomes (and outputs if
necessary). Important to
• Get people's commitment to the meeting
• Manage expectations
• Flow of meeting
19. RULES AND ROLES
• Are there any roles?
• Depends on the nature of the meeting.
• Are you going to ask ground rules to be observed?
• Participants are self policing
e.g. “Don’t jump to solutions”
20. PLANNING THE AGENDA
• What conversations / activities?
• In what order?
• How long will those activities take?
23. Planning the agenda
Put chunks in
order
Add breaks
(every 60-90 mins)
Add/remove
activities
Review the
outcomes
Matches
Outcomes?
Estimate timing
Yes
No
List all activities
Group activities
into chunks
24. A NOTE ON TIMING...
Helps to work backwards from an estimate.
Example
If we estimate 45 minutes for 15 people to list ideas and present:
• 15 people
• 5 minutes = write 5 ideas
• 75 ideas
• 40 minutes to process 75 ideas
• ~30 seconds per ideas
• 15 people in 3 groups
• 5 minutes = write 5 ideas
• 15 ideas
• 40 minutes to process 15 ideas
• ~3 minutes per ideas
28. OPERATIONS
Materials More than just PostIts and sharpies...
Venue Access, room size, table layout, light, cleaners?
Facilities Do we need wifi? Projector? Storage?
Breaks Do I need to feed people? Dietary needs?
Equipment Cables, cameras, batteries, clocks, speakers
29. INFORMATION
Attention
How long?
What time of day?
Information - clarity and understanding
What will I need to prepare in advance?
How much time do they need to read and prepare?
Am I waiting for any information?
Energy - trust and respect
How well do people know one another
Will they have had time to
Operations - support decision making
Good natural light
Room - table size, chairs, arrangement, projectors or monitors, power points, wifi
Confirm breaks
Lunch - dietary needs, venues nearby, ordering food
What level of knowledge exists?
Is the level of attendee knowledge similar or different?
What information best serves the purpose of the workshop?
How much time do participants need to read and prepare?
Am I waiting for any information?
30. ATTENTION
Attention
How long?
What time of day?
Information - clarity and understanding
What will I need to prepare in advance?
How much time do they need to read and prepare?
Am I waiting for any information?
Energy - trust and respect
How well do people know one another
Will they have had time to
Operations - support decision making
Good natural light
Room - table size, chairs, arrangement, projectors or monitors, power points, wifi
Confirm breaks
Lunch - dietary needs, venues nearby, ordering food
What can I do to focus the group?
• Ask a question
• Invite questions
• Circulate agenda beforehand, and keep visible
throughout
• Re-iterate purpose and outcomes
31. ENERGY
Attention
How long?
What time of day?
Information - clarity and understanding
What will I need to prepare in advance?
How much time do they need to read and prepare?
Am I waiting for any information?
Energy - trust and respect
How well do people know one another
Will they have had time to
Operations - support decision making
Good natural light
Room - table size, chairs, arrangement, projectors or monitors, power points, wifi
Confirm breaks
Lunch - dietary needs, venues nearby, ordering food
Time of day Take into account natural variations e.g. after lunch
Environment Natural light, temperature, food
Activities Breaks, energising games to get people moving
Presentations Rules about length, timed for high energy periods
Interventions Calling out energy killers e.g. laptops
33. WILDCARD 1
One of your key participants has forwarded on
your invite and the number of people who are
going to attend has more than doubled to 20.
What could you do?
34. WILDCARD 2
The day before your meeting half your
attendees warn you that their department's
Christmas party is the day before the workshop.
What could you do?
35. WILDCARD 3
Some of your attendees are on email and chat
before you arrive. Some are making excuses
about having to leave before the meeting is
scheduled to end.
What could you do?
36. ON THE DAY
• Arrive early to set up
• Welcome people and give introductions
• Walk through the outcomes, agenda, rules and roles
• Answer any questions
• Confirm if anyone has specific hard stops or travel plans
• If you feel you need it, have a car park*
• Finish early
37. If you read one book read
“How to Run a Great Workshop”
by Nikki Highmore-Sims