5 Minute Guide to Running a Workshop

We recently organised and ran a virtual workshop for a health tech client. We’ve had a few questions about it so thought it would be helpful to write a blog about it.

Why did we do it?

Our client has a pilot up and running in the NHS and is keen to help more NHS patients. We thought a workshop with some new NHS connections would be a good way to:

• Hear what’s happening on the ground
• Grow our network
• Understand funding opportunities better
• Get feedback on current offering and benefits for NHS patients/staff/commissioners
• Get feedback on functionality
• Get input on focussing on specific patient groups and pathologies

Length and timing

We decided to run the workshop for half a day (2pm-5pm) and it took about 2 months to organise. We could have organised it more quickly if we had committed to a specific date sooner although this may have impacted on people’s availability.

Participants

We wanted a small group so everyone would feel included and have an opportunity to make a contribution. As well as the client team we had representatives from the client's pilot partner, two consultants, one nurse practitioner and someone from NHS England (so 6 speakers as well as the client team). This was a good number of people. A smaller number would also have worked quite well although the different perspectives in the group were very helpful.

We found the majority of the participants using LinkedIn. Our existing network was also really helpful. We offered the clinicians a small payment for their time as a gesture of thanks. ?We had a call with most of the participants before the workshop. ?

Prep

A week or so before the workshop we sent out some information about our client, an agenda and a short set of questions tailored to each speaker’s area of expertise. We wanted people to come to the workshop having thought about the technology beforehand and with lots to say (we needn’t have worried about that!).

Agenda

We started off with a welcome, scene setting and introductions. Our client then set out their vision and journey so far. The client’s pilot partner then talked about the pilot. NHS England talked about their work in this area. We had a series of structured themes on the agenda to follow but the conversation began to flow quite naturally so we let people talk and asked questions where necessary. It was amazing to see everyone sharing perspectives and reflections so enthusiastically! The conversation was a great mix of really interesting big picture issues and more operational ones.

Outcomes

We hoped the workshop would facilitate a good conversation and it really did! The quality of the conversation was excellent – the people who choose to attend were genuinely interested in innovation and clearly very enthusiastic about helping their patients as much as possible while also trying to deal with system pressures. We are grateful to them for giving up their time. The session was inspiring and energising and a number of bilateral conversations are now ongoing.