Delivering High-Impact Remote Workshops: The Four Key Elements

Have you ever taken part in a remote workshop? They can be a impactful way to collaborate with others without the need to get together in a single physical location - an increasingly common need in today's world. If done right, they can be engaging and insightful, but without the correct approach, they can be agony!? This brief article sets out four elements that we believe are critical to ensure you deliver an engaging and effective remote workshop.

Preparation: This is integral to any workshop and even more crucial for a remote one. Before the workshop begins, you must clearly understand the aim of the workshop and know the target audience well. Have pre-meets to align with your sponsor and with principal stakeholders. This will inform your agenda and help you shape activities to achieve the desired outcome. You should also ensure that all necessary materials are ready, and the digital boards are set up to flow. Think of your workshop as a story that you are taking the participants through and explaining this to them when you are communicating before and during the session. Sharing the agenda and any pre-reads well in advance are also simple actions that support the delivery of effective outcomes.?

Handy Tip: Check that your participants have accounts for your chosen technology platform (we use?Miro) so that your workshop starts on time and runs smoothly. Remember, well begun is half done!?

Positive, Upbeat Attitude: The facilitator must show enthusiasm from the first second of the workshop. Being remote means that your participants cannot feed off your body language or that intangible energy we all get from working with people in the same physical space. This is why the attitude and approach of the facilitator becomes critical for success with remote sessions. Express passion for the topic and a delight to work with the participants. This helps to create an engaging and productive atmosphere for the workshop. The workshop facilitator must set a confident and energetic tone for the workshop. This encourages participants to feel relaxed, take part and communicate proactively.?

Handy Tip: Plan a fun icebreaker before you dive into the focus topic. Our favourite is to invite participants to imagine themselves at an awards ceremony. They have been nominated for an innovation award. Their name is called out as the winner! As they walk up on stage, what song do they want played in the background as they walk up on stage? Each participant shares their choices with the group. We really like this one as it energises participants for the workshop and helps foster a good mood as their favourite songs are now in their head.

Inclusion of All Voices: The facilitator must create an inclusive environment where all participants can share their ideas. The facilitator should be aware of any power dynamics that exist and should learn about this before the session. This ensures that it is not only the loudest voices doing the talking. Or the HIPPO (highest paid person's opinion) being in the only one getting attention. The facilitator should set rules at the start of the workshop to enable this. Remember, no idea or question is stupid - it could be the start of the next big thing!?

Handy Tip: Disallow words like 'No' and 'But' and police their use (in a light-hearted way of course!).?

Capturing Outcomes and Strong Follow-Up: The workshop is only as good as the actions and outcomes it drives. The facilitator must capture the key takeaways and actions as the key results of the workshop. Remote workshops can be less memorable than in-person ones. It is key that the facilitator follows up with the group to ensure recall.?

Handy Tip: The facilitator should share key outcomes and action with the group within 24 hours of the workshop. This builds momentum and "locks in" value from the time spent together.

Our singular purpose at Shipyard is to?make investments in innovation impactful. We?believe that the journey of creating any product / venture and delivering any vision (big or small!) starts with unique insight. To generate such insight, we that in our world it is important to be able to combine the thoughts of end-users, partners and clients - and generate new thinking from it. We do this through collaborative sessions that are often run remotely. Our sessions are designed to harvest collective insight, domain expertise and ideas, and these structured, focused and actionable sessions form a key component of our delivery approach across our all of our services. Over time, we have formed strong views on what works and what doesn't - and we are always happy to chat about these in more detail. Reach out [email protected]?to learn more.

PS: A BIG thank you to our very own?Rob Cahill?for the invaluable insights that went into writing this article!?