How to run the worst workshop ever...

Recently, I participated in a workshop and I could experience firsthand how the little things work because they were simply missing. 

Due to time constraints, workshop facilitators often let little things slide in order to have more time for the goal. I have caught myself doing this. But it's the little things that pay off strongly for the goal. if you do them right.

• Who's in it? I had no idea who was in the workshop. Besides two known people, there were eight others who were completely unknown to me in terms of name and role. It is not very helpful when half of the unknown people leave the camera switched off.
• Icebreaker – missing. Icebreakers set the mood for the rest of the workshop. It's a playful way to get to know the others and find out who you're good with and, if necessary, go into a break-out session. If the icebreaker is missing, it remains a sober and possibly anonymous event.
• What is the goal and what are everyone's expectations? The goal must be clear to everyone so that all participants can align their contributions with this goal. It becomes difficult when the participants have different goals in mind and thus, of course, different expectations. It is very bad to realize in a workshop that you are not working on the same solution and that you have a completely different understanding of the actual problem. 
• Preparation is super important, especially to plan the things mentioned above. But above all (at least for a 3h workshop) to work out an agenda. This agenda must be clear to everyone. It simply doesn't work to have a three-hour free-floating discussion and expect concrete results.
• The last point is moderation. If I have a workshop with ten people, but it's mainly two who speak, you can forget about the other eight. Either I'm a super moderator and can direct word contributions, or I make it easy for myself and send smaller groups into break-outs so that people can work on it from different perspectives.

If you can't make the above work, I have a simple trick:

Don't call it a workshop.