How to use a Design Thinking Workshop to teach how to moderate a Design Thinking workshop

I was ask to train colleagues how to design and moderate a Design Thinking workshop in three hours and I though giving a PowerPoint presentation and talking won't help them a lot and I design a Design Thinking Workshop to teach designing a Design Thinking Workshop.

In this article I'll walk you through the design of the workshop to give you yet another example how you can use Billboard Design Thinking not only to ideate and solve problems but also to each design thinking in an nice an engaging way.

Workshop Timeline

Here is the detailed 3 hours time line with all activities for the training module.

Introducing participants and saying hallo

I like to use this simple excise to open the workshop and get people to introduce them self.

Moderator: introduces him self and highlights the goal of the workshop.

Moderator: shares his/her screen and shows how to create a post-it and write your name to add it to the poster.

Participants: write their names on post-its and move them to the first column.

Checking if participants are joining and have shared their name

Click the "Show participants Icon" in the top right corner which will bring up a list of all participants who joined the training. In this case there were 16 participants. Then compare the names on the poster with the participants list to figure out who has not shared his/her name and ask those participants if they need help. Often participants are embarrass to ask how it works and take time to show the posting function until you have all names on the poster matching the names of the participants.

Round two saying hello share your super power and when you can help

Moderator: thanks the participants and asks them now to share their super power and in what area they would see them self as experts and could help others.

Moderator: uses the watch function and click the icon in the top right corner to set the time for participants to complete the work. Ask them to add the information into the respective column. If somebody is missing the information call out the individual and ask if help is needed. Sometimes participants don't know how to move a post-it or have other problems.

Participants: Each participant shares his super power and how they can help others.

Moderator: asks participants to introduce them self using the information they shared for example: My name is Sean. My super power is Design Thinking. Give me a call if you need help with organizing a Design Thinking workshop. Ask all participants to introduce them self.

Note: This exercise is not only about getting to know each other but helps participants get comfortable sharing personal information and writing post-its. They also understand that each and every one of them has to contribute and participate in the workshop

Talk about pre-work and knowing your customer

Moderator: explains why it is important to research your customer before you have the first conversation and offer a workshop. I often met moderators that believe they can ask those questions in a workshop and don't research participants and company history before engaging with the customer.

TIP: go on LinkedIn and WikiPedia and check out the customers website to understand the following things

• Company history
• Information about participants
• Mission and vision
• Industry and products

If you don't know you customer you will neither be able to customize the workshop nor will you be able to have a proper conversation. It is also very rude to have a conversation with a CxO of company and not investing time to understand his/her business domain and industry. You wont create a good impression if you constantly ask things anybody could research in the internet.

You need an interesting captivating topic for a good workshop

Moderator: explains why a compelling workshop topic is important to be successful. The reality is people will always answer your questions but if they don't understand what you are asking them to do the answer will be misleading or worthless.

Moderator: ask all participants to pitch workshop topics they either have been working on in the past or will be working on in the near future. Give the participants 2 minutes to share as many ideas as possible.

Change all post-it colors in the section you are working on

Moderator + Participants: The moderator first uses the selection tool to change the color of all post-its to the same color.

1. Click the icon in the bottom left corner. The
2. Select all post-its on the poster section Nr.3
3. Change the color of all post-its with one click.

Double click and call out each participant and ask to share insights

Moderator: double clicks on any of the post-its which will show who shared the idea. Then the moderator asks the person to please share some thoughts and comments about the idea. Click the pencil icon below hide the name and show the board.

Participants: share additional information and also explain why they are placing the post-it in the category or position they selected.

Moderator: adds additional information if necessary directly to the post-it.

Moderator: do this until all post-its have change the color to ensure you didn't miss anybody in the discussion.

Tip: sometimes participants don't want to share their thoughts when they are called out don't try to force them ask two times polite if they don't respond make a comment like. "Perhaps the person has left the meeting or has technical problems". Change the color and go to the next post-it.

Voting to find the best topic (Gold, Silber, Bronze)

Moderator: introduces the participants how to vote by sharing his/her screen and clicking on the like button. After explaining the how the moderators sets the clock to 2 minutes and ask participants to vote on the top three ideas they see on the board.

Participants: vote on the ideas they like

Tip: check the top right corner to see how many participants joined your workshop and multiply this number by three. If you have 16 participants than it is 16x3 = 48 votes you would expect. Keep counting the votes and inform participants how many are still missing. You don't need to wait until all 48 votes have been cast but you should have something like 90% of all votes. Close the voting and announce the winner

Moderator: copies the top three voted ideas and places them on Gold, Silver and Bronze. If you have equal draws ask the participants which ones they want were.

Defining the workshop goal and workshop delivery

Moderator: Explains the difference between a workshop topic and workshop goal. While the topic could be about digitalization of your company the workshop goal could be for example: how to select the best vendor, how to define the areas that need urgent digitalization, how to start the digitalization journey etc.

Think of the workshop goal as the thing you will write into your invitation to motivate them to participate.

Moderator: Asks participants to share their thoughts on what the workshop could be about based on the workshop topic.

Participants: Share their ideas and put them on the canvas

Moderator: Starts a discussion and ask participants to suggest workshop topics. The discussion is closed when the group agrees they have found an interesting workshop topic they want to work on.

Asking what will be delivered

Moderator: explains that a workshop is build by first defining what the workshop goal is and then defining what will be delivered as a result of the workshop. There are not to many options what will be delivered. Typical options are:

• A end-to-end user story how a new product or service is delivered
• A project plan
• A list of top 1-3 ideas the group want's to focus on
• Task list what to do next
• Product design with features

Participants: share their thoughts on what shall be delivered as result of the workshop. And can also start grouping them by topics if obvious topics emerge in the discussion

Moderator: closes the sharing session and asks for feedback as well as moderates the grouping sessions. The goal of this exercise is to define the one delivery that will be handed back to the workshop owner when the workshop is over.

Deciding who should be invited

Moderator: Explains that the only source of knowledge in a workshop are the participants invited. After placing the workshop goal on the top left and the workshop delivery on the top right of the stakeholder map the participants are asked to add all stakeholders that could potentially be involved to the workshop. In our case the three categories selected are

1. Customer stakeholders
2. Microsoft consultants
3. Other stakeholders (partners, end-users, suppliers etc.)

Participants: share all stakeholders and drop them on the stakeholder map.

Moderator: asks them to decided which 8-10 participants should be invited and marks those post-its. The point here is that you can't have everybody in your workshop and usually 8-10 is the maximum.

Participants: have to make a conscious choice not only who to invite but also who to exclude in the workshop.

Selecting your tools and drawing the poster

Moderator: Gives participants a quick walk through for each of the templates and shares some thoughts how they are used. Some of them already have been used in the first part of the workshop and don't need any explanations others will need additional information and some of them for example the empathy map are well know and hardly need any words.

Moderator: Shares the PowerPoint with all templates and shows how a Billboard Poster is created using the template and showing the example of the workshop they are currently participating.

Participants draw their first Billboard Poster

Moderator: checks if all participants can open the PowerPoint and shows them how to create a Billboard Poster in 5 minutes.

Participants: have 15 minutes time to create their own poster and can ask questions and get help creating the poster.

Moderator: takes the time to show them how a poster is customized by adding images and colors based on the customer website. This is done silently while the participants do their work and helps participants see how a poster is created while they work on their own poster.

Exporting the poster with [Ctrl + C] and [Ctrl + V] into Paint

Moderator: shows how to export the PowerPoint to Paint and clean it up. Including trimming and slicing the image into 5000px portions to import into Klaxoon.

Participants: copy their poster into paint and make the necessary modifications. They then save their first poster to a place where they can upload it.

Importing the Billboard Poster into Klaxoon

Moderator: shows how to import the poster into Klaxoon by clicking on the Image Icon on the right and selecting all individual poster types to place them on the canvas. Here is the entire process

1. Save your images with maximum 5000px with to folder
2. Import all images by clicking on the import icon in the bottom right corner
3. Write a first post-it to check the side of your imported image
4. Resize the image so the name post-it comfortably fits into the appropriate field
5. Align and resize all other poster elements to create one large poster
6. Don't forget to disable the move image function when you are finished

Participants share their Billboard Posters and get feedback

Moderator: show participants how to load an image into a post-it by clicking on the camera symbol and uploading the image.

Participants: Each participant shares his design in a post-it and aligns it below the workshop poster.

Moderator + Participants: discuss the different designs and give feedback. The thing participants will learn here is that there is no right and no wrong and almost every design makes sense if it is carefully crafted and contemplated.

Back to time management

Moderator: explains the importance of time management in a workshop and why it makes sense to come up with a detailed plan even if it is very rare that it will paly out one to one as scripted.

Participants: reflect on their experience and feedback regarding time management in this particular workshop.

Selling your workshop

Moderator: talks about how to sell a workshop and how different target audiences required different approaches to selling a workshop.

Participants: share their ideas how to best address different aspects of selling a workshop.

Closing the workshop

Moderator: Thanks participants for their time and asks them to share their experiences in the Billboard Design Thinking Group on LinkedIn.

If you want to download the Billboard Poster and are interested in more information about Billboard Design Thinking please join: Billboard Design Thinking | Groups | LinkedIn

If you are interested in a 3 hour training session join me on November 20th at the neverdonebefore.org – The event of 2020 where I will be running a 24 hour Design Thinking Moderator Training marathon.

Happy Design Thinking

And if you are still no Moderator and don't like virtual engagements you might want

to give the Billboard Design Thinking approach a try!

If you like the approach you can find a book in Kindle Shop

• It explains the entire method on 541 pages including: Why you need a workshop, Billboard Design Thinking Method, Ready made templates, Real Workshop Examples How to prices and promote a workshop How to set up your room What materials do you need:
• Link: Kindle Shop