Every day, millions of people attend millions of workshop and training sessions globally. Workshops can be valuable ways to gain skills and insight – or they can be slow-motion ordeals. Here are some new tips to make workshops more effective, memorable and fun.

The Most Undervalued Sessions

I can never understand why workshops end up being the most underrated and undervalued aspects of corporate communication. At almost every conference or event, the big emphasis seems to be on the general sessions, guest speakers and activities. But ask yourself, where do the attendees really gain the information and skills that make a significant difference in their careers and the organization? The answer is in the workshops and training sessions.

Perception is everything, so let’s pump up workshops and give them an image makeover.

Your Success Strategy

I’m an event experience architect so I’m going to share some of the principles of experience design to show you how to create more value for everyone involved. Let’s concentrate on:

Discovery and realization – not an educational experience

Collaboration – no teacher/pupil atmosphere

Relevance in the real world – content and experiences that directly relate to what your attendees do and need to make their jobs and lives better, more productive and rewarding

Freedom – the ability to explore, practice, learn and relate to the information, skills and concepts in a relaxed, low-threat, high-acceptance environment

Remember, the attendees decide if the experience is valuable. You can’t decide for them. So put people first. How? Just divide the challenge into three parts.

1. Set the Real Purpose of the Workshop

The real purpose of a workshop or training session is to help people with their work, career or life. As I constantly remind clients, “It’s all about people!”

Workshops and training sessions don’t exist to satisfy HR, corporate or governmental goals or requirements. If that’s the assumption at your organization, then you know where you need to start rethinking things. Here’s how you start.

•  Have a clear objective and a big message. State what will happen, what attendees will do and what they will gain from the session.

•  Have a realistic, honest motive for having the sessions. Awareness isn’t an objective. If you are there to give an overview or a “stealth” sales presentation, don’t call it a workshop.

•  Don’t waste the session description explaining the “instructional design.” Instead, use it to set expectations, create interest and make a promise that makes participants want to attend.

2. Put the “Work” in Workshop

As you plan the session, think about more than the content, skills, ideas, strategies or processes. Focus on what people can do with all of those things. Then create a series of attendee experiences that demonstrate, illustrate and use the information in the real world.

“Workshops and training should generate change. If nothing changes as a result of the session, then it isn’t a success.”

A Wise Man

Focus on content that will generate the change you want. All of the information, insight and skills should move the participants toward your desired results.

Then get people motivated! The best workshop sessions are a 50/50 combination of knowledge and willingness. If you focus 100% on ideas, information, processes and best practices, then the attendees will go home and do things exactly the same ways they’ve always done them. You need to build willingness and motivation into the content and the experience. It’s easy if you look at your workshop or training session this way:

– What do you want the attendees to understand, accept and do?

– What is the least amount of information they need to do what you want them to do?

– What skills, processes, abilities or insight do they need to understand and master?

– What are the best ways for them to discover, explore and practice?

Focus your content and session design on these four things. Throw everything else away. If you can just accomplish these things – you will be a success!

3. Balance the Experience

The main things you want to avoid are content without experiences and experiences without content. A good balance means taking a hard look at what you are communicating and how you’re doing it. Follow these guidelines.

Avoid Too Much Content

It’s better to cover half of the content in ways that are relevant, practical, personal and doable than to cover everything and lose half of the audience. A two-hour lecture isn’t a workshop.

Learn-by-doing is much more effective than learn-by listening. Collaboration is more effective than examples. People learn quicker and remember more when they are actively involved in the process and discover the information themselves.

Avoid Too Much Expertise

This is a touchy point with many trainers and workshop leaders, but here goes. Attendees don’t want an expert. The session isn’t about what the presenter knows and can do … it’s all about what the participants know and can do. So attendees want a facilitator. Ouch!

Attendees love facilitators because they feel the person is working for them. A facilitator is there to help and make things easier and more comfortable. A presenter is there to – talk. The audience is expected to sit still, be quiet and go to “work” for the speaker.

Make Workshops More Successful & Super-Productive

Here are some secrets I’ve used to design and update hundreds of workshops and training sessions.

Use the Three-Minute Rule

Make sure attendees do something or interact every three minutes. Here’s why this is so powerful.

•  It helps you to constantly relate the content back to the attendees.

•  It cuts lectures and presentations to the bone.

•  It eliminates long lists of bullets and reading the screen to the audience.

•  It always leads to an activity, exercise or interaction that emphasizes: “This is what this means to you.”

•  It builds in energy, forward motion and change.

Take a look at your content and cut it into three-minute chucks. Then do something in each one. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. Brainstorm a list, take a survey, target the benefits, try to use the tool … the idea is to have the class actively think with you and not passively listen to you. Just make it relevant and logical. Turbo-charge your session with these two easy devices:

You Tell Me

At some key points in the content, intentionally under-explain. Don’t fill in the blanks. Don’t answer the questions. Instead, challenge the group with: “You tell me.” If you’re the facilitator, have the participants tell you how to use the software, provide the customer solution or utilize the leadership skills. Then, don’t say or do anything else. Of course, the attendees will struggle and get frustrated. But as they work through the situation they will discover how to do it. Believe me, they will value their solutions much more than your solutions.

Teach the Class for Me

Divide the attendees into teams and give each team a different part of the information, process, software or whatever to teach. The class is responsible for explaining the content and the activity. Then let them handle that part of the workshop. Remember, they have to understand and master the content to present it. You will need to step in from time to time to clarify things but this really works! Please avoid the temptation to make this a competition.

How to Know if You’re A Success

There are pages of metrics to measure the results of a workshop or training session. To me, it’s much simpler. When the session is over, there is only one way to decide if the workshop was a success. You have to answer the two ultimate questions.

Can they do it?

Will they do it?

Those are the big objectives. When the workshop is over, you want the attendees to feel smarter and satisfied. Plus, wouldn’t you rather have people feel that they enjoyed the time instead of just endured it?

When Good Workshops Get Better

These tips will help you deliver a memorable and rewarding experience and not just meet a requirement. Your attendees should be able to look back and view the session as relevant and enjoyable.

You may be giving delivering good workshops and training sessions now. But just imagine the reactions you’ll receive when you make them even more effective, memorable and fun!

Let’s spend 15 minutes talking about your next project or challenge. It’s a free consultation so we can get to know each other. Just click on CONTACT US or send an email to andy@ideagroupatlanta.com and get in touch.

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