The Facilitation Studio

Mastering Remote Workshops: An Essential Toolkit & Checklist

Join me for this jam-packed episode where we dive into the essentials of running a remote workshop; get a sneak peek into an expert’s desk setup designed to boost workshop delivery, from must-have gadgets to delightful extras. You'll also find a step-by-step checklist for a stress-free preparation, ensuring your tech and participants are ready to rock. Plus, learn about the tools to keep sessions dynamic and engaging. For those ready to up their game, explore an exciting course on crafting impeccable workshop agendas.

Let's make remote facilitation fun and effective!

00:00 Issue 17: Your remote workshop checklist.

00:13 Introduction to Remote Workshop Facilitation

01:09 Essential Tools for Remote Workshops

05:05 Advanced Gadgets for Enhanced Facilitation

07:20 Pre-Workshop Planning and Preparation

12:21 Post-Workshop Follow-Up and Feedback

13:10 Conclusion and Further Learning Opportunities

Remote, In-Person, or Hybrid: Choosing the Right Format for Your Workshop

In this issue, we dive into the pros and cons of delivering workshops in different formats: in-person, remote, and hybrid. You'll learn about the key benefits of each, such as building relationships and managing environments in-person, achieving global reach and pre/post engagement in remote sessions, and the complex yet rewarding hybrid setup. We highlight ideal scenarios for each type to help you make a deliberate choice for your next workshop

00:13 Introduction: Choosing Your Workshop Format 00:47 In-Person Workshops 05:30 Remote Workshops 11:25 Hybrid Workshops 15:19 Summary and Conclusion

#15 - The Art of the Presentation pt 2: Slides, Structure, and Strategy

In this episode from the Facilitation Studio, we jump into presentation slides and structure. Learn about the effective use of slides, keeping presentations concise, and prepping like a pro. Plus, get top tips on slide design and pacing, explore the intense PechaKucha method, and discover why practice is your best friend.

00:00 Introduction to the Art of Presentation

00:22 Upcoming Online Course Announcement (survey link - https://maven.com/forms/1a1043)

01:00 Effective Use of Slides

02:54 Guidelines for Preparation and Presentation

07:13 Practice Makes Perfect

10:41 Encouraging Audience Engagement

11:43 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In this episode, we're diving into the essentials of presenting your own work effectively. Learn why you should be the one presenting your ideas, how to understand and engage with your audience, and tips for giving a captivating presentation. We emphasize the importance of being present, using your voice and body language, and pacing your delivery. Get ready to elevate your presentation game and stay tuned for part two, where we'll tackle using slides, structuring your presentation, and more!

00:00 Introduction to Presentation Skills

01:05 Importance of Presenting Your Own Work

02:13 Understanding Your Audience

03:32 Engaging Presentation Techniques

05:22 Conclusion and Next Steps

I don’t understand what you want from me.

Have you ever sat in a room full of people who are busily working away and felt like you’re outside the loop? Like you missed the memo and don’t know what’s going on? It’s disenfranchising and disengaging. People in this situation often draw into themselves and go silent, or they take control of events and turn them into something they do understand, which can pull everything off track for you.

Here are five (and a bit) ways you can avoid falling into this trap.

We all share a fear of the "difficult" collaborator. In this mini-series of three issues, we'll cover the top three reasons a collaborator might not play ball.

You know that awkward pause when you open the floor for discussion? The one where everyone looks at you blankly, and you’re not sure if you’ve made a horrible error, you’ve totally misunderstood something fundamental, or perhaps you aren’t actually speaking the same language as your collaborators. Today we’re going to talk about how to avoid that moment.

Since you're reading this, I suspect you also think workshops are an excellent way to bring people together to collaborate, address complex challenges, and come to impactful conclusions. 

However, as we all know, a great workshop takes more than throwing people in a room with a vague direction and expecting them to make magic happen. Without clear aims and objectives, workshops can quickly become unfocused, with much of that latent potential being wasted.

To avoid that, there is one question that will set you off in the right direction. "What will you be able to do after?". Nine times out of ten, the answer is something along the lines of "The whole team will be aligned". You'll notice that this doesn't answer the question.

Today we will look at how you can lay the foundation for success by defining your goals and building towards your outcomes.

Good decision-making starts with understanding the criteria you’re using to make your judgements. In this issue, we will walk through the process of defining your criteria with a case study.

In this issue, we'll explore how you can select the best workshop activities for your session by grouping them into four categories: Dream, Map, Distill, and Prioritise.

You can set different cadences and rhythms to achieve your workshop goals by focusing on these four categories. Instead of being activity-led, ask yourself what you're trying to achieve and use that to select from the plethora of tools available.