On this episode, I speak with Sean McGuire, UX Architect with Microsoft in Vienna and co-inventor of the Billboard Design Thinking Method. Sean has started his career as a musician and board game designer and still uses the mindset and creativity he has developed back then. 

Whether you are already a practitioner of Billboard Design Thinking or you have never heard of that method before, you will not miss out of new insights and food for thought on how to prepare your workshops for success. Sean shares with us the key stages in the preparation process and why he never asks participants to prepare anything upfront.  

Don't miss the part when Sean explains why and how he prototypes workshops before delivering them and why he tests new designs with a group of colleagues who don't like Design Thinking!    

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[2:39] How did you get from music to UX? What's your story?

[4:16] A board game is about winning, what is the equivalent of "winning" in a workshop?

[5:07] What makes a game exciting?

[6:49] At what point do you define the boundaries of what belongs in the workshop and what doesn't?

[8:19] How do you invite participants to prepare for emotionally difficult workshops? 

[9:52] How do you assure that everyone is aligned on the workshop's purpose and goal beforehand?

[11:00] Is this predictability the benefit of the Design Thinking method or where would you see the advantage of Design Thinking?

[11:54] How do you know that the information is "correct" and how would "incorrect information" look like? 

[13:05] How much information do you need upfront to design the poster?

[15:39] Can you explain what the Billboard Design Thinking method is in a nutshell?

[18:12] To what extent does the poster restrict the group's creativity?

[20:06] Do you design each poster from scratch?

[21:11] What makes the difference in preparing the workshop?

[22:44] What's your favourite way to stimulate creativity and ideas?

[28:24] How much do you need to know about the group of participants?

[30:58] What would be your advice on how to select workshop participants?

[34:38] What are the key stages to prepare a successful workshop?

[36:30] What's different in starting a workshop depending on whether the group are strangers or a team?

[40:24] How do you get the first person to open up?

[44:13] How do you debrief on this intro round?

[45:51] What makes a workshop fail?

[48:26] How do you manage expectations to avoid such misalignment?

[54:22] How do you help people to be heard?

[55:41] Is there anything else you would like to share with the audience?

[5

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This is part one of a two-part show with Oscar Trimboli, the author of "Deep Listening & Breakthroughs", professional speaker, leadership coach and facilitator.

In part one of the show, we focus on the skill of "deep listening" and the difference to "active listening". Oscar explains what it takes to listen deeply and how we can train ourselves to master the art.

Our conversation takes us to the question of how children listen and what deep listening and mindfulness have in common.

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• Oscar's business website listeningmyths.com
• The free guide of the five myths of listening 
• Design and manage your workshop agenda with Session Lab (affiliate link) 
• Check out our featured SessionLab user Rein Sevenstern from Experiential Learning

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In this episode, I talk to Matthew Kelly from dotank - a business design agency that helps companies redesign their business and move their teams to action. Matt applies insights from Design Thinking and Story Telling to design, run and scale workshops. Matt and his team have facilitated events with 700 people and has learned how to plan and execute high impact events at scale. 

In the show, Matt explains how to effectively harvest insights from very large groups, and - most importantly - how to structure that data so that you can tell a story that will engage the participants to remain engaged after. 

We also discussed the difference in terms of facilitation between a small and large workshop, and what you need to keep in mind when briefing the co-facilitators. 

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[1:47] Since when do you call yourself a "Design Thinker" and how do you apply Design Thinking to Business Design?

[3:26] To what extent are you as "do-tank" involved in the doing after a Design Thinking process?

[8:20] If you were a hashtag, what would it be?

[9:37] How do you trigger creativity in a group?

[13:58] How can you combine standardization through canvas design with the individual treatment of each client? 

[15:13] Can you give an example of how you vary the way participants are sharing ideas?

[19:42] What is the key difference between facilitating a small workshop of max 20 people and a 100+ event?

[26:46] What are the key characteristics or mindsets you are looking for in a group of internal facilitators at these events? 

[30:27] How can you make sure that participants are taking the work necessary at such large events serious?

[36:18] How do you inform all participants about each other's output? Is this actually relevant?

[39:46] How do you analyse the qualitative data from all these sticky notes? How do you put the data into a system?

[44:13] What makes a large workshop fail?

[45:38] Can you explain in a nutshell what you mean by "participants facilitating themselves"?

[50:35] What is the nutshell a listener shall take away from our conversation?

• Matt's Business website DoTank
• DoTank's high impact event services 
• Video of the conference mentioned in the show
• Podcast episode with Mireille Beumer 
• Design and manage your workshop agenda with

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In this episode, I talk to Meghan Preiss, a designer, researcher and corporate facilitator for RKS Design. Meghan works for corporate clients on service and product design and helps university students to use design thinking methods for finding their future career. She facilitates co-creation processes and supports groups in thinking outside the box.

Meghan was part of a project that invited participants for a co-creation workshop into the woods. In this show, she will share what she learned from this experience and also from the interaction between students, children and executive managers. 

As Meghan used to be a shy person, we start our conversation on what it takes to become a facilitator when you have a shy personality. The core of the episode is Meghan's experience of hosting workshops in the woods, bringing together professionals, college students and school kids for a co-creation experience. 

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[1:25] How did you get into co-creation and what fascinates you about it?

[3:43] How did you grow into public speaking given your shy personality?

[5:13] What would you advise a shy person who wants to become a facilitator?

[6:08] How do you deal with shy participants in your co-creation sessions?

[7:27] Would you give shy participants the opportunity to prefer beforehand? 

[8:12] If you had to summarise your vita into a hashtag - what would you be?

[9:47] What's the magic ingredient of a co-creation process?

[10:49] Would you invite students to workshops with clients? 

[14:56] What is the impact of low-tech set-up in nature on the co-creation process?

[17:41] What is it about the woods that makes co-creation easier than in a creative room?

[19:44] How would you bring the woods to the corporate world?

[23:42] What is your favourite exercise?

[25:42] How do you select the best ideas then?

[28:53] What is the main difference in the way teams of students compared to professionals select ideas? 

[31:49] Doesn't this awareness of budget constraints limit the creative thinking of groups?

[35:02] What can leaders learn from children in the co-creation process?

[36:40] Do you have a technique in mind to get rid of that fear of judgement?

[38:40] What makes a workshop work?

[41:41] Would you define roles to facilitate the co-creation session?

[45:00] Would you provide a group with guidelines on how to communicate?

[45:46] What would be the optimal group size?

[47:07] What would you like the listeners to remember from our conversation?

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In this episode, I talk to Mireille Beumer, an engineer by training and facilitator by passion and profession. In her different roles, Mireille facilitates the process of knowledge transfer between people. And, she trains facilitators to master the skill. 

On the show, we speak about the nitty-gritty bits of workshop documentation. The day after the workshop is the most difficult and most neglected one. What can we do to make it easy for groups and for workshop sponsors to keep the momentum and to follow up? Mireille shares valuable advice on what it takes to effectively capture the outcomes so that they translate into action. 

You will learn how to "write" workshop minutes that catch the recipient's attention. And Mireille shares how you can get the participants to create their own documentation in an effective and fun way! 

Do you want to know why you don't need a gym when working with Mireille? Then, stay tuned until the end and keep your pen and notebook ready: you'll surely need it! 

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[1:01] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?

[2:34] What is the difference between a facilitator and a coach?

[4:11] How does your background in engineering impact the way you facilitate collaboration?

[5:49] If you were a hashtag, what would you be?

[7:10] What's your favourite exercise to "bring power to the meeting"? 

[10:20] How would you deal with the situation where too many participants state that they have a busy mind and don't want to be in that meeting?

[11:48] Do you allow participants to join late?

[14:33] What are the key skills of a professional facilitator? 

[19:54] How do you document your workshop results?

[24:09] Do you use a template to capture the results in the form of a story?

[27:01] How can you help teams to keep momentum? What comes after documentation?

[28:46] Does the follow-up workshop need the facilitator or can it be done by the group/ manager?

[29:04] What is the best timing for the follow-up session?

[29:33] How do you prepare a follow-up with your client? 

[31:19] How much time do you plan for the closing?

[35:02] What are the steps you need to take to make sure the follow-up becomes easy?

[37:46] What's your responsibility in terms of follow-up? Where is the line between facilitator and project manager?

[39:50] You refer to 4-hours workshops. Do you believe in 8-hours sessions?

[45:16] How can we capture results that will be read?

[48:31] From your experience what makes a workshop fail?

[49:37] What would you like the listeners to remember from our conversation?

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In this episode, I talk to Bernhard Ferro, a Senior Design Thinker and expert in user experience (UX) design with a background in behavioural sciences. We talk about Design Thinking and how its strict methodology can help us when dealing with difficult organizational cultures.

Although Bernhard believes that "Design Thinking cannot fix a broken team", he shares how a Design Thinking workshop once contributed to the team-building process.  In the show, you will learn how you can prepare teams who have never experienced a co-creation workshop and what it takes to effectively manage expectations.

Don’t miss the part in which Bernhard shares how a CEO turned into a "prototyping machine" and what exercise triggered the magical effect.

"Everything can be prototyped.
Prototyping is a mindset."     

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[1:16] What's your story? How did you get into Design Thinking?

[3:50] How would you summarise your vita in one hashtag?

[4:38] What have you learned from behavioural sciences that help you to design workshops?

[5:38] What's your strategy to remove distraction?

[8:17] Does the application of the Design Thinking methodology depend on the organisational culture? 

[12:13] Within the workshop process, when are you more designer and when are you more facilitator?

[15:15] What is "interaction design"?

[16:25] How do you use your knowledge in UX in the workshop design process? 

[18:29] Do you adjust your workshops depending on the group's culture? What would you do if you know the group tends to lengthy discussions?

[19:40] Can you have a successful Design Thinking workshop with a toxic team?

[21:33] Through the eyes of a behavioural scientist, what makes Design Thinking so favourable for team building?

[22:57] With whom are you aligning in the workshop preparation process?

[24:55] What's your role in terms of expectation management when it comes to expected results or outcomes?

[29:02] What does it take for a team to have a successful Design Thinking workshop? 

[31:24] Why do workshops fail?

[35:40] How would you prepare a participant for a potentially difficult workshop situation?

[37:38] What's wrong about "group discussions"?

[41:27] What's your favourite exercise to get groups become familiar with prototyping?

[45:18] How do you prioritize ideas?

[47:51] What advice would you give someone who wants to run Design Thinking workshops?

[54:13] What shall a listener remember from our conversation?

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In this episode, I talk to Pam Hamilton, the author of “The Workshop Book”, facilitator and managing director of Paraffin. Pam is passionate about collective intelligence and how to unleash collective intelligence in groups so make great things happen.

On the show, Pam and I speak about the various roles and skills facilitators need to make workshops work. Using the analogy of hosting a dinner, Pam explained the different steps facilitators need to keep in mind when planning a workshop. In one of my favourite parts, Pam shares how we can disturb hierarchy in the working space and why it is important.

Don’t miss the part when Pam speaks about her recent passion project, the “Project Bridge” and invites you to get engaged and create a positive impact in your community.

You will find inspiration from her stories on how to replace competition by collaboration through a visioning technique.

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Questions and Answers

[1:44] What's your story? When did your fascination for workshops start?

[4:44] What does it take for a facilitator to unleash a group's potential?

[8:50] How do you include the prep-work in your meeting?

[11:14] What are the capabilities that a facilitator needs?

[15:49] How do you deal with people who cannot commit to attend the full duration of the workshop? 

[19:15] Would you consider workshops as hierarchy-free spaces?

[23:25] To what extent would you consider personality types of the participants and adjust your workshop design accordingly?

[30:50] Can you tell us more about the Project Bridge that you are currently working on?

[36:00] How do you facilitate these 'aha'-moments in a visioning exercise?

[38:43] How do you prepare participants of different power-positions for this hierarchy-free setting?

[41:21] Where do you draw the line for facilitators to be responsible for the follow-up?

[44:26] What did you learn from Project Bridge about teamwork?

[47:36] What makes a team? What's the difference between a team and a group of people working together?

[52:33] Has this exercise ever derailed where teams could not agree on one vision? 

[53:11] If you were a hashtag, what would it be?

[54:13] What shall a listener remember from our conversation?

Related links for you to check out

• Pam's Business page: https://paraffin.ltd/
• Project Bridge Case study https://paraffin.ltd/casestudies/404/
• Free templates and exercises to download, including the visioning templates https://p

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On episode 027, I talk to Tenneson Woolf, a facilitator, workshop leader, teacher, blogger, and coach. Tenneson is committed to improving the quality of collaboration and imagination for groups, teams, and organizations. And, you can hear that and learn from that on the podcast.

Tenneson and I speak about the art of facilitation in general and what it takes to help individuals to collectively imagine and collaborate. We also spend time clarifying semantics, such as the differences between being a facilitator and a host and the meaning of “honest meetings”.

I particularly enjoyed our conversation about different art forms and how to use them to stimulate creative brains. Throughout the show, you will learn how to help participants to turn off their spreadsheet-brain to invoke their hearts and bellies.

Don’t miss the part when Tenneson reads out a poem and guides us through the steps on how to use it as an insightful ice-breaker. His multiple examples that will inspire you to deliver workshops that work.

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Questions and Answers

[2:27] When did you start calling yourself a "facilitator"?

[5:15] If you were a hashtag, what would you be?

[5:56] What makes a meeting "honest"?

[8:42] What would be a "dishonest" meeting?

[16:33] How does a facilitator help the group to fully explore a topic without derailing? 

[20:37] How do you assure that everyone is aligned on the workshop purpose and topic?

[23:51] What does it take to help people to be "smarter together"?

[31:26] You use poems to start business meetings/ workshops - Can you share how you do that and why?

[40:35] What's your favourite exercise?

[46:44] What shall a listener remember from our conversation?

Related links for you to check out

• Tenneson's business page: www.tennesonwoolf.com
• Glimpses: 50 Poems by Jim Quigley (Amazon)
• Our sponsor SessionLab

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In this episode, I talk to Gustavo Razzetti, a speaker, author, change facilitator and the founder of Liberationist. He is an active blogger and has written over 400 articles on change, on leadership and team development.

We speak about organizational and behavioural change, about leadership and about meetings that are an integral part of a change process. We discuss the difference between meetings and workshops and how you stop having meetings on auto-pilot.  

Gustavo shares his concept of workshops being a tool for experimenting and practising new behaviours. And along these lines, he shares some of his favourite exercises that you can apply in regular meetings and which will help to foster communication across hierarchies.  

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Questions and Answers

[3:23] What do you mean when you call yourself a “change instigator” and to what extent is it different from a “change consultant”?

[4:34] How much will do you need from the organisation to really drive the change?

[5:53] What do you think is the biggest misconception of change?

[8:15] How do you help leaders to find comfort in this uncertainty? 

[10:16] What does it take for a leader to trust their team?

[20:48] What is the key difference between a meeting and a workshop according to you?

[23:39] If you could change one thing in the way how organizations meet, what would you change?

[24:53] What is according to you, the best strategy to get out of autopilot?

[26:28] How do you get everyone to speak? 

[29:58] How do you avoid auto-pilot in recurrent meetings that tend to follow the same structure every week?

[32:16] Do you believe in virtual meetings?

[36:48] Do you think this is related to the safe space? 

[38:11] What would be your advice to a new team leader to have meetings that matter?

[41:15] How important do you consider courage for a team lead or for team leaders to be good meeting facilitators?

[47:03] What makes workshops fail according to you?

[49:19] What is your favourite exercise?

[53:27] How do you build the pairs of two?

[55:30] Anything you would like to share that we haven't touched upon?

[56:09] Would you have this conversation with a team? 

[57:12] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?

[1:00:32] What do you want the audience to remember?

Related links you may want to check out:

• Gustavo’s business page: https://liberationist.org/
• Gustavo’s ultimate guide to successful meetings

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