I’ve designed and hosted workshops and other creative events for almost two decades. Along the way, I’ve learned a lot about how to do this well. I thought it would be worthwhile to share my approach and process over a series of posts, and this will also prompt me to write down what I actually do. Of course, I’ve also made mistakes, and I’ll share some of those too.
There are three questions I begin with:
1. What’s the desired outcome?
2. Who should participate to get to that desired outcome?
3. Why would participating be valuable to them?
1. What’s the desired outcome?
Workshops and other creative events can have many different outcomes. They can be about the people hosting the workshop learning something from the people participating in the workshop. They can be about the people participating in the workshop learning a skill or some other knowledge. Often, workshops and other creative events are held to bring people together to achieve a common goal or arrive at a shared perspective. Regardless, it’s important to start with a desired outcome before doing anything else. You might have multiple outcomes, and that’s ok. If you do, I suggest you rank-order them. These outcomes and their order may change through the process, and that’s ok too. But it’s important to start with a purpose for the workshop because that purpose is crucial to the next question of who should participate.
2. Who should participate to get to that desired outcome?
Workshops and other creative events often begin with a defined community of people that you, or someone, want to engage. But just as often, that “defined community” is way too generic. For example, a city council representative might say they want to do a workshop with district residents to understand their transportation needs. Or a product manager might say they want to do a facilitated ideation with their design team. Starting with the desired outcome helps us determine who actually should participate. It can, for instance, help us get more specific. Maybe what’s really needed is to understand the transportation needs of residents who don’t or can’t drive, which would shape who should be invited to participate. Figuring out who should participate and sometimes who should not participate to meet the purpose of the workshop or creative event turns out to be a significant task.
3. Why would participating be valuable to them?
Once you’ve figured out the desired outcome and identified who should participate, you ask, “Why would they want to participate?” Sometimes, they might have to participate. For instance, the product manager might demand that her design team participate in a facilitated ideation. But even in those situations, you still should figure out why participating would be valuable to them. This is important for both practical and principled reasons. Practically, the quality of the event and the chance of meeting that desired outcome will be better if the participants find it meaningful and are engaged. Out of principle, if you ask someone to give their time and creativity, you have a responsibility to offer them something of value in return. That value could be in learning something, in the joy of a playful experience, or in affecting change that’s important to them. Regardless, in some significant way, participation should be valuable to those participating, and it’s up to you (or me or whoever is designing and hosting) to figure that out.