How to set up a successful remote workshop

As people everywhere are transitioning to remote work, Impact by Design (IbD) has been getting a lot of questions about making remote workshops a success. We are hearing things like:

  • We still need to have our full-day planning workshop - can we do it remotely?

  • How do you design an effective remote workshop?

  • What about remote meetings for groups that aren’t tech-savvy?

These are critical questions as you and your team adjust to working remotely and want to continue moving projects forward. To fully answer them we are sharing this blog as well as an upcoming webinar on Activities and Techniques for Great Remote Workshops, At IbD, we often say that 80% of meeting facilitation happens even before the event takes place. The information here is focused on workshop preparation, communications, and essential elements of design. There is even more to good remote workshops, but use this guide to get started on that critical 80% right away.

What exactly is a remote workshop?

At IbD, we define a “workshop” as a convening of any size in which individuals are coming together to move a process forward and accomplish specific goals. Examples include: gathering members of a coalition to build a 3-year plan, working with staff to build an organization’s behavior change campaign, or helping a team develop a theory of change. “Workshops” are not events like regular team check-in calls and project management meetings, nor are they training which is intended to build skills and knowledge. During a workshop, a team will gather to focus on working together to do significant planning and make decisions. This is important because the tips shared here are specifically intended to help you build more effective workshops that are defined in this way.

Need help with other types of gatherings? Read this guidance on tools for ongoing team meetings and check-ins. We are also always happy to talk more about how to make a training a success.

Dedicate significant time to workshop design

Here is one of the biggest secrets to creating successful workshops (regardless of whether they are online or not!) – it is as much about how the workshop is designed as how it is facilitated. The way a facilitator executes an agenda, handles difficult situations and group dynamics during the workshop is essential, but the design of the workshop is even more important. Key design elements include:

  • Define meeting objectives as a first step. Work with the team planning the workshop to create a clear list of exactly what they want the event to accomplish. Not only is this essential for you as the designer/facilitator, but it is also critical to ensure everyone on the team agrees on what they want and need to get out of it. With this clarity and consensus, the team will feel more comfortable and confident going forward.

  • Build two agendas. Spend time upfront thinking not just about when the group will cover different topics, but how. You need one agenda for participants that outlines the basic timing and content, and then a detailed facilitator’s guide that is just for you. A facilitator’s guide will describe exactly how you will structure each part of the agenda, including activities and prompts, and how you will use technology to achieve the workshop objectives.

For example - “Place teams into Zoom breakout rooms to discuss strategies for 15 minutes. When they return they will report back, with each team going around and sharing two ideas they discussed. We will go around as many times as needed for all ideas to be shared. I will capture these ideas in real-time in Google Docs.”  

  • Invite the people that really need to be there. One way to sabotage the productivity of your workshop is to simply invite anyone who might want to participate, even if they aren’t needed. When nonessential people are part of your work they impact power dynamics, conversation flow, and the ability to make decisions. Focus the list of participants on who truly needs to be there – those that bring critical information or ideas, decision-making abilities, and responsibility for executing the work being discussed.

Prepare everyone to use technology

You will want to find an online platform that has functions such as video and chat, breakout rooms, and screen sharing. This will give you good options to make the meeting more dynamic and engaging, but it may also challenge some individuals who aren’t used to various meeting platforms and their functions.

Some colleagues will be accustomed to using new technology, some will adapt, and others will struggle. Expect this and be prepared to help so that everyone can connect in a basic way and focus on the content of the workshop rather than personal technology issues.

Here are some ways you can ensure individuals are comfortable and prepared to engage online:

  1. Ask everyone to download technology (plugins, etc) in advance. Use pre-workshop communications to ask individuals to test technology and download any necessary software before the workshop starts. Not everyone will, but some will follow your preparation guidance and this will mean less trouble-shooting later on. 

  2. Have participants reach out if they are unable or unwilling to participate in certain ways. Not everyone is always willing or able to fully utilize the functions of an online platform. There may be logistical issues like spotty wifi, or personal preferences like not wanting to use video. Ask people to reach out if they anticipate any issues so that even if you can’t solve them, you will be prepared to structure the agenda and activities in ways that will still engage them as much as possible.

  3. Reach out to those you think might struggle. If you anticipate certain individuals may struggle with connecting or participating remotely, don’t wait for them to reach out to you, reach out to them. Even if you have sent communications to the group, send a personal note. Try a friendly e-mail offering to assist them with any technology issues because you value their contribution and want to ensure they can fully engage and connect.

  4. Over-communicate the technology details. Don’t send just one e-mail and assume everyone will read it. We can promise you, everyone won’t. Include notes about technology in all of your pre-workshop communications and send follow-ups as needed.

  5. Open the workshop platform early to help people test and troubleshoot. Let participants know you will be on the platform 20-30 minutes before the workshop and can help troubleshoot connection issues. Then you don’t have to waste precious time fixing glitches once everyone is online.

  6. Have someone provide sound and tech support during the meeting. Even with the best-laid plans and practices, technology issues will arise. Someone won’t put themselves on mute or will forget to take themselves off. Links won’t work, the sound will get wonky. You need to be able to focus on facilitating the workshop, so have a tech-savvy team member join with the specific intention of supporting issues and fixing them in real-time.

Prepare participants for an interactive workshop

During a remote workshop, there are still plenty of opportunities to make it interactive and engaging.  And even if you know this, your participants might not. Many may think they will be watching a series of PowerPoints, or that they can tune-in and then tune-out at any point. If participants expect a boring working, this will impact how they intend to participate once they show up. Let them know what to expect so that you have a group that is ready to engage.

Pre-workshop messaging should include:

  • A note about the fact that the workshop will be interactive, requiring their attention and engagement. They should anticipate not being able to multi-task. (e.g. check e-mails).

  • Whenever and wherever possible, videos need to be turned on. This will help everyone feel more personally connected and makes it harder to drift into other activities (e.g. those darn e-mails again).

  • You may want to instruct them to have paper and a pen ready to take notes, write responses to prompts, or even draw pictures as part of an ice breaker or other fun activity.

  • Information about the Google Doc you will be using. (See this blog for more details on using this tool.) Let them know they should join it when they join the meeting. This space can be great for collaboration and participants will be linking to a real-time recording of notes and outputs.

  • Rather than waste meeting time on sharing basic information, send participants materials to read in advance. This way you can focus the majority of time on discussion and decision-making. Many individuals also really enjoy having pre-reading so they can better understand what will be covered.

If you are looking for more information

IbD has been working remotely for years, and we focus on making in-person and remote workshops highly engaging, productive, and driven towards desired outcomes. These essential components of successful remote workshops are core to our work, but we know this is not all that it takes. Please join our webinar focused on Activities and Techniques for Great Remote Workshops for more details on building interactive activities and agendas for remote work. Or simply reach out! We are here and happy to connect.