My 15-year-old dissected a frog at school last week. It was, he said, “The greatest day in science class so far.”

“Eww,” I said.

“You know me, Mom. I only learn by doing.”

Regardless of how I feel about it, frog dissection is a great example of experiential learning. And 15-year-olds aren’t the only ones who like it!

We all know how it feels to sit through a training program, looking at our watches, sore from sitting SO long. If you’ve sat through long, info-dump trainings, the facilitator or workshop designer probably wasn’t using the Experiential Learning Model.

What is experiential learning?

In pedagogical terms, experiential learning is “the integration of immersive experiences that create transformation.” Transformation within the bounds of a workshop could look like:

  • the participant walks away having had an ‘aha’ moment

  • they learned or felt something new that positively impacts how they lead 

  • they met the learning objectives of the program 


I particularly like David Kolb’s work on experiential learning; it’s a four-step learning process that includes Experiencing, Reflecting, Thinking, and Acting. To make a meeting truly experiential, it should contain all four parts of the Experiential Learning cycle. But if you’re new to experiential learning, feel free to ease your way in and just start with one.

The experience stage of experiential learning

The experience stage of experiential learning provides participants with a chance to try something unique and to tap into their emotions or senses. It gives them an opportunity to really connect to the content you are teaching. Experience activities often evoke a shift in the participant's mindset or elicit empathy. 

Some of my favorite experience exercises: 

  • Using images to evoke meaning

    Choose an image (out of 25 images placed on the floor) that most reflects how you or your team is currently dealing with a given challenge. Now choose the image that reflects how you’d like to be dealing with it and share some insights on that.

  • Visualizations

    “Imagine you’re boarding an airplane and you glance into the cockpit. What does the pilot look like?” Or “You’re out for dinner on Valentine’s day and you’re surrounded by happy couples. What do the people at the tables near you look like?”

  • Contests

    Challenge a team or table to come up with three actions that are inhibiting safety/inclusion/belonging. Or perhaps the opposite is more positive - three things we can do to make employees feel more welcome. Assign a judge or use clapping voting to decide winners.

  • Role plays

    In pairs, we role play how we would have a difficult conversation or a feedback conversation.

  • Demonstration with debriefs

    I might model several types of body language and then in pairs, participants would discuss what they saw; they would notice how many different ways we can interpret body language. 

The reflection stage of experiential learning

After we work through the experience activity, it’s a good idea to provide some space for participants to contemplate what they just did. This is particularly important for workshops on more sensitive topics - EDI topics, emotional regulation, really anything that evokes some self awareness. Participants will need time to process their feelings or the discoveries they’ve made about their own mindsets.

Reflection is the first step in the inner journey and the first step to self-awareness. It helps participants truly integrate the things they’re learning. 

Some of my favorite reflection exercises: 

  • Quiet time to journal with a prompt

    I like the prompts “Why did I think that?” or “Why did this affect me this way?”

  • Sharing in pairs

  • Doodling what you heard

    If you give participants handouts for your workshop, leave blank space on the page for doodling!

  • Mindmapping your thoughts about the experience or content

    Same as above - leave space for mind mapping.

  • Sharing in bigger groups

  • Giving participants a mindful moment to sit quietly and just think

    So few of us take time to do this in our daily lives! This is the permission your participant need

  • Writing for one minute to music without taking your pencil off the page

    This is one of my favorite songs for writing exercises. It’s been shown to reduce anxiety by up to 65%!


“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.”
- John Keats

The thinking stage of experiential learning

Those info-dumping workshops we’ve all attended? One of the things they’re missing is time for participants to actually think about all the information they’re encountering! “Thinking” time means giving people space to process the new theories, facts, data, and concepts you’re sharing with them.

We want to resist the urge to talk too much or for too long or to limit ourselves to just facts and data. Sharing stories and anecdotes that relate to these theories and facts dramatically increase retention rates. 

Some of my favorite ways to make space for thinking: 

  • Sharing relatable stories

    Do you have an anecdote that relates to the concept you’re teaching? Share it! And invite others to share theirs.

  • Take time to facilitate

    Don’t talk for too long! Take time to ask: How do you feel about that? How did that land?

  • Share a few worksheets or downloads


    We don’t want people to walk away from our workshops with homework. But giving people something concrete to hold, to review, or to interact with can help them work through the concepts.

    The action stage of experiential learning

    The action stage of experiential learning is where the rubber hits the proverbial road, where our participants apply what they’ve learned. This is the stage where we encourage people to integrate what we’ve covered and find ways to sustain this learning (rather than putting those worksheets in a pile on their desk and promptly forgetting about the whole thing).

    People are most likely to take action and retain knowledge when they personalize their approach - when they decide the best way to use this new information to meet needs in their organization, achieve goals, or create accountability.

    Some of my favorite ways to encourage action

  • Make a plan

    Ask your participants to choose one next step they can take today. What’s one small, concrete step they can take today that will make team members feel more included or make conflict resolution more likely?

  • Follow up two days later

    Write and schedule an email that will go out to participants two days after the workshop. Review the main points and nudge them to continue taking action on what they learned.

  • Accountability partners

    Set participants up with accountability partners who also took the workshop. Ask them to check in with each other and keep each other on track

  • Offer on-going group coaching

    If your workshop covers a sensitive topic that would benefit from deeper analysis, a monthly group coaching session or 1-on-1 coaching can help keep your people on track. 


If all this sounds overwhelming, don’t worry - you can add one experiential learning exercise at a time. Don’t burn yourself out trying to incorporate everything all at once. And if you’d like help designing your workshop, I’d love to chat.