How hard can workshop facilitation be? Isn’t it just reading through slides and keeping a group of people to a schedule?
Oh, workshop facilitation is so much more than that! When I look back at the workshops I created and ran when I got started as a facilitator 20 years ago - I positively shudder: ice breakers that only worked for extroverts, 1000 text-heavy slides, workshop participants stuck in their seats while I info-dumped.
It’s not uncommon for experts and leaders to be tasked with developing a workshop - if they know so much about x or y, surely they can lead a workshop on that topic, right?
But understanding a topic and understanding how to create and facilitate a workshop on that topic are two very different skill sets! There’s an art to creating and facilitating a workshop that keeps attendees engaged and affects change.
Whether you’re facilitating your very first workshop or you’ve run workshops and they didn’t go quite how you’d hoped, keep reading for my best workshop facilitation tips - gleaned from 20 years of experience!
9 Workshop Facilitation Tips That Will Keep Attendees Awake & Engaged
1. Make sure your workshop has a solid opening
A good workshop begins with a strong set of guidelines and a clearly communicated agenda so participants know what’s coming. When the participants know the agenda, it’s easier for them to relax into the process, trust you, and truly commit to learning (rather than checking their watches or wondering what’s coming next.)
Workshop guidelines should build trust and safety so participants can feel comfortable asking questions, sharing vulnerable stories, and - hopefully! - deepening their relationships with their colleagues. If we don’t get these guidelines right, the content of the workshop won’t land or get absorbed.
Examples of workshop guidelines:
No-judgment zone
Confidentiality (the learning goes but the stories stay!)
Everyone gets to speak and be heard
We commit to starting and finishing on time!
Full participation, be present, focused, and on video
These agreements will keep participants engaged and they help create psychological safety so everything can be open and learning.
2. Prioritize connection before content
When you’ve only got an hour, it’s tempting to welcome everyone to the workshop and immediately dive into the content. But spending even five minutes helping the attendees connect to each other will create a more engaging and supportive atmosphere.
Because we’ve all come to hate the term “ice breaker,” I like to call these connector exercises. These are meant to be an easy-ish activity that gives participants a chance to start gently sharing a bit about themselves. Don't make this too hard or too long!
My favorite connector exercises:
Write down three (impactful, interesting, surprising, happy, learning, amazing) things that happened to you or on your team in the last six months; then share at your table or with a partner
Bring an object to the Zoom room or space that represents x (something related to your topic) and tell us about it
Hold up a sign that has three numbers on it and have the group guess what they represent (i.e. 33, 11, 17 i= 33 is my son’s baseball jersey, 11 is the number of years I have been an entrepreneur, 17 is the number of books I read last year!)
Describe the neighborhood you grew up in to a partner. The partner draws an image of what you described and shares it back to you.
What is the origin of your name? Did you have a nickname? Does your name cause any challenges? Would you change it?
3. Incorporate stories
Nothing gets people to put down their phone faster than "I have a story to tell you.”
Choose a story that relates to the topic of the workshop and doesn’t put anyone down (though feel free to share a funny, slightly self-deprecating story about yourself!) A good story helps evoke emotion and connection and builds trust with you as a facilitator.
I have a notebook where I jot down things that happen in my life when I think "Oh, this will make a good story one day on ____ topic!!"
Example: When I’m leading a workshop about the invisible burdens and disabilities many of us carry, I might share my story of navigating infertility. I share how hard it was to schedule all my doctor’s appointments around my work schedule, deal with the physical and emotional effects of taking hormones, and cope with a miscarriage - all while keeping this a secret from most of my colleagues.
Sharing this story shows my workshop attendees that I’m willing to be vulnerable with them and that I, myself, know what it is to carry an invisible burden. It helps begin the workshop with a sense of connection.
4. Less content is better
When we stuff too many concepts and exercises into a workshop, participants have less time to integrate the learning - which is the most important part! In fact, a well-designed workshop should be about 20% information, 80% integration.
People usually retain just 10% of what they hear and 20% of what they read; most people need to encounter an idea 7 - 14 times before they take action on it. So mentioning a concept twice, in text, simply isn’t enough!
Integration exercises:
Writing prompts
Write for one minute about what you just learned
Share with a partner your experience of what you just heard or what you were just taught
Small group discussion
Q & A session
“Real life examples” of how this concept could apply
Role play exercises
5. Make sure your content works for different learning style + personality types
Introverts, extroverts, visual learners, auditory learners, reading/writing learners, and kinesthetic learners - these are all personality and learning types we want to consider when creating and facilitating workshops.
Let’s say I’m leading a workshop around the topic of microaggressions. Here’s how I’d make sure each of these people were helped during my workshop:
Extroverts: Tell the group a story about a time someone perpetrated a microaggression towards you or when you witnessed one
Introverts: Journal about a time someone perpetrated a microaggression towards you or when you witnessed one
Visual learners: Do a mind map about microaggressions or watch a video sample
Auditory learners: Talk through what you’re teaching, rather than just writing it out. We also call this exercise ‘teach-backs’
Reading / writing learners: Provide handouts with an outline of what’s covered, writing prompts, and space to take notes
Kinesthetic learners: Make sure there are “get up and walk around” activities built into the workshop
6. Give credit where credit is due
If you’re using photos, ideas, quotes, or referencing studies that are not your own, make sure you give credit to that person. This can be as easy as adding a footnote to your slide, including a references section on your handouts, or verbally saying “I first heard this from my colleague Davide Conti.”
7. Add more movement
None of us want to be stuck in our chairs for hours while being talked at. Giving participants time to get up and move around will help them stay awake, engaged, and it’s particularly helpful for your kinesthetic learners.
Examples of movement-based activities for workshops:
“Walk the wall” - In small groups, participants walk around the room and answer the questions posted in each corner on flip charts
Debrief while standing in a circle
Provide floor maps that participants can stand in to show how they feel about a certain topic and share from there
Offer frequent stretch breaks between subjects - even one minute can feel like a refresh!
8. Set an intention for the workshop
This can be an intention you set for yourself as the facilitator - “I want to be articulate, calm, and open” or it can be an intention for the workshop - “I want to give leaders a chance to explore the barriers they face when trying to show up fully present and authentic.”
Setting an intention can serve as a grounding exercise for you and for the group, anchoring into “Why are we REALLY doing this?” “We’re doing this for …..”
The intentions I set for myself and the workshops I lead change every time - even if the topic of the workshop is the same. Honestly, setting an intention is a good exercise to prepare for any meeting or big conversation! My intention is often to be curious and open to other’s points of view and to be a leader who creates structure and safety that encourages optimal connection and growth.
9. Manage the participants’ emotions
Depending on the topic of your workshop, emotions can become heightened. Talking about privilege, mental health, microaggressions, racism, sexual harassment - these are topics that can make people angry, sad, overwhelmed, or triggered.
If you haven’t yet mastered managing the emotional temperature of the room - be patient with yourself. It’s a skillset that takes years to learn! You need to be able to differentiate between a breakthrough and an outburst, while giving space for emotions to happen.
Ultimately, when you’re facilitating a workshop, you’re the guardian of the room. It’s your job to create a safe space and to hold everyone in it while supporting them in the work that you're doing together.
If you need help with your workshop - support in workshop design, coaching for your facilitation, or outsourcing the facilitation altogether - I’d love to help! Click here to get in touch.