The Workshop Survival Guide Preview

Learn how to design a great workshop from scratch. Hint: it's not about choosing the perfect background image for your slide deck. The Workshop Survival Guide, a new book from Rob Fitzpatrick and Devin Hunt, will be available everywhere May 2019.

Get the full quality PDF and learn more about the book at https://www.workshopsurvival.com/

Transcript

1. The Workshop Survival Guide A book preview of Get your copy at workshopsurvival.com
2. So you need to run a workshop. It could be for a conference, to share a skill at work, or to run a tutorial for your class.
3. And you need to go from nothing to teaching people fast. Don’t worry, creating a workshop from scratch is easier than you think.
4. First, don’t design any slides — at least, not yet. Step away from powerpoint and take a deep breath. Beginning with your slides makes the whole process so much harder. It’s hard to look at the big picture while staring at a single slide. A
5. First, don’t design any slides — at least, not yet. Step away from powerpoint and take a deep breath. Beginning with your slides makes the whole process so much harder. It’s hard to look at the big picture while staring at a single slide. A Designing slides is a time sponge — absorbing every second you give. B
6. First, don’t design any slides — at least, not yet. Step away from powerpoint and take a deep breath. Beginning with your slides makes the whole process so much harder. It’s hard to look at the big picture while staring at a single slide. A Designing slides is a time sponge — absorbing every second you give. B You may not even need those slides in the first place. C
7. Instead, let’s create a Workshop Skeleton Much like a recipe, a Workshop Skeleton is the raw structure and purpose of your workshop. Starting with one has several benefits:
8. Instead, let’s create a Workshop Skeleton Much like a recipe, a Workshop Skeleton is the raw structure and purpose of your workshop. Starting with one has several benefits: It fits on a piece of paper 1
9. Instead, let’s create a Workshop Skeleton Much like a recipe, a Workshop Skeleton is the raw structure and purpose of your workshop. Starting with one has several benefits: It fits on a piece of paper 1 It’s just text, so it’s easy to share for feedback 2 Wedding Planning Workshop Why the budget spreadsheet is your new best friend a. The more common ways to go over budget b. Fixed expenses vs. Per- guest expenses Coffee Break Turning your big day into a no- stress checklist c. How the humble checklist keeps hospitals running d. How to create and use your three crucial checklists Wrap up and Q&A
10. Instead, let’s create a Workshop Skeleton Much like a recipe, a Workshop Skeleton is the raw structure and purpose of your workshop. Starting with one has several benefits: It fits on a piece of paper 1 It’s just text, so it’s easy to share for feedback 2 It gives a complete overview of your workshop at a single glance 3 Wedding Planning Workshop [0900 - 1030] Why the budget spreadsheet is your new best friend a. The more common ways to go over budget b. Fixed expenses vs. Per- guest expenses [1030 - 1045] Coffee Break [1045 - 1200] Turning your big day into a no-stress checklist c. How the humble checklist keeps hospitals running d. How to create and use your three crucial checklists [1200 - 1215] Wrap up and Q&A
11. A Workshop Skeleton has three key ingredients Audience Profile A Learning Outcomes B Schedule Chunks C Who’s in the room What they'll leave with When they'll get their breaks Once you gather all three, you can quickly combine them to create a Workshop Skeleton.
12. Let’s break down each part…
13. Audience Profile It’s impossible to design a great workshop if you don’t know who you’re teaching. The Audience Profile captures that. A We need to answer a few basic questions: Who is in the audience? 1 How experienced are they? 2 Why are they bothering to show up? 3 What are their concerns & objections? 4
14. Audience Profile Let’s create a workshop for couples planning their own wedding. We can quickly answer each question: A
15. Audience Profile Let’s create a workshop for couples planning their own wedding. We can quickly answer each question: A Who is the audience? 1 Couples planning their own wedding
16. Audience Profile Let’s create a workshop for couples planning their own wedding. We can quickly answer each question: A Who is the audience? 1 How experienced are they? 2 Couples planning their own wedding Little to no planning experience
17. Audience Profile Let’s create a workshop for couples planning their own wedding. We can quickly answer each question: A Who is the audience? 1 How experienced are they? 2 Why are they bothering showing up? 3 Couples planning their own wedding Little to no planning experience Great wedding without the expensive wedding planner
18. Audience Profile Let’s create a workshop for couples planning their own wedding. We can quickly answer each question: A Who is the audience? 1 How experienced are they? 2 Why are they bothering showing up? 3 What are their concerns & objections? 4 Couples planning their own wedding Little to no planning experience Great wedding without the expensive wedding planner Scared of spreadsheets & terrified of omitting a key part of their wedding!
19. Audience Profile We can condense this data into a concise description for the first ingredient: A Wedding Planning Workshop Audience Profile — Couples who are planning their own wedding and looking to do it themselves to save money and, hopefully, time.
20. Learning Outcomes Next, we need to design the specific bits of knowledge that your audience is turning up for. These are the Learning Outcomes. Learning Outcomes need to sharp. What does sharp mean? B Instead of “Sales negotiation” Make it focused & sharp “How to de-escalate a tense negotiation when you’re in too deep” “Wedding planning” “A beautiful (and cheap!) solution to the wedding ‘flower problem’ ” “How to write a CV” “What to delete from your CV to make it better”
21. Learning Outcomes Let’s add two Learning Outcomes to our ingredient list: B Wedding Planning Workshop Audience Profile — Couples who are planning their own wedding and looking to do it themselves to save money and, hopefully, time. Learning Outcomes — 1. Why the budget spreadsheet is your new best friend
 2. Turning your big day into a no-stress checklist One about effective use of a spreadsheet as a planning tool And another about using checklists for execution
22. Learning Outcomes Learning Outcomes rarely capture everything you want to cover on a subject. You use Supporting Arguments to expand each one. In general, you should identify 2-4 Supporting Arguments for each Learning Outcome. Supporting Arguments often translate directly into slides and exercises as well, so win-win! B
23. Learning Outcomes Returning to our 
 skeleton-in-progress, we can add supporting arguments to clarify each Learning Outcome B Wedding Planning Workshop Audience Profile — Couples who are planning their own wedding and looking to do it themselves to save money and, hopefully, time. Learning Outcomes — 1. Why the budget spreadsheet is your new best friend a. The most common ways to go over budget b. Fixed expenses vs. Per-guest expenses
 2. Turning your big day into a no-stress checklist a. How the humble checklist keeps hospitals running b. How to create and use your three crucial checklists
24. Learning Outcomes Each supporting argument is a key idea to explore in the workshop. They’re basically the exercises and sections of your workshop which build up to the Learning Outcome. B Wedding Planning Workshop Audience Profile — Couples who are planning their own wedding and looking to do it themselves to save money and, hopefully, time. Learning Outcomes — 1. Why the budget spreadsheet is your new best friend a. The more common ways to go over budget b. Fixed expenses vs. Per-guest expenses
 2. Turning your big day into a no-stress checklist a. How the humble checklist keeps hospitals running b. How to create and use your three crucial checklists
25. Schedule Chunks Now that you know what you’re going to teach, it’s time to figure out the when you’re going to teach it. Before deciding which Learning Outcomes go where, first segment your time by placing breaks. C
26. Schedule Chunks Now that you know what you’re going to teach, it’s time to figure out the when you’re going to teach it. Before deciding which Learning Outcomes go where, first segment your time by placing breaks. C Huh, breaks? Why? Breaks act to divide up the day (or half day, or whatever) into manageable chunks that won’t exhaust your audience.
27. Schedule Chunks Now that you know what you’re going to teach, it’s time to figure out the when you’re going to teach it. Before deciding which Learning Outcomes go where, first segment your time by placing breaks. C Huh, breaks? Why? Breaks act to divide up the day (or half day, or whatever) into manageable chunks that won’t exhaust your audience. Also, By slicing the day into manageable chunks, you can quickly slot in Learning Outcomes for a quick scheduling win.

28. Schedule Chunks 60-90 minute chunks are a great starting point C 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 0900 1500 1600 1700 Here’s a generic day, split up by hour Workshop Breaks
29. Schedule Chunks C A large, full-day workshop can be divided up into a series 60-90 minute chunks with breaks Workshop Breaks 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 0900 1500 1600 1700 Arrival & Coffee 15 mins Coffee 15 mins Lunch & Chat 1 hour Coffee 15 mins Party! ∞ mins
30. Schedule Chunks C A shorter, half-day workshop can reuse the full-day template 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 0900 1500 1600 1700 Arrival & Coffee 15 mins Coffee 15 mins Lunch & Chat 1 hour Workshop Breaks
31. Schedule Chunks C And a quick a 90 minute workshop could look like this 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 0900 1500 1600 1700 Arrival & Coffee 15 mins Coffee & Chat 15 mins Workshop Breaks
32. Schedule Chunks Our workshop is going to last half a day, so let’s add that to our ingredients list. We can just cram our two learning outcome into 90 minutes each. C Wedding Planning Workshop Audience Profile — Couples who are planning their own wedding and looking to do it themselves to save money and, hopefully, time. Learning Outcomes — 1. Why the budget spreadsheet is your new best friend a. The more common ways to go over budget b. Fixed expenses vs. Per-guest expenses
 2. Turning your big day into a no-stress checklist a. How the humble checklist keeps hospitals running b. How to create and use your three crucial checklists Schedule Chunks — 90 mins 90 mins Half day workshop Coffee
33. Using these ingredients, a complete Workshop Skeleton is created. Wedding Planning Workshop [0900 - 1030] Why the budget spreadsheet is your new best friend a. The more common ways to go over budget b. Fixed expenses vs. Per-guest expenses [1030 - 1045] Coffee Break [1045 - 1200] Turning your big day into a no-stress checklist c. How the humble checklist keeps hospitals running d. How to create and use your three crucial checklists [1200 - 1215] Wrap up and Q&A It’s basically an outline for the entire workshop. Learning Outcomes are combined with the Schedule Chunks to create a timeline.
34. It’s important to point out that one Schedule Chunk does not need to have just one Learning Outcome. The example just worked out that way. Most Outcomes don’t need 90 minutes — you can easily put 2+ Learning Outcomes per Schedule Chunk. Play around with it! A quick footnote… Wedding Planning Workshop [0900 - 1030] Why the budget spreadsheet is your new best friend a. The more common ways to go over budget b. Fixed expenses vs. Per-guest expenses [1030 - 1045] Coffee Break [1045 - 1200] Turning your big day into a no-stress checklist c. How the humble checklist keeps hospitals running d. How to create and use your three crucial checklists [1200 - 1215] Wrap up and Q&A
35. You now know 
 who & what you’re going to teach.
36. Time to think about the how. You now know 
 who & what you’re going to teach.
37. Time to think about the how. It’s time to talk about Teaching Formats. You now know 
 who & what you’re going to teach.
38. Teaching Formats Teaching Formats are the “genres” of teaching. They’re how you deliver Learning Outcomes. The four essential Formats are: Lectures 1 Small Group Discussion 2 “Try it now” exercises 3 Q&A 4
39. Lectures 1 What most people think of when you say “workshop” or “talk”. A teacher speaking to an audience. What is it? Any Ideal Room Setup Low Energy Level - Summarizing learnings - Buzzword busting - Dumping knowledge that doesn’t fit into exercises Great for Keep keep lectures focused and short. Long lectures drain the audience’s energy. Facilitation Tip
40. Small Group Discussions 2 Small groups of students having a self-led conversation about a focused topic. What is it? Small groups at tables Ideal Room Setup High Energy Level - Tackling ambiguous topics - Engaging every student - Boosting energy during a long lecture Great for Have students in groups of 2-4 from the start, removing the need to organise them for a specific exercise. Facilitation Tip
41. “Try it now” exercises 3 Students practice a skill in a safe, controlled environment. Most skills are honed through doing: you can’t teach yoga through a lecture. What is it? Ideal Room Setup High Energy Level - Skills that require practice - Experiential learning Great for Make the task specific enough that students can spend their time doing, rather than figuring out instructions. Facilitation Tip Small groups at tables
42. Q&A 4 Students ask questions, you answer them. 
 A flexible format that can fill time & create interesting discussion. Use sparingly as it rarely delivers Learning Outcomes in and of itself. What is it? Any Ideal Room Setup Low Energy Level - Adding a flexible buffer at the end of exercises - Allowing students to voice specific problems Great for Keep Q&A focused by running one after each Learning Outcome. Don’t wait until the end of the day to deal with all questions. Facilitation Tip
43. Teaching Formats are like legos.
44. Stack a few together to flesh out the skeleton. Teaching Formats are like legos.
45. Fleshing out the Skeleton We can stick a few Teaching Formats together to quickly design how we’ll deliver our Learning Outcomes. Our Workshop Skeleton currently looks like this: Why the budget spreadsheet 
 is your new best friend 90 mins Coffee 15 mins Turning your big day into 
 a no-stress checklist 
 90 mins
46. Fleshing out the Skeleton We can stick a few Teaching Formats together to quickly design how we’ll deliver our Learning Outcomes. Our Workshop Skeleton currently looks like this: Why the budget spreadsheet 
 is your new best friend 90 mins Coffee 15 mins Turning your big day into 
 a no-stress checklist 
 90 mins But how are we going to deliver this Learning Outcome?
47. Fleshing out the Skeleton Let’s focus on our first Learning Outcome. We can stack a few formats together to tackle the entire section.
48. Fleshing out the Skeleton Let’s focus on our first Learning Outcome. We can stack a few formats together to tackle the entire section. Lecture introducing budget spreadsheets 15 mins
49. Fleshing out the Skeleton Let’s focus on our first Learning Outcome. We can stack a few formats together to tackle the entire section. Lecture introducing budget spreadsheets 15 mins Group discussion on hidden costs 15 mins
50. Fleshing out the Skeleton Let’s focus on our first Learning Outcome. We can stack a few formats together to tackle the entire section. Z Lecture introducing budget spreadsheets 15 mins “Try it now” creating a basic budget 30 mins Group discussion on hidden costs 15 mins
51. Fleshing out the Skeleton Let’s focus on our first Learning Outcome. We can stack a few formats together to tackle the entire section. Z Lecture introducing budget spreadsheets 15 mins “Try it now” creating a basic budget 30 mins Group discussion on hidden costs 15 mins Lecture highlighting per-guest expenses 15 mins
52. Fleshing out the Skeleton Let’s focus on our first Learning Outcome. We can stack a few formats together to tackle the entire section. Z Lecture introducing budget spreadsheets 15 mins “Try it now” creating a basic budget 30 mins Q&A Buffer 15 mins Group discussion on hidden costs 15 mins Lecture highlighting per-guest expenses 15 mins
53. Fleshing out the Skeleton Let’s focus on our first Learning Outcome. We can stack a few formats together to tackle the entire section. Z Lecture introducing budget spreadsheets 15 mins “Try it now” creating a basic budget 30 mins Q&A Buffer 15 mins Group discussion on hidden costs 15 mins Lecture highlighting per-guest expenses 15 mins If you plan on creating slides for your workshop, each of these exercises is a slide!
54. Fleshing out the Skeleton Let’s focus on our first Learning Outcome. We can stack a few formats together to tackle the entire section. Z Lecture introducing budget spreadsheets 15 mins “Try it now” creating a basic budget 30 mins Q&A Buffer 15 mins Group discussion on hidden costs 15 mins Lecture highlighting per-guest expenses 15 mins Also, this is a default workshop template. Remix as needed! If you plan on creating slides for your workshop, each of these exercises is a slide!
55. So that’s the basics You now know how to Create a workshop skeleton 1
56. So that’s the basics You now know how to Create a workshop skeleton 1 How different Teaching Formats work 2
57. So that’s the basics You now know how to Create a workshop skeleton 1 How different Teaching Formats work 2 How to use Formats to create a good rhythm of exercises 3
58. So that’s the basics You now know how to Create a workshop skeleton 1 How different Teaching Formats work 2 How to use Formats to create a good rhythm of exercises 3 But there's so much more!
59. What about… Advanced teaching formats? Designing great workshop slides? Dealing with a hostile crowd? Facilitating complex exercises? Picking the 
 perfect venue? What do when an exercise falls apart? Handling large (or small) audiences? Consistently delivering great workshops? …and other workshop conundrums?
60. The Workshop Survival Guide For answers to all those questions, check out For more articles on creating & teaching great workshops — and where you can buy the book — visit workshopsurvival.com