With the effects of COVID having a seemingly permanent impact on work, many companies are still opting for remote work. This means that everything associated with work is remote as well, like workshops. Workshops have been an integral part of business for decades, and that has not changed during the digital era.
Remote workshops are an essential for remote workers and can be incredibly valuable and useful. They have the potential to energize teams, boost morale, educate, and much more. Though one may think that virtual workshops are less effective than their in-person counterparts, that is not the case. Virtual workshops are just if not more effective than in-person workshops.
It is important to understand the workshop meaning before having your own. Every successful workshop has a goal and purpose. That could be anything from educating a team on a specific topic, building morale, networking, and more. You want to know the goal and purpose of your meeting before starting to plan it.
Another thing to consider are the activities you want to do. Activities are the heart of your workshop and what your attendees are likely to remember. It is important to have great activities. One way to get inspired is to look on the internet for creative workshop ideas for adults, ideas and examples of workshops for students, or ideas for whatever demographic your attendees will be. Looking at what others have done can help you quickly find great things to do during your workshop. These activities will make your workshop more successful in the end, so do not be bashful about finding the best ideas.
It is also a good idea to look to find a workshop guide. A guide can help you make sure you do not miss anything important and that your workshop is successful. They will outline all the important steps, factors, include activity ideas, and more. Try looking at a few of these guides and modeling your workshop off of them. By using tried and tested methods, your workshop is bound to be more successful.
Facilitating a workshop is not to be overlooked. It is often something that people forget about when planning a workshop, but it is absolutely critical to their success. A good facilitator who knows how to facilitate a workshop can take your workshop to the next level and make it one your attendees never forget. On the other hand, a bad facilitator can make even the best planned workshop a forgettable and unsuccessful event.
Facilitators are the ones who guide the workshop and see it through. Often, facilitators are professionals who are brought in by a company solely for the workshop. Many however facilitate their own workshops. While this can be a great way to save money, it can go badly if you are not properly prepared.
For example, a professional facilitator can give advice about aspects of your workshop. They can help you with how to organize a workshop presentation, your agenda, activities, etc. This will help ensure that your workshop is as good as it can possibly be. But if you decide to do the workshop on your own without the help of a facilitator, you risk making mistakes and overlooking important aspects. Still, it is possible to facilitate on your own so long as you are properly prepared.
Facilitators use digital facilitation tools to make workshops engaging virtual experiences. These tools range from physical props, virtual platforms like Mural and their facilitation superpower, webcams, and more. These tools are what allow workshops to happen, as well as what make them a great resource for business.
One more important thing to keep in mind when it comes to facilitation is knowing your audience. Your workshop needs to be designed around your audience, and you need to know who your audience is for that to be possible. You should know what your audience does and doesn’t like, what kind of activities they prefer, if they need short breaks every so often, what gets them excited or engaged, etc. By knowing your audience well, you can make sure your workshop is tailored to them so it is engaging and impactful.
If you choose to facilitate your own virtual workshop, you will need to know how to run a workshop remotely. Being able to run a workshop means you are capable of handling all aspects of it from planning, invitations, getting started, doing activities, presenting/introducing presenters, guiding discussion, and more.
One big part of running a workshop is finding good workshop activities for employees or whoever your audience is. Having great activities that you are ready to do with the team is crucial. These activities can make your workshops memorable, build camaraderie, be brainstorming opportunities, and more. By having all of this set up beforehand and ready to go, you also are making sure that everything goes smoothly during the workshop.
You also need to make sure you are very familiar with all the tools you are using for the workshop. Having technical issues can quickly derail your workshop and waste time, but they can be avoided if you know your tools well. For example, you should know all the ins and outs of your virtual platform. Whether you are using Filo, Google Teams, Slack, Miro, or another virtual platform, take the time to make sure you know it well. This can save you tons of time and stress later on, so it is worthwhile.
It is also worthwhile to look at some guides for how to run a collaborative workshop. These guides can be a great resource and will help you run your workshop. They are usually made by experienced professionals who really know how to run a great workshop, so listen to their advice. This can help you take your workshop to the next level and have a larger impact on your business. Following the advice of industry experts is never a bad idea.
Interactivity is an incredibly important part of a successful virtual workshop. It is important in physical workshops as well, but it is easier to overlook interactivity in virtual workshops. Since virtual workshops are virtual, getting distracted and losing attention is a constant challenge. Facilitators and workshop planners need to know how to make an online workshop interactive so the audience is constantly engaged.
A big part of making a workshop interactive is knowing how to run an engaging workshop. By running your workshop in an engaging way, it will naturally be more interactive. If you are engaging your audience via discussions, questions, and activities, they are going to be interacting. These two factors compound on each other. The more interactive something is, the more engaging it is likely to be. The more engaging something is, the more interactive it is likely to be. By focusing on these factors, your workshop will ultimately be more successful in the end.
You also need to focus on planning workshop activities that are interactive. Interactive activities are arguably the easiest way to make your workshop more interactive and engaging. Something as simple as a question and answer session can go a long way in keeping the audience engaged. If they are formulating their own questions and listening to answers, they are bound to be more involved and engaged.
It is important to remember not to overdo it. Activities are engaging, but remember that people are there virtually. Computer fatigue is real and can lower peoples’ ability to focus. Try to take breaks and do some fun activities that give attendees a chance to let loose. This can go a long way in making your workshops more effective. If your audience is refreshed and ready to go, they are much more likely to be more engaged.
Lastly, it is important to mention the importance of virtual workshops ideas. These ideas are ultimately what your workshop will become. You cannot have a workshop without ideas of what to do. This means that coming up with great ideas is one of the most important aspects of planning a virtual workshop.
Most of the ideas you will be trying to brainstorm will be workshop activities. These can range from trivia or cooking classes to a moderated discussion or formal presentation. Again, these activities are what your workshop will actually consist of, so having good activities is critical.
As discussed previously, engaging activities for workshops are not to be overlooked. Having engaging activities can help keep your audience focused and excited for the workshop, making it more successful. Engaging activities are ones that encourage audience participation and interactivity, such as trivia, competitions, question and answer sessions, group discussions, and more. A good way to find engaging activities is to look up examples online. Thanks to the internet, there are countless resources available that can help you find the best engaging activities for your workshop. Take advantage of those resources and make your workshop as good as it can be.
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