A 3 hour workshop on how to design your own tailored workshops to ensure success for your project. Delivered at NUXCamp, Leeds, April 2016.

1. Tailored Workshops
Boon Yew Chew
@boonych
NUXCamp
Leeds, UK
25 April 2016
Getting real results through design

2. Today's Agenda
1. Workshops:
Intro, Preparing, Planning
2. Exercise 1:
Design your ideal workshop
3. Workshops:
Running, Ensuring success
4. Exercise 2:
Stress test your workshop design
5. Q&A

3. Some house rules...
Phones on silent
Be a team player
Get creative
Have fun

6. Warm up
exercise

7. Write on post-its:
Reasons for a
good workshop
Reasons for a
bad workshop
...based on your experience

8. 1.
What's a
workshop
anyway?
1.
What's a
workshop
anyway?

9. Workshops are
bounded,
participatory,
structured
activities where
groups of people
work towards a
shared, focussed
outcome.
“

10. Not workshops...
Discussions
Stand-Ups
Lectures / Talks
Usability Tests
Team Outings
Pitches

11. Many workshop varieties...
Kickoffs
Alignment
Upskilling
Prioritisation
Decision-making
Ideation
Co-creation
Roadmapping
Visioning
Planning
Estimating
Situational awareness

12. Many workshop
methods and
tools...
Tools and methods
Approaches and styles
Simple and easy (e.g. hand votes)
vs. complex (e.g. graphic facilitation)

13. There is no
"one size fits all"

14. Why tailored
workshops?
Every situation is unique
Cookie-cutter methods are just
one starting point
Aim precisely towards your vision
Embrace your own style and
approach

15. 2.
Laying the
right
foundations

16. Workshops are
design problems
Use craft skills
Observe, Listen, Empathise
Solve complex problems
Sounds familiar?

18. Prep Plan Run Act

19. Prep Plan Run Act
What information do we already
know?
What gaps currently exist?
What is the real problem we're
trying to solve?
Who would we need to solve this
problem?
What resources are available?
Are there other alternatives?
and so on...

20. Tips for prep phase
Understand your audiences
Gather research and data to reuse
Be clear on your goals
Know how it all fits together
Adopt pragmatic optimism
Ask lots of questions

21. Stuff I've done
before in the past
Research my own clients / teams
Audit and sketch out a "map" of the
project or system
Gather and organise data to be
referenced and shared
Listen and understand everyone's
motivations / goals / agendas
Analyse other similar projects / case
studies

22. insights
ideas

23. Inspiration for
workshop ideas
Attend different workshops
Books and websites
YouTube / Vimeo

28. Trust your gut

29. 3.
Planning
workshops
effectively

30. Prep Plan Run Act

31. Start with a brain dump, then
organise it into a structure
Purpose
Background
References
Audience
Roles & responsibilities
Schedule
Format
Materials
Checklists
Why
Who
What, How, When...

32. Keep rough notes, then document
well separately

33. Tailored Workshops workshop plan
NUX Camp. Monday, 25 April 2016.
Location: White Cloth Gallery, 24‐26 Aire Street, Leeds. LS1 4HT
Table of Contents
NUXCamp workshop synopsis
Workshop objectives
Workshop schedule
Checklist
Handouts
Scenario A — Teaching UX basics to a major high street bank
Scenario B — Plan a kickoff meeting with new stakeholders
Scenario C — Aligning different content priorities across teams
Resources
References
NUXCamp workshop synopsis
“Tailored workshops — Getting real results through design”
See an
example
image attribution url goes here

34. Share your
outline with
the group
image attribution url goes here

35. Tips for planning
Keep things simple
Embrace limitations and scope
Stress test your plan
Build in contingencies
Take a walk

36. Workshop
exercise 1

37. 10 minutes
break

38. 4.
Running
it well

39. Prep Plan Run Act

40. Running a
workshop
requires
different skills
and approaches
to planning for it.
“

41. Stay out of the
centre.
- Scott Berkun
“
http://scottberkun.com/2013/run-a-good-workshop

42. Common questions
"Who are you?"
"Why are we here?"
"What are we doing?"
"How will this help?"
"What's next?"

43. Common questions
"Who are you?"
"Why are we here?"
"What are we doing?"
"How will this help?"
"What's next?"
Introductions
Objective
Agenda
Activities
Summary

44. Go big materials
Self-adhesive flip charts
Sharpies
Edding 33 markers
Post its — square and rectangle
A4 paper
White tac / sticking dots

45. Room design
Atmosphere of the room
Walls to present from
Space to move about
Pods for group work
Allocate a "parking lot"
Check the A/V setup

46. Tips for running
State assumptions up front
Guide towards the goal
Be present, listen and observe
Ensure everyone can contribute
Observe energy levels

47. 5.
Success
after the
workshop

48. Prep Plan Run Act

49. The real work
begins when the
workshop ends.
“

50. After everyone leaves
Capture everything
Make extra notes yourself
Email out high level thoughts
Store outputs somewhere safe
Let stuff settle in your head

51. Synthesis is learning
Send a summary email ASAP
Relate learnings to objectives
Organise and summarise
Share outputs to everyone
Explain "what's next"
Watch carefully how
participants react over time

52. Take the long view
Workshops are not "one off"
Real value is culture and
behaviour change
Keep reminding your group back
to the learnings
Persist until you see change
happen

53. Workshop
exercise 2

54. Final thoughts
Work backwards from your
vision
Go deep and broad
Don't go it alone
Take calculated risks
Take the long view
Celebrate wins together!

55. Questions?

56. Thanks.
@boonych
boon.chew@gmail.com