This week in lab meeting we discussed planning a workshop. Here are a few notes of pointers that came up in the discussion.
Be clear on your goals for the workshop. And communicate those goals to the participants.
Invite the right people.
Think about what’s in it for them and communicate that in your invitation but also in follow-up communication. - Interesting places - Networking - Opportunity to collaborate - Opportunity to promote their own work
Think about what knowledge workshops participants need that they don’t currently have. This is particularly important if your workshop participants come from different disciplines.
You’ll need to plan to balance the delivery of essential information and the discussion to develop new ideas and obtain information from the group. For instance, what background info that is needed to participate effectively? What can individuals contribute? What synergies do you hope to get out of group discussions? (and making sure those people have the opportunity to talk together in the workshop).
Roles
For each workshop you should designate a facilitator and a note keeper. These should be different people. See also our blog on facilitating meetings
Facilitation takes practice and its good to have someone experienced in this role.
You also need a plan to capture information from the workshop. So make sure you have a note taking system (e.g. online docs, charts on butcher’s paper) and someone who is going to chase those up from the group. Break-out groups are great, but make sure you have a way to capture their ideas.
Icebreakers and team bonding
You can send a form in advance asking a few questions about people’s backgrounds, as well as 1 or 2 questions about them as a person. Here’s some ideas - What is your area of research? - What paper or research product are you most proud of? - What are you hoping to get out of this workshop? - What is your favourite sport or hobby?
Plan an activity or activities to help people bond. One example is showing people a picture of a cloud. Then asking them to draw what they see in the cloud and share that with people nearby. Helps get people engaged in the workshop as well as understand that everyone has a different perspective. There are many different examples of these types of group bonding activities.
Another is ‘four corners’ or ‘two-sides’. Ask people to sort themselves in the room based on their preferences (keeping it non-political and light hearted). e.g. “Do you like mushrooms?”, “Do you like pineapple on pizza?”, “Are you an experimental, field or modelling scientist?”, …
Workshop activities
Strongly recommend using break-out groups, especially if you have more than 6 people at your workshop. This maximises engagement with the whole group and gives quieter voices a chance to speak up.
Think about the balance of plenary time (everyone together) and break out groups. A typical structure would be:
Opening presentation (plenary) Icebreaker (breakouts) Presentation on essential background (plenary) Set a task (plenary) Do the task (breakouts) Report back to the group on task (plenary) ….
Try to include a mix of different modes of activities to keep people energized and engaged. This can include discussion, working on charts/flow diagrams on butchers paper, online tools, other types of activities that require people to move around like ‘four corners’.
Planning for after the workshop
Make sure you communicate a plan for next steps at the end of the workshop, as well as in follow-up email.
Being clear on what is happening next, having a plan for next steps. When can participants expect to hear from the organizers? What are the outcomes (a manuscript perhaps)?
If you are writing a manuscript, then being clear on who will be included as a coauthor and what the requirements for coauthorship will be.