How to collaborate on an event with SessionLab

The first part of a facilitator’s job is often quite a solitary affair: me, at my desk, sometimes with some help from AI, working on an agenda to get to a sense of what a certain workshop or event will be like. If you want to learn more about how to use SessionLab’s features such as colour-coding, a methods library, time calculation and more, to go from an initial idea all the way to a solid agenda design, take a look at this article.

Once a session plan is ready, a different part of the work begins: the next steps are going to be all about collaboration, co-design, and information sharing, 

Numerous stakeholders must be brought in before the workshop begins. This includes, depending on the specific situation, co-facilitators, assistants, staff, clients, and participants. All these parties have different needs and requirements in terms of how to view and interact with the session plan.

Larger events and conferences are among the most technically challenging for facilitators to run. They usually require a lot of coordination among staff, with different types of plans and instructions being shared depending on the various roles involved. I’ll therefore be using a large (150 people) in-person networking event as an example. 

Here is what we will cover:

Designing a large event or conference using SessionLab

The quantity of information exchanged during the organization of a large-scale event can be quite daunting. In the next paragraphs, I’ll break it down step by step. Let’s start with the basic agenda for the event. 

In this example, I’ve been called in to design and facilitate a 150-people conference for professionals working in the same business field. People will be joining from all over the world: some will know one another, but most will not. Everyone will want to make the most of their time together.

Of course, it’s not enough to just put workshop participants in the same room to get a magical spark of connection. Carefully designed activities will help them meet, build professional relationships, learn together and, hopefully, even kick-start future projects.

The draft agenda I’ve designed includes various opportunities to meet and mingle, long breaks, and many different rounds of small-group work, giving people the chance to interact with as many participants as possible, without it getting too overwhelming.

Now that my basic plan is ready, as main facilitator for the event I have 3 key needs:

1. Intuitive ways to collaborate on the agenda with my co-facilitator and with clients;
2. Flexible options for sharing my plan differently with different stakeholders;
3. Easy-to-retrieve lists of materials and tasks.
   

Luckly, all of that (and a few more useful bits and bobs) has been thought out in the SessionLab Planner. Let’s see how.

Sharing the plan with my co-facilitator

Let’s say I’ve created a draft plan on my own and am now calling in a co-facilitator, James, to discuss and fine-tune it together. 

Note that if you are using the free or individual plans, getting a gig for a large event might be a good trigger to switch to the Pro plan.

The individual plan is designed for (unsurprisingly) individual use. On the individual plan, you can still enable people to view your session, but switching to the Pro plan might be a good call once you find yourself needing more advanced collaboration options, such as real-time editing of the same document from multiple accounts, and exchanging back-and-forth comments.

To learn more about the differences between plans and whether upgrading is for you, check out SessionLab’s pricing options.

Here is how SessionLab helps me stay on the same page (literally) with my co-facilitator:

1. Giving editing rights

I can easily add another person to the session with editing rights. This gives James the power to change the session directly. Co-facilitation takes a lot of mutual trust! Using different colours to identify who made what edits, or to draw attention to a certain point, is very helpful at this stage.

2. Commenting

I, James, and in fact anyone I give viewer or editor rights to the session can start an asynchronous conversation using comments. This is where I am most likely to ask a question, such as “Do you think 20 minutes is enough for this activity?”, for example.

3. Assigning people to a section

When sharing the stage, it is absolutely essential to know who will be doing what. Alternating taking the lead is helpful for everyone: it preserves my and James’ energy, and it’s easier to keep the attention high as well, as we have two different voices, paces, and styles.

When we are ready to decide who will do what, we’ll simply add the Assigned To column to our session plan and fill it in, so we can clearly, at a glance, envision who will be leading which section or activity.

Reviewing the plan with clients

Client meetings punctuate the various stages of the planning process. During these meetings, it’s common to:

• go through the entire agenda, from high-level to details;
• decide the order of speakers;
• fine-tune the questions that will frame conversations;
• agree on matters of logistics, such as the timing of lunch breaks;
• and more.

Here are five actions I’ll commonly take, using SessionLab to support collaboration with clients and organizers:

1. Using comments to solve open questions

A client can be an individual, but is more often a small team of people deeply involved in the event’s organization, such as a project manager, a communication officer, someone looking at the logistics side, and more. Typically, I’ll introduce the plan during a call, and give everybody involved viewing rights.

Giving everyone the right to edit directly could get too confusing, but comments are a great way to have asynchronous conversations, draw people in by mentioning them, and keep track of who said what about which part of the agenda.

As session owner, I receive an email alert anytime new comments are added, helping me keep track of what is going on. There is usually a point in time when comments multiply, then die down as issues are resolved, one by one. 

2. Getting some help from AI

In my experience, what clients most need as we fine-tune the plan is clarity. SessionLab’s AI Assistant helps by reformulating, simplifying, or translating in another language (or in a different style or jargon) explanations for a certain activity I might have hastily written.

When aligning with my co-facilitator, for example, there is no need to explain what Impromptu Networking means. We both know and practice this method. With the AI Assistant, I can add some explanations and context for my client in one click. 

3. Directing attention by color-coding text

SessionLab has a simple text editor that allows you to do all the obvious things, such as bold or underline text. I like to use different colours to draw attention to things: for example, red is for issues or questions that need to be solved as soon as possible.

Colors assigned to the Category bar are also useful to help clients orient themselves in the session. In this case, I’ve coded them for different types of activities, but they would also be adapted, for example, to show at a glance how the different sections relate to learning objectives.

4. Adapting the session view to the audience

Before going through the agenda with clients, I find it helpful to ask myself what it is that they most need to know at a certain point in time. It’s really easy to get bogged down by details. To counteract this, hide all columns except for the Time, Title and Description, or start meetings and run-throughs by showing the simple Overview, which shows the entire session flow at a glance. 

5. Exporting plans in PDF & Word

If at any time someone needs a downloaded version of the plan, even if it’s not definitive (e.g. to print out and bring to a visit at the caterers’), it can be done, in PDF or Word format. It’s easy to customize the columns to that only relevant information is printed out. The style of these printouts really helps clients understand the flow, read through it quickly, and looks professional to boot!

Preparing materials lists for smooth logistics

Speaking of print-outs, let’s talk about materials and logistics. As the date of the conference gets closer, another important task for the facilitation team is to prepare detailed lists of materials we’ll need. This includes posters, printouts, participant kits and, of course, markers, papers, and sticky notes. 

To do this, I’ll just add the Materials column to the plan. All columns are flexible, meaning it’s possible to add them or hide them depending on the need of the moment.

I think that effective collaboration with the people who are working behind the scene, getting everything ready, is key to a successful workshop. Because of this, it’s important to fill out the Materials column carefully and share it with the logistics team. The rest of the time, it can stay hidden. If I am procuring materials myself, I’ll probably also print a version, on paper or PDF, to have handy when I go to the stationery shop or make an online order.

Sometimes, materials are not physical items but digital ones. Slidedecks come to mind as a common use case: in this networking event, for example, the keynote speaker has sent her slides over a few days in advance. By adding them as attachments to the relevant block, I can make sure nothing gets lost and everything is easy to retrieve, being all in the same place.

Another SessionLab feature that really helps with logistics are To-Do notes. I personally am a great fan of the feeling of ticking through a to-do list, and add them in various places of my plan to check we are on track with preparations. 

A brightly colored note at the start of each day, for example, is a good place to detail requirements for how the room should be set up, making communications with conference room staff a breeze.

Save time when briefing facilitation assistants and speakers

In a large event such as this one, it’s common to bring in some extra help. In this case, the client has assigned a few facilitation assistants who will sit at each table to support the conversation and take notes. These are often, including for this conference, junior staff, and/or folk whose main job is not facilitation, and who are not deeply involved in the planning process from the start. 

To quickly get them up to speed and give them all the information they need to successfully fulfill their role, I usually add an extra column, such as the Instructions column. To be extra clear, I can rename it Instructions For Assistants. This is where I add details on needs and expectations from supporting staff.

Last but not least, speakers will also need to get a sense of the plan for the day. In many cases, these are busy people with many engagements who are not interested in knowing all the ins and outs of the plan. What do speakers need to know to perform their role successfully? Probably all they need is a general sense of the plan for the day, what time they will start and end, and what happens just before and after. 

Sending them a QR code with a general overview of the session is probably the best option here.

Exporting session plans and sharing with workshop participants

Plans change all the time. Because of this, I much prefer to share links to the SessionLab Planner rather than download a plan that might soon be changed. Needs related to logistics, such as last-minute changes from the caterer, can impact timing and quickly render a printed plan not only obsolete, but likely to provoke chains of misunderstandings or errors.

Having said that, there can still be various reasons to download session plans and send them in PDF or Word format. Recently I worked for a EU agency where this was a requirement: any major change to the plan had to be recorded in their system by sending an email with an updated, Word, version. Whatever my qualms about this (I am very wary of the “Version 4_May_FINAL-FINAL” effect, if you know what I mean), it’s something as a contractor I had to adhere to. Fortunately, it’s very easy to download a new version from SessionLab any time that is needed.

The Overview button in SessionLab is a handy way of sharing updated information with participants. Using a link or QR code, it allows me to send participants a brief, legible overview of the session, and it’s synched with the session plan, so it will always reflect the latest changes!

Pro tip: write catchy, participant-friendly titles from the start. The Online Agenda automatically displays an overview with only the Time and Title and Description columns (plus the color-coded Category). If you are going to share it with participants, make sure those titles are legible to a general audience. Crafting attractive titles and avoiding jargon will help with setting expectations and getting everyone excited for the event!

Getting ready to deliver

So here we finally are. It’s the day of the event. Participants have received the program, my co-facilitator and I have had a pre-workshop chat (if you’d like to learn more about those, I highly recommend getting your free copy of the Cofacilitation Playbook by Romy Alexandra and Maria Niederwieser). Assistants and staff are briefed, it’s time to get this conference started!

What are my last-minute checks and rituals?

• Room arrangements. It’s a cliche to say that the facilitator will show up and start moving chairs around, but it’s often true for me! In this case, we are working in a professional conference venue and moving chairs will not be required, but I’ll still take a look if any posters need to be hung up. Are materials readily available where we need them? 
• Connecting with my co-facilitator and team. In the rush and moderate chaos of participants arriving, it’s still important to find a moment, even if it’s only 5 minutes over coffee, to connect with the team on a personal level. I’ll ask for a quick round of how everyone is feeling, check if there are any last-minute communications, perhaps set an intention for the day.
• Tech checks. Whether working online or in real life, showing up early to check the technology is always important. And because there is so much going on at large events, I’ve made myself a to-do list of what to check on the morning of the event.

Timing is of utmost importance for this type of large event. In order to keep track of it myself, I’ll generally wait until the last possible minute to download and print a PDF version. Yes, I try to save paper, but I also want to be prepared in case something goes wrong with the tech. I personally am a bit old-school and take notes on the plan as we go along. I’ll often also have a simplified version of the program up on posters in the room, so everyone (me included) can quickly see where we are and what happens next. 

More technically proficient people will certainly prefer viewing the session plan on a tablet and use the Time Tracker feature to keep track of time as the session proceeds, instead of my paltry pencilled-in notes.  The Time Tracker function is a great way to quickly communicate changes to the session made on the fly. The session timing automatically updates, so as long as everyone involved in running the session keeps the SessionLab agenda open on their devices, they can refer to it as a single source of truth for the plan, as it evolves.

In closing

As we’ve seen throughout the article, all these collaboration features in SessionLab’s Planner were specifically designed with facilitation and training needs in mind. To me, using these collaborative features means:

• Balancing control and collaboration: my co-facilitator and I retain editing rights, and can visualize the entire situation at a glance, while at the same time sharing information openly and enabling various stakeholders to comment, thereby encouraging a collegial, transparent approach to work.
• Keeping it all together. Information is not scattered in a bunch of different email threads but is compactly kept on the same page, easy to access at any time.
• Ultimately, by sharing information this way, everyone involved in planning, designing and bringing the session to life is set up for success.

Extra bonus: all this information is saved for me to refer to next time. It will be easy to duplicate, edit, copy and paste bits of this massive work, to facilitate creating the next great event. By turning the session into a template, I can make it available to the rest of my team in our shared workspace.

I hope I’ve managed to convey how useful these tools are for any professional facilitator, trainer, event and workshop designer. Are you ready to give them a try? Sign up (for free) from this link.

Deborah Rim Moiso Facilitation Content Writer

Deborah Rim Moiso is an Endorsed Facilitator with the IAF – International Association of Facilitators and former co-chair of the Italian IAF Chapter.

She is the author of a manual and deck of cards on facilitation available in Italian (Facilitiamoci!). Deborah has been working with groups since 2009 in the fields of innovation in education, citizen participation, and environmental conflicts.