How to run a workshop (with a free workshop design canvas)

Many occasions might call for planning a workshop. You might be a new team lead aiming to design the best working practices for your group, or perhaps you need to run a quarterly meeting to explore ideas and set goals. Maybe you are working with your local community to prepare a great calendar of events, or aligning with key stakeholders around how to run a project. 

Whatever the motivation, a workshop is a great way to get people together, focus on a specific topic, generate new ideas, build new skills, problem-solve and make real progress. For more information on what a workshop is, and why to run one, here is our dedicated article.

This is what we will be looking at in the next pages:

We hope this will provide you with all you need to feel prepared for your first workshop. If you are more experienced, you might want to take a look and see if our tips correspond with your practice. Is there anything we mention here that you have not been giving much attention to lately? Or have we forgotten something important? Let us know in the comments!

How to prepare for a successful workshop

Experienced facilitators have a rule of thumb: time spent preparing a workshop will be about double the actual time spent in the workshop. That means if you are planning for a two-hour session, you can estimate about four hours spent in workshop preparation. For a one-day event, at least two days will go into prep work. For a full run-through of all that you might want to consider for proper planning, check out our complete guide.

If that feels like a lot, stop and consider how much work you can save by hosting a well-designed workshop. A good workshop experience may save you hours of busywork, or improve return on investment by diminishing waste of energy and funds that might go into decisions that hadn’t been well thought out.

So, what are the absolute essentials of workshop preparation? Let’s say you are getting ready for something fairly basic, like a one-hour working session for your team. People know one another and know more or less what to expect. What do you need to do to prepare?

There are three key items you’ll need to set up to prepare your workshop, each answering some essential questions:

1. Space setup. Where, and when, will the workshop take place? This is about preparing a space, whether in person or online, and deciding on a time and date.
2. Agenda design. What will we do at the workshop? This concerns preparing a well-thought-out agenda, as well as materials.
3. Invite preparations. Who will be there? This is about sending out a compelling invite and making sure you know who should attend.

We will now look into these three points in turn, adding some tips on how to best manage them and avoid common pitfalls along the way. 

1. Timing and location

To start workshop preparation, you will need to pick a location and make sure the physical environment fits your needs. Go through your workshop agenda in your mind and check out materials and technical requirements. Do you need a projector and screen? What about whiteboards? Will participants require access to good wifi, and do you have the password? SessionLab’s agenda planner has a dedicated section that will help you create a checklist of materials, making the process of getting ready for the big day easier!

It is practically a running joke in the facilitation world that workshop facilitators are the ones who show up early and start moving tables around. This is due to the fact that most meeting or conference rooms are organized with lectures and presentations in mind, while for a participatory, engaging workshop you’ll probably want small huddles of tables, or chairs arranged in circles. If you want some ideas on which room setup to choose for your next workshop, here is our complete guide on how to use room setup styles to maximise engagement! 

Besides a location you will, of course, have to decide on a time. Give some thought to what time and day of the week will make attendance most likely. I have recently been leading a series of workshops with tour guides: to find out what time would work for them we had to keep up to date on local festivals, as well as avoid weekends, which are peak working times for this stakeholder category.  

If, on the other hand, your workshop will take place online, you’ll need to choose a meeting tool, create and share a link, and make sure you are familiar with all settings. While in a webinar it is common to simply present slides, in a virtual workshop there will be a lot of interactivity.

Using breakout rooms is a common way to kick off discussions in small groups: ensure you are confident in setting them up. Think of other needs you may have, such as sharing a whiteboard or quizzes. Running workshops online has its own challenges and may be worth a practice run-through! Here are some more ideas on how to pick online tools and handle virtual workshops with ease.

When preparing a virtual workshop, you also might be thinking of having participants join from different timezones. Make sure you schedule your workshop at a time that suits most perspective attendees. Giving for granted that everyone is in the same timezone, when they are not, is probably the most common scheduling error of all. Double check your timezone and write it clearly in the invitation! 

2. Crafting a workshop agenda

Creating a clear agenda is an essential step in running any successful workshop. A good agenda helps you make the most of your time together and ensures that every topic gets the attention it deserves. For a full guide to agenda design, look no further than our 101 introduction here. 

The basics of agenda design start with setting clear objectives. What do participants hope to achieve by the end of the workshop? Start with your goals and work backwards, mapping out activities that help the group reach those outcomes. It’s a good idea to include a mix of different types of activities, from presentations and discussions to interactive exercises and reflection time. This variety helps keep everyone engaged and caters to different learning styles.

Download and use our essential agenda design canvas (for free!)

At SessionLab, we specialize in supporting team leaders and facilitators in designing agendas for meetings that matter. Using SessionLab’s planner you can quickly put together a flow for your next workshop: a flexible drag-and-drop tool allows you to shift activities around and automatically calculates the timing, and by colour-coding each section you can see in an instant whether you’ve achieved a good mix of activities. 

Here are three ways SessionLab can help you design your next agenda with ease:

• Download and fill out the agenda design canvas. This is a simple tool to help you collect your thoughts and start the design process. Each section can help you focus on an essential part of the design, starting with the workshop’s purpose (and title), all the way to learnings and feedback you’ll want to remember to improve future workshops.
• Start from a ready-made template. SessionLab has a library of workshop templates you can take inspiration from. Each is prepared by expert facilitators who have provided their tips and tricks for how to run it. At the end of this article you’ll find a selection of beginner-friendly workshop templates to start from!
• Try out SessionLab’s planner. Its functions are made to help you design effective workshops, and you can pick activities from a vast library of over 1400 methods! 

3. The art of the invite

Now that you have your agenda, a time, and a place sorted, it’s time to gather the people. Sounds simple, right? Yet, if there’s one challenge I often face when organizing workshops, it’s ensuring that invitations are sent out on time and contain everything participants need to show up prepared. Here’s what you need to consider to craft a clear, motivating invite that gets the right people in the room.

Who should be at your workshop?

When deciding who to invite, focus on identifying potential workshop participants who can contribute the most to your workshop goals. It’s tempting to include everyone, but inviting too many can lead to confusion or make it harder to get things done. Instead, ask yourself: who has key information to share, and who needs to be involved for the decisions made in the session to be implemented effectively? It’s better to have a smaller, engaged group than a larger crowd that feels disconnected.

How many people should be there? 

Choosing the right group size is about finding a balance. Keep it small enough to ensure workshop attendees can participate actively, but large enough to bring in diverse perspectives. For most workshops, aim for 5-12 participants — this range allows for meaningful dialogue without becoming chaotic. Remember, quality over quantity is key; a focused, engaged group will always be more effective.

Handling no-shows gracefully

Even with the best planning, there will be times when people don’t show up. Instead of stressing, embrace the mindset of “whoever comes are the right people.” This principle, which comes from Open Space Technology, a brilliant method of working without a set agenda (intrigued? Read up here and check out our dedicated template and materials here), reminds us to focus on what can be done in the moment, with the people who are there, instead of stressing over who “should” be here but is not. 

To keep everyone in the loop, make sure you take thorough notes and share them afterward. At SessionLab, we use Notion to document our meetings so anyone who missed out can easily catch up and stay informed.

Crafting a clear and motivating invitation

Your invitation sets the tone for the entire workshop, so make it count. Start by clearly stating the purpose of the session and why it matters. Encourage potential attendees to join by explaining the impact of the future workshop: what will be done with results? Set expectations about the level of participation needed, especially if it’s an interactive workshop rather than a passive webinar. 

Example invitation:
“Hi team, we’re gathering next Wednesday from 10 to 11 AM CET, to brainstorm ways to improve our onboarding process. The session will take place on Zoom at this link [include link]. 

This is a valuable opportunity for us to address key challenges together, and your insights will help shape how we create a smoother onboarding experience for new team members.

It will be a collaborative, interactive session. If possible, please join from a computer rather than a phone, and from somewhere where you have a good connection and can keep your camera on.”

This way, your invite is clear, sets the right tone, and gives people motivation to join. Happy inviting!

Anyone can be a great workshop leader. If you have prepared well, you will be confident in your workshop delivery.

Pamela Hamilton, The Workshop Book

How to start a workshop

You can really tell an experienced workshopper from the way they open their sessions. An attentive host will make sure people are settled in and have all the information they need before actually kicking off activities. Starting a workshop by going straight into the topic, perhaps with a lengthy technical presentation, is exactly the kind of pitfall you want to avoid. 

A well-facilitated workshop will therefore have an opening section where the facilitator will:

1. Welcome participants
2. Present the agenda
3. Frame the purpose

Let’s look at these in turn.

1. Welcome participants to the workshop

Welcome workshop participants warmly and set the stage for a productive discussion by introducing a quick check-in activity. Icebreakers or check-ins fulfill a need to understand our role in the room and settle in. A common pitfall in workshops is to consider icebreakers (and feel free to rebrand them as ‘icemelters’) as futile exercises, while actually they can be powerful tools to create a good flow.

Pick a question that makes sense to your audience. Aim to help people know one another better, establish trust, and settle in the workshop space, not to make people uncomfortable! 

Online you can read many bad examples of using checkins, icebreakers or energizers in a way that makes people cringe. The worst I’ve ever heard implied asking team members to move around chairs and sit on one another’s laps based on the questions that were asked. This resulted in a very uncomfortable intern having to sit on her boss’ lap: a really awful case of facilitation gone bad!

Here’s a better example: a few days ago I was facilitating a workshop with citizens and local administrators of small villages. Most people knew one another by sight, but not very well. I started the day by asking participants to turn to another person and share something they love about their village. This lifted their mood, allowed them to share more or less personal things as they felt comfortable, and set the stage for a good discussion about needed improvements in local policy. 

A key reason to include an icebreaker or check-in question is to encourage participants to speak up as early as possible. The earlier people make their voices heard, the more likely they will be to intervene in group discussions later. Here are three simple ways to do it:

• If workshop attendees do not know one another, you may want to invite a tour de table, asking everyone for brief personal introductions. It’s up to the workshop facilitator to set clear boundaries for this, or introductions can take a very long time. I’ll typically ask for name, organization, and “what brings you here today?”. Model how long this should take by starting yourself.
• Ask a check-in question and have people share in turns. If you are short on inspiration, here is a list of over 200 ideas of what to ask.
• Online, start meetings and webinars with a chat waterfall. Simply ask everyone to use the chat as a check-in, and read out some answers as they arrive.

2. Present the agenda and set expectations

Now that the group is ready to get to work, it’s time to share the agenda with participants. Your agenda is more than a list of topics — it’s the roadmap for the day, helping attendees understand what’s coming and how to engage.

Start by providing a brief overview of the workshop’s structure, highlighting the key sections and activities. This helps everyone see the bigger picture and know what to expect, reducing any anxiety about what might come next. Be clear about the timing of breaks, interactive elements, and when there will be opportunities for discussion. When people know there will be dedicated moments for their input, they’re more likely to stay engaged.

A common mistake here is to launch into a detailed explanation of every single agenda item. Instead, keep it concise and focus on giving a high-level view. You can go into more detail once each activity begins. 

If you’re running an online workshop, it’s especially important to outline the agenda clearly. Use visual aids like a slide or a shared document that participants can refer back to throughout the session. This helps keep everyone on track and minimizes confusion, especially if participants join late or lose connection briefly.

In summary, give an overview, highlight key points, and share the plan visually if possible. If you are using SessionLab’s agenda planner, you’ll find it particularly easy to share a high-level agenda with participants: you can choose whether to download and share a PDF or Word file, or simply share a QR code to show everyone the flow of the day. 

A disclaimer is also in order here: experienced folk might want to keep their agenda to themselves, to encourage surprise and wonder, and to allow themselves more leeway in adapting to the group. This can be a good tactic in certain circumstances, but is not something for beginners to launch into straight away! 

3. Frame the purpose of the workshop

Besides welcoming people and sharing your roadmap, the other thing you need to do in the opening section is give a brief context of why the workshop is happening. Do not assume that people know: we have busy lives and not everyone may have had time to prepare before joining. 

Explain why the topic is important and how it connects to broader objectives (e.g., company strategy, project goals, or community needs). Avoid assuming that workshop participants are already on the same page — even if they’ve seen the invite, a reminder can make all the difference in helping participants shift their focus from their day-to-day tasks to the workshop’s topic.

A common pitfall here is to make this part too long or abstract. Keep it clear and straightforward, using language that resonates with the group. You might say something like, “Today, we’re here to brainstorm ways to streamline our onboarding process. We’ve seen some challenges with our current approach, and this is our chance to work together on real solutions that can make a difference.”

You may have already noticed that, with just a bit of facilitation skill, you can easily connect the workshop topic to the check-in question to make everything feel coherent. 

9 tips for running a workshop

Framing your workshop well will enable you to kick-off activities, conversations and discussions with momentum. Having concluded the opening, it is now time to introduce the core discussion topics and activities on your agenda. Here are 9 things to keep in mind when going through the items in your workshop agenda:

1. Mix different activities and exercises. You can combine different activities around the same question. A typical way to start is to introduce a question or topic, maybe with the help of an expert presentation, then call for initial individual responses written on sticky notes, cluster, and discuss them. 
   
   A great activity to learn is 1-2-4-all, from Liberating Structures. If you have a question for participants to engage with, you can start by asking them to reflect on it individually, then share in pairs, in small groups, and finally in plenary. This is a way of varying activities that enables everyone to contribute, and can ensure participants remain engaged throughout.
2. Be a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage. The facilitator’s position in a workshop is not to tell people what to think or do, but to gently yet confidently guide participants towards desired outcomes, and to create a collaborative environment. For more reflections on the role of a group facilitator, read about 6 facilitation roles, here. 
   
   Asking for permission is part of holding this role well. You are working with adults, in a professional or community setting, and nobody should feel like they are being forced to do or reveal anything. Frame activities as invitations, and give options to observe, opt-out or pass (for example, when leading a round of reflection, you might say something like “take your time to respond and please remember you can always just pass to the next person”).
3. Make room for a break (or two). One of the most common mistakes a workshop facilitator can make is doing away with the breaks “because we are short on time”. You do not just want decisions to be made at the workshop: you want good decisions, and an increased sense of belonging and trust to boot.
   
   Making sure everyone’s energy levels enable them to work well together, including by taking refreshing, nourishing breaks, will do a lot to prevent excessive noise, confusion, and conflict.
4. Give clear instructions. Getting good at giving clear instructions is really key to effectively facilitating workshops. Try to put yourself in the participants’ shoes: what information will they need in order to participate in group activities? Introduce each section by briefly stating its purpose (why are we doing this?) and give step-by-step instructions as to how it will work.
   
   Online, it’s good practice to have instructions written out in a slide or in the chat box. When working in person, I like to write up instructions on posters or on a projected slide as well, as I feel it makes it easier for participants to follow along. Asking “Do you have enough information to start?” is a good way to get the group moving; if there is some confusion, you can usually trust other participants to help each other along.
5. Create a parking lot. Conversations can go in unexpected directions. What do you do if the discussion veers wildly off-topic? One useful facilitation tool is having a “parking lot” space (I’ve also heard it referred to as “port” or “fridge”) where you might ask participants to park any ideas that are interesting, or relevant, but outside of the scope for the day.
   
   Having a parking lot can really help alleviate the tension between wanting to cut a conversation short but realizing it’s still important, just not for now!
6. Beware of “Let’s hear back from the tables”. If you have divided participants in small groups and asked them to collaborate on a task, it’s common to want to have a round to hear back from every group. While this urge makes sense, it is often conducive to lengthy presentations that nobody is really paying attention to. Can you feel the energy drop when the fifth group repeats things everyone’s already heard?
   
   Counteract this by asking very specific questions (“Please share one tip you have for the other groups” has worked well for me), timeboxing strictly (3 minutes per table, tops) or moving to a different activity to collect insights, such as using a Mentimeter question and projecting results on a screen for all to see.
7. Silence (and music) are your friends. Good workshop facilitation is a lot about balancing spaces that enable both extroverts and introverts to work well together. Make room in your agenda for individual work and reflection, and do not panic if people stay quiet after a question: they may just be thinking!
   
   If silence while doing individual work is uncomfortable for you, consider bringing audio equipment and playing some soft music in the background.
8. Throw it back to the group. It’s common for beginners at leading workshops to get the impression that every decision and choice is uniquely up to you. This can feel very overwhelming, and might lead you to double-guess every choice you make. Instead, you should always remember that you are in a room full of smart, experienced people. Your role is to guide them, not to take their place in every decision about what should happen at the workshop.
   
   In practice, this can translate to the commonly used facilitation tactic of “throwing it back to the group”. You might ask, for example: “What do you think, is it time for a short break or shall we continue for another 45 minutes before going to lunch?” Instead of deciding in place of participants, you can use your position to clarify what decisions need to be made and ask attendees for input. Collect a few ideas, then propose a way forward.
9. Design a flow that goes from ideation to decision-making. Facilitated workshops often begin with a brainstorming phase, called divergence, where new ideas are welcome and the aim is to stimulate creativity and innovation. Then comes a discussion phase, known as emergence, in which ideas are mulled over and refined.
   
   Last comes convergence, which is about selecting ideas based on realistic criteria such as available time, resources, or KPIs and finally making a decision (or deferring a decision to a group leader, who now will be able to make better-informed choices).

5 foolproof activities for running workshops

Having come to this point you may be wondering what kinds of activities you should be familiar with in order to prepare and host a great workshop. The truth is, although you may explore many activities, and create your own, there are a handful of tried-and-true methods that will generally serve you well, whatever the topic, situation, or number of participants.

So let’s look at 5 foolproof activities you can guide, even if you need to jump into them because of last minute surprises! Here they are, in the likely order you’d use them in a typical workshop:

Break the ice with Impromptu Networking

Impromptu Networking is a quick and energizing way to kick off a workshop by helping participants connect and share ideas right from the start. Through a series of short, structured one-on-one conversations, attendees exchange thoughts on the workshop topic, setting a collaborative tone. This method is perfect for creating an atmosphere of trust and openness in any workshop setting. I like to use Impromptu Networking especially when facilitating large numbers of participants, as it doubles as a getting-to-know-you exercise.

Collect a flurry of ideas with the Walking Brainstorm

The Walking Brainstorm method gets participants moving while generating ideas, combining physical activity with collaborative thinking. By walking around the room and commenting on ideas in writing, and in silence, participants can spark creativity and fresh perspectives.

Debrief and reflect in a Paired Walk

Once a lot of ideas are on the table, certain topics or tensions might emerge that benefit from some time to discuss and debrief. You might, for example, discover that half the team wants to focus on AI use, while the other half views it with extreme skepticism. In workshop settings it is often not necessary to resolve such tensions definitively, but it is important to acknowledge them, air them, and see what emerges that might direct later choices.

A good way to enable moments of reflection and deeper understanding is to send people on a paired walk. Speaking in twos is generally less intimidating, and more conducive to understanding, than keeping every discussion in a large group. And a bit of fresh air can do wonders!

Organize ideas in an Impact/Effort Matrix

It’s been often commented that facilitators tend to have more methods for brainstorming and ideating than for making decisions. While that is true, it might be because convergence, that is, choosing a path among many, is a more structured, less creative process. As such, the convergent phase of any workshop will benefit from matrixes and canvases upon which ideas can be mapped and evaluated. A classic, all-purpose way of doing it is the impact/effort matrix. We use it here at SessionLab as well to evaluate what projects and activities to pursue!

Close the day with 3 Action Steps

The 3 Action Steps method is a strategic planning exercise designed to help groups and individuals take actionable steps toward a desired change. Typically used at the conclusion of a workshop or program, it involves participants discussing and agreeing on a vision, then creating specific action steps to achieve that vision. The process also includes defining the scope of the challenge by discussing factors that may help or hinder progress.

Here at SessionLab we host a library of over 1400 activities and methods that can form the key elements of your next workshop. Taking time to explore them will provide you with plenty of ideas and inspiration for successful workshops. You can also subscribe to our newsletter, to receive a curated list of our favorite facilitation methods in your inbox twice a month!

Timekeeping tips for smooth workshop flow

Staying on schedule is one of the most crucial aspects of running a successful workshop. It’s easy for discussions to run long, especially if participants are engaged and enthusiastic, but this can derail the rest of your carefully planned agenda. 

One effective technique is timeboxing, where you allocate a specific amount of time for each activity or discussion point. Clearly communicate these time limits to the group, and use a timer or a visible clock to help keep everyone on track. SessionLab’s planner helps with this by allowing you to clearly allocate time to each activity.

However, timekeeping isn’t just about sticking rigidly to your schedule. A skilled facilitator knows when to be flexible and adjust the timing based on the energy and needs of the group. If a discussion is particularly fruitful, consider extending it by shortening a later activity — just be sure to get the group’s agreement first. If energy is low, you might want to add a quick break.

Remember, your agenda is a guide, not a rulebook. Flexibility shows that you are responsive to the group’s needs and can help keep momentum without sacrificing the quality of discussions.

Effective notetaking and documentation

Capturing the key insights and ideas from a workshop is vital, not only for immediate follow-up but also to maintain momentum beyond the session. Designate a notetaker at the start of the workshop — ideally someone other than the facilitator, so you can focus on guiding the discussion. For in-person workshops, using a large whiteboard or sticky notes can help make the notes visible to all participants as they’re captured. In an virtual setting, collaborative online tools like Google Docs or Miro can be used so everyone can contribute in real-time.

Encourage the notetaker to highlight key points and group them by theme or topic. This makes it easier to review and synthesize the information later. If you’re using sticky notes for brainstorming, consider snapping photos or transcribing them digitally right after the session to avoid losing valuable input.

At the end of the workshop, it is good practice to share the notes promptly with all participants. This follow-up step reinforces what was discussed and decided, and it gives everyone a shared reference point for next steps. A clear and organized summary can make the difference between a workshop that fades from memory and one that leads to real, actionable change.

How to close a workshop effectively 

You made it! The time for your workshop is almost over and you have some happy, if possibly tired, participants in the room. What do you need to do to effectively close the workshop? You’ll be aiming to create an atmosphere conducive to feelings of accomplishment, progress and closure. Probably not every topic will have been successfully and completely closed, but that is not the point: the point is that progress has been made. 

Workshops are always at risk of running late. It is good practice to hold closing time as inviolable: people will have other engagements, personal or professional, afterward, and it is quite unfair to keep them seated with the (generally unspoken) threat that something important might happen in the room after they leave. 

Even if your activities are running late, you should start wrapping up about 15 minutes before the scheduled end. Remind participants of other opportunities they will have to pursue whatever topic or discussion is going on, and invite them to reach closing remarks. 

Once you have concluded the last activity, there are a couple more things you’ll need to do in the final phase of your workshop:

• Recap what happened, and provide some next steps. Briefly remind participants of the journey you’ve gone through together and inform them of any next steps: where will they find documentation about the workshop? What will be done with the output? Assign tasks if appropriate. 
• Ask for a checkout. Giving participants some space to reflect on how the workshop was, and how they feel now, provides a nice sense of closure and achievement. Techniques such as One Breath Feedback are ideal for this step. 

• Gather feedback and reflect. You can do this directly at the end of the workshop, or as part of the follow-up. Feedback is fundamental for your own reflection and improvement.
  
  A classic way of asking for feedback at the end of the workshop is to ask everyone to write at least one thing they appreciated and one thing they might improve on posters at the exit or, if the group is small enough, have a closing round of feedback.

Asking for feedback at a later time might imply more back-and-forth communication, but is also likely to get you more honest answers, as people tend to give very good report cards when asked directly at the end of a session. You can collect opinions at a later date by, for example, having a Mentimeter questionnaire ready asking for reflections on the workshop: this has the added value of giving you materials that are ready to collate into a report if you are planning to prepare one.

Reflecting and debriefing on your experience as a facilitator is the best way to learn and improve new skills. Make sure you keep some time in your agenda (hopefully, after getting a good night’s sleep – facilitating workshops can be tiring!) to look back on how things went and what you can learn from your own experiences at the workshop, as well as from participant feedback. Having a learning process in place will make all the difference for your future skills development. 

Templates and resources to help you get started as a workshop facilitator

We hope this guide helps you feel confident enough to feel you can now run workshops wherever you are. Whatever your personal style, whoever your target audience, we believe the world needs more collaboration, and well-run workshops can help achieve this. 

If at this stage you’d like more detailed information on planning a workshop, we have a dedicated guide that takes you through every step of the process in detail. You can read it here.

If you feel ready to step into designing your next workshop, you might find the process easier by starting from a ready-to-use template. Here are three suggested ones from our collection: simply duplicate them in SessionLab’s planner and adapt them to your needs! 

The Essential Workshop Structure template provides a foundational framework for participatory workshops. It includes an opening phase to set the learning environment, slots for activities and debriefs, and a closing section for reflections and next steps, adaptable to various workshop topics.

The Workshop Design Canvas Template, designed by experienced facilitators and trainers at Voltage Control, facilitates learner-centered workshop designs by applying backward design principles. Participants create detailed learner personas, manage cognitive load effectively, and align activities with assessments, resulting in engaging and impactful learning experiences

This Workshop Planning Template offers a structured approach to designing workshops through a series of five 1-hour meetings between clients and facilitators. It guides you from sharing a vision to refining the agenda, briefing the team, and collecting learnings, ensuring a comprehensive planning process.

Workshop facilitators as a whole are a collaborative and generous bunch. Check out more free resources on how to run successful workshop at this link, or join our friendly SessionLab Community and ask your questions there!

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.