Enhancing Workshop Engagement

See One. Do One. Teach One. I was watching Grey’s Anatomy (don't judge) when a line jumped out at me: “See one. Do one. Teach one.” It was Dr. Webber's mantra for medical training: observe a skill, try it yourself, then pass it on. It's also the perfect blueprint for event engagement. Most events get stuck at “see one.” Attendees listen to keynotes, sit through panels, watch demos. They see a lot, but if that’s where it ends, the knowledge fades almost instantly. The next level is “do one.” Give attendees space to try what they’ve learned, through hands-on workshops, scenario labs, role plays, or even a 10-minute exercise in the room. This helps the ideas move from theory into muscle memory. But then there's “teach one.” Create moments for attendees to share their perspective. Whether it’s a micro-discussion at their table, a peer-to-peer breakout, or a post-session “lightning share” where they explain what they learned to someone else. When people teach, they anchor the learning in their own words, and engagement skyrockets. What if designing events around this mantra could transform attendees into contributors? They stop being passive listeners and start being co-creators of the experience. Maybe that's what engagement is meant to be, after all. 

Running a workshop? Don’t just hope for engagement, design for it. It is 90% prep and 10% delivery. Here are my top tips for facilitating successful workshops: 🔍 Start with outcomes Be crystal clear on the why. What do you want people to walk away with? 💬 Design for emotion Map out how you want participants to feel before, during, and after the session. This affects everything from tone to format. 🗺️ Repeat the agenda Have timings and repeat throughout. It provides structure, helps people stay engaged and manages expectations. ⏱️ Make time visible Repeat timings on each slide and use timers to stay on track: • A digital timer on-screen (top right corner) during exercises helps participants self-manage. • A physical countdown timer with an alarm creates a clear transition cue. 📦 Timebox discussion: use ELMO Set clear boundaries for how long to spend on each topic. And when a conversation starts circling? Call out ELMO: Enough, Let’s Move On and add a note to revisit later in a Parking Lot. It keeps momentum high without cutting people off. 🤝 Keep it interactive Use group exercises and playback sessions. More voices = better thinking. Patterns often emerge in both the similarities and the differences. ✅ Recap achievements Before closing, reflect on what was accomplished. It reinforces momentum and gives people a sense of progress. ➡️ Agree next steps, with owners Clarity beats hope. Define what happens next, who owns it, and by when. Don’t leave it vague. Facilitation is a craft. Clarity, energy, and structure are your best friends. #BVSSH

Early in my facilitation career, I made a big mistake. Spent hours crafting engaging activities and perfecting every little detail… Thinking that amazing learning design is what would make my workshops stand out and get me rehired. Some went great. Some bombed. You know the ones, sessions where: - One participant dominated the conversation. - People quietly disengaged, barely participating. - half the group visibly frustrated but not saying anything. I would push through, hoping things would course-correct. But by the end, it was a bit… meh. I knew my learning design was great so... What was I missing? Why the inconsistency between sessions? 💡I relied too much on implicit agreements. I realised that I either skipped or rushed the 'working agreements'. Treating it like a 'tick' box exercise. And it's here I needed to invest more time Other names for this: Contract, Culture or Design Alliance, etc... Now, I never start a session without setting a working agreement. And the longer I'm with the group, the longer I spend on it. 25 years of doing this. Here are my go-to Qs: 🔹 What would make this session a valuable use of your time? → This sets the north star. It ensures participants express their needs, not just my agenda. 🔹 What atmosphere do we want to create? → This sets the mood. Do they want an energising space? A reflective one? Let them decide. 🔹 What behaviours will support this? → This makes things concrete. It turns abstract hopes into tangible agreements. 🔹 How do we want to handle disagreement? → This makes it practical. Conflict isn’t the problem—how we navigate it is. ... The result? - More engaged participants. - Smoother facilitation. - Ultimately, a reputation as the go-to person for high-impact sessions. You probably already know this. But if things don't go smoothly in your session. Might be worth investing a bit more time at the start to prevent problems later on. Great facilitation doesn't just happen, It's intentional, and it's designed. ~~ ♻️ Share if this is a useful reminder ✍️ Have you ever used a working agreement in your workshops? What’s one question you always ask? Drop it in the comments!

Want more productive workshops? Try stopping them sooner. Workshops often lock people in a room for two or three hours and expect them to do their best thinking on demand. Do we really have to hold people hostage to be productive? Lately, I’ve been using a technique I call "Echo Sessions." Instead of forcing deep work to happen in real time, we kickstart an activity, get clarity, but then stop just as people are getting into it. That pause is intentional. It’s based on the same principle as the Pomodoro technique—when you leave something unfinished while still feeling engaged, you'll find it easy to return to it later and give it space to percolate. Instead of dragging out a long workshop, I schedule an Echo Session later—often in the same day—where everyone brings their independent or small group work back for discussion, iteration, and action. Why does this work? ✅ Encourages Deep Work – People get time to think, research, or create in their own way, rather than being forced into artificial collaboration. ✅ Optimizes Meeting Time – Workshops should be for shared understanding, decision-making, and iteration—not for quiet focus time. ✅ Respects Different Work Styles – Some need time to walk and think. Others need to sketch. Some want to research or tap into AI. Echo Sessions give people time and space to work in the way that’s best for them. ✅ Creates Natural Momentum – Stopping at a high-energy moment makes people want to continue later, giving them space to create, rather than leaving them drained from a marathon session. ✅ Reduces Calendar Lockdowns – Instead of monopolizing hours at a time, work is distributed more effectively and meetings are only used when necessary. Most importantly, this approach treats participants like adults. It gives them flexibility and agency while ensuring that meetings serve a clear, valuable purpose. We don’t need long workshops. We need better workshops. Curious—how do you approach workshop fatigue? Would this work in your team?

I used to keep session agendas vague on purpose. 🧠 I assumed surprise creates engagement. Keep people curious. Then I worked with Wouter van den Berg, PhD, a neuro-economist. Together we designed a training on brain-based facilitation. He taught me something simple: your brain works better when it knows what's coming. So the rule of thumb in good facilitation (and any meeting)? Send an agenda 48 hours in advance. I changed nothing else about my workshops. Just started sending detailed agendas two days before. The difference was immediate. People jumped into activities faster. Quiet people spoke up earlier. Not because I facilitated better, but because their brains had time to process what was coming. Here's what still surprises me: According to Zoom, 62% of people attend meetings where the goal wasn't even mentioned in the invite. Think about that. Most people show up with literally zero context about why they're there. That's not a meeting. That's a waste of time. I used to think clarity would spoil the magic. Now I know: clarity creates safety, and safety is what lets the magic happen. So my tip for any meeting or workshop? Send the agenda. Explain the why. Give people time to prepare. When did you last send a meeting invite with actual preparation information instead of just a time and title? #Facilitation #Meetings #Neuroscience #WorkshopDesign #Leadership

The Future of B2B Events in 2025: Why Webinars aren't Enough Anymore. Webinars are still Good in 2025. But., If you are relying only on webinars to drive your B2B strategy in 2025, you're missing the bigger picture. ❌ The Old Playbook: Host a webinar. -Gather MQLs from form fills. -Send follow-up emails. -Push MQLs to sales. -Pitch your product. It's time to evolve: 👉 What's working in 2025: -Today's B2B buyers want more than a one-way conversation. -They crave value, interaction, and a sense of community. A few Examples and my favorites: ✔️ Workshops Over Webinars: 💡 Buyers want to be involved, not just observe. -Interactive workshops let them learn better. -Whether solving real problems in a live session or gaining hands-on experience, workshops create deep, personal engagement. I conduct workshops, which help me learn a great deal while teaching. -I Structured them as a hands-on, problem-solving session around a common pain point my prospect faces. ✔️ Micro-Communities: 📍 Think beyond large, impersonal webinars. -B2B decision-makers get increasingly drawn to smaller, niche groups where they can connect with peers and gain specialized knowledge ✔️ Live Case Studies with Clients: Inviting clients to co-host live case studies where they share their success stories and strategies. -It helps build trust and showcases real-world solutions. -These sessions highlight the tangible outcomes of your product or service. ✔️ Courses and Micro-Learning Sessions: 📚 Today's B2B buyers appreciate short, focused courses that they can immediately apply to their work. -Building an educational track with bite-sized learning around key topics is a win-win for engagement and brand positioning. ✔️Casual In-person Local Events The most underrated B2B growth lever in 2025. We’re seeing a revival of local, low-pressure, high-value meetups. You can organize: -CXO breakfast roundtables -12-person pizza & strategy evenings -Founder-led coffee sessions with 1-2 enterprise prospects -Co-branded "mini ABM events" with a customer as a host The vibe is Informal. Intentional. Invite-only. These formats are perfect for 1:Few and 1:1 ABM strategies. No decks. No sales pitches. Just proximity, context, and honest conversations. Here's an Example: -Use LinkedIn + HubSpot (or your CRM) to map your Tier 1 and Tier 2 accounts by city or region. -Once you’ve got your local clusters, don’t just wait for conferences—host your micro-events quarterly. -Even a 2-hour breakfast session with 5 decision-makers can create a more robust downstream pipeline than 500 passive webinar attendees. . It’s not about the number of attendees. It’s about curating the right conversations with the right people.

“Unusually inclusive.” That was the feedback I received after a recent workshop, and it stuck with me. Inclusion isn’t a feature you toggle on once the Zoom starts. It starts way earlier, and it continues throughout. ✨ Here are 10 ways to build accessibility and inclusion into your workshop from start to finish. Feel free to borrow or steal these tips for your own inclusive practice: - In your invitation, share what accessibility measures are already in place (captions, described visuals, optional participation), and invite requests. - Make participation optional: cameras off, silent presence, skipping breakout rooms… all totally fine. No need to explain. - Set expectations early: What’s the session for? Who is it for? How long will it last? Will there be breaks? This helps reduce anxiety and supports pacing. - Turn on captions and explain how to activate, resize, or hide them. Don’t assume people know. - Describe visuals out loud, especially charts, images, or anything not captured by captions. - Use multiple ways to participate: chat, voice, emoji reactions, or just listening. All are valid. - Repeat key info in the chat: it helps those who joined late, process visually, or use screen readers. - Offer a silent breakout room, for those who need company but not conversation. - Explain how to get help, who to message if something isn’t working, and who the host is. - Close with kindness: summarise next steps (if any), thank people for showing up however they could, and keep the door open for feedback. 👉 These are not advanced features. They’re basic ways to acknowledge that access needs vary, and that everyone deserves to feel safe and seen. I bundled these tips into a visual checklist one year ago, and they are still valid: https://lnkd.in/djYvcKV2 #Facilitation #inclusivefacilitation #accessibility

I used to feel stuck. My workshop participants weren’t connecting with the material, and I didn’t see those 'aha' moments I had hoped for. Then I changed my approach. I used to teach a workshop on choosing activities by walking participants through slides. I’d explain concepts like clustering, linking, grids, and circles—techniques inspired by Gamestorming. Then, participants would use these ideas to design their own workshop activities. But something always felt off. The concepts didn’t click. I was doing all the talking, and they weren’t fully engaged. 💡 So, I made a change. Instead of presenting the slides, I moved everything to a Miro board. Participants explored the concepts at their own pace. Their task? “How might these insights inform your approach to designing future workshop activities?” The difference was incredible. They connected with the material on a deeper level. When it came time to design their workshops, their ideas were sharper, more creative, and more aligned with their goals. One participant told me: "I finally see how to build an activity step by step. I can’t wait to try it out!" This reminded me why hands-on, self-guided exploration matters so much. When people discover ideas themselves, they feel ownership. They’re more confident—and more likely to apply what they’ve learned. Have you tried letting people take the lead in their own learning? How did it work for you? #HandsOnLearning #WorkshopFacilitation #Gamestorming

As a Latino urban planner, one of the biggest challenges I see in community engagement is that it often becomes mission-driven rather than relationship-driven. The dominant culture prioritizes goals, outcomes, and efficiency. By contrast, Latino culture is rooted in relationships—trust, stories, shared meals, music, and everyday interactions shape how we move forward together. When relationships come first, missions become more meaningful and sustainable. This is why I always begin my workshops by asking participants to build and share their favorite childhood memory. In just a few minutes, people open up, connect, and begin to see each other through stories and emotions rather than roles or positions. It grounds the work in relationships first, so whatever planning or design challenges we take on, we’re starting from a place of trust and shared humanity. Relationships thrive when people can mix across age and background through shared physical activity. For children, connection often happens through play; for adults, it can emerge from working with their hands. In our workshops, building together unlocks new ways to express, communicate, and engage the senses. Once that happens, people begin to think together. By engaging the body and senses, relationships gain a strong foundation and have the chance to truly thrive. What gets in the way, by contrast, is when interactions remain only verbal or abstract. Without physical, sensory, and emotional engagement, connections can feel shallow or transactional which is why so many people stop showing up to community meetings.

“What do you expect of yourself in this workshop? What do you expect of your peers? What do you expect of me as the facilitator?” Anyone who has been a part of a multi-hour workshop with me in the past decade knows that I like to start our time together with expectation-setting. The room creates a list of these expectations, which are recorded on a large piece of paper and hung on a wall for the rest of our time together. At the end of the workshop (or the end of each day if multiple days), we’ll revisit the list and ask ourselves how we’re doing against our expectations. This has been a staple of my workshop routine for so long because it accomplishes many things: • It’s the first “thing” the group visibly co-creates together, it’s done within the first minutes of the workshop. • It sets the stage for the interactivity I encourage (and have designed for) in the overall experience. This won’t be a lecture! • It allows us to get “housekeeping logistics” out of the way, like how we agree to use (or not use) technology in the space, how breaks will work, what level of confidentiality is needed, etc. • It practices an important part of good management which everyone can take back to their day job: co-creating and reviewing expectations. Any time a new configuration of people come together, it’s great to get them talking and to begin to understand the norms or rules of engagement. Eventually, this helps us answer the question, “What type of environment do we hope this will be?” What are some consistent routines you have for your meetings, workshops, or 1:1 sessions? And why do you do them?