Conducting Workshop– A workshop is a single, short (although short may mean anything from 45 minutes to two full days) educational program designed to teach or introduce to participants practical skills, techniques, or ideas which they can then use in their work or their daily lives. Most workshops have several features in common:
- They’re generally small, usually from 6 to 15 participants, allowing everyone some personal attention and the chance to be heard.
- They’re often designed for people who are working together or working in the same field.
- They’re conducted by people who have real experience in the subject under discussion.
- They’re often participatory, i.e. participants are active, both in that they influence the direction of the workshop and also in that they have a chance to practice the techniques, skills, etc. that are under discussion.
- They’re informal; there’s a good deal of discussion in addition to participation, rather than just a teacher presenting material to be absorbed by attentive students.
- They’re time-limited, often to a single session, although some may involve multiple sessions over a period of time (e.g. once a week for four weeks, or two full-day sessions over a weekend).
- They’re self-contained. Although a workshop may end with handouts and suggestions for further reading or study for those who are interested, the presentation is generally meant to stand on its own, unlike a course, which depends on large amounts of reading and other projects (papers, presentations) in addition to classroom activities.
Why workshop
Why choose a workshop, when you could use some other method like a study circle, a course, on-the-job training, etc.? Because there are a number of different ways to teach people things, and because people learn things in different ways, a workshop has some advantages (and some disadvantages, too, most notably the lack of time it provides) over these other methods that make it a good choice in certain circumstances.
Need for workshop
A workshop, as explained above, is valuable in certain circumstances. When do those circumstances arise, and when might you choose to conduct a workshop over other methods of education or training? There are a number of situations in which a workshop would be the best choice.
Conducting workshop
Even if you’ve never done it before, you can conduct a good workshop by paying attention to all the phases of the process. There are three phases to conducting a workshop: planning, preparation, and implementation (actually doing it). In addition, once you’re done, it’s important to follow up with participants to get feedback on the workshop, so you can improve it the next time. We’ll look at each of these phases separately.
Planning – Once you know what your topic will be, planning a workshop ultimately means figuring out what you want to do to guide participants through the experience, and what you hope they’ll learn from it. In order to do that, you have to consider a number of factors:
- Consider your topic. The first element of planning a workshop is to know what you’re talking about.
- Consider your audience. Your audience, the people who will actually be part of the workshops, is probably the most important piece of the puzzle here.
- Consider the workshops size. If the group is an ideal size for most purposes (about 8-12) you can arrange activities that involve participants as individuals, in small groups (2-4), and in the whole group.
- Consider the time available. Workshops can run from as little as an hour or less to as much as a day or even longer. It ‘s important that your goals for the workshop match the time available.
Preparation – Now that your planning is done, you need to prepare for the workshops. Planning is about the delivery of the workshop itself; preparation is about logistics, making sure you have the actual stuff and time you need to make the workshop a success.\
Implementation – Planning and preparation are done. You’re incredibly organized; you have all your handouts color-coded and arranged in the order you want to distribute them; you have activities planned down to the second, with plenty of extras if they don’t fill the time completely.
A workshop, especially a longer one, has distinct phases. There is the introduction, which covers the time from when the first participant walks into the room to when the first topic-related activity begins; the substance of the workshops includes the presentation and activities; and closure involves review, reflection, evaluation, and ending.
