Workshop

While they can be stand alone events in their own right, workshops are often used alongside Conferences or Unconferences. The key to a good workshop is that they utilise a group of interested people in the room, to do the work.

Identify a theme or topic that you wish to focus on e.g. it could be the context in which you are researching, or a specific nuance of your study, or the application of your findings to practice
Prepare an introductory presentation but aim for it to use no more than 20-25% of the time available
Plan interactive activities for the remaining time, allowing participants time to introduce themselves and engage in discussion of topics that are relevant to them – you’ll need to be flexible, don’t try to control too much
Consider how to engage with workshop participants in advance to allow extra time for planning e.g. you could send them a survey to ascertain their interests and skill level

Barriers

You can not control for every element of a workshop, because so much depends on those who attend and their enthusiasm on the day

Too often people over-plan workshops, turning them into mini-conferences where the facilitator does all the talking and the audience just listen – resist the urge to do this!

Enablers

A good workshop is a reciprocal experience where those facilitating and participating all take something away from the experience

A flexible tool that can be designed around the time available e.g. half hour at a lunchtime meeting, two hours at a conference, or a half or whole day stand alone event

Can be a good tool for interspersing lots of didactic sessions at conference

They allow participants to learn by doing, discussing and exploring, not just by listening

Required Skills, Competencies or Resources

Workshop facilitator

Administrative skills to book venue, liaise with attendees and follow up afterwards

Note-taker or graphic facilitator to capture discussions

Accessible venue with refreshments and wifi access

What to Measure?

Number of people attending

Number of people actively participating

New relationships or contacts made on day

Workshop

Barriers

Enablers

Required Skills, Competencies or Resources

What to Measure?

Can be integrated at the following stages of the research process: