Do you want to design online workshops that are not only informative, but also creative and engaging? Do you want your remote meeting to offer added value and be fun at the same time? Here you will learn how to conduct both small meetings and events with large groups in such a way that all participants are enthusiastic.
Nothing is worse than a poorly planned online workshop. A well thought-out, dynamic workshop agenda is needed to keep participants motivated. The methods for a remote workshop are comparable to an on-site workshop. Only the implementation needs to be adapted to the digital tools. At the same time, online workshops differ greatly from traditional on-site events in several respects. Therefore, take enough time to familiarize yourself with both the content and the techniques you want to use to convey it.
To ensure that your next online meeting is a complete success, I will provide you with strategies and tools for planning the perfect online agenda. Because there are various methods for creatively designing and conducting digital workshops.
What you will learn in this article:
- The right elements for your online workshop
- Defining and communicating working agreements
- Organization of the warm-up and networking of the participants
- The right introduction to the topic
- Entertaining presentation of your talk
- Promoting cooperation between the participants
- Tips for more energy and interaction
- Final moderation
A dynamic agenda - the be-all and end-all of your online workshop
A dynamic agenda is even more important online than offline. The online agenda must meet very specific requirements - precisely because it is more difficult to keep participants' attention in the digital space.
So how do you hold a successful online meeting that is productive and entertaining and also encourages collaboration between participants? The answer is a variety of methods. The agenda for your online workshop benefits from a mixture of presentations, discussions, Q&A sessions and exercises.
Keep the input phases short. Regardless of whether your online workshop lasts two hours or two days, the pure presentation time should be a maximum of 15 minutes at a time. This is followed by a task or group work that asks the participants to become active.
The more group phases you plan, the more likely it is that your meeting will go down well. These can be organized very well with breakouts. During these sessions, participants have the opportunity to talk to each other in small groups - not just on a professional level, but possibly even on a personal level. You can be sure of this: This is highly likely to increase individual engagement.
The longer the online workshop, the greater the need for varied exercises, group phases and exciting discussion rounds. Prepare a corresponding number of tasks that encourage participants to actively participate, either in individual or group work.
It is very important to take breaks. This is where online workshops differ fundamentally from face-to-face events. You should take a break of at least ten minutes every 60 minutes so that everyone involved can catch their breath and have time for basic needs. If the online workshop extends over an entire day or lasts even longer, more breaks should be planned accordingly.
1. the right elements for your online workshop
The methods for a remote workshop hardly differ from the methods for an online workshop that takes place on site. Basically, there are five elements that you can use for all types of events. In the case of an online workshop, only the implementation needs to be adapted to the digital tools available.
As a general rule, the more variety, the more interesting (and effective) the online workshop. Each of the elements listed here should therefore last no longer than 15 minutes as part of an online event:
- Presentations to impart knowledge (ideally at the beginning or as a core element of the online workshop)
- Discussions in small groups: Exchange on a specific topic or question
- Exercises: Development and presentation of specific content by the participants
- Assessments: Discussion of a scenario or case study by the participants
- Questions and answers (in large groups, in small groups or in individual work)
2. defining and communicating working agreements
Are your participants not yet familiar with the video call service you are using? Then you should familiarize them with the most important technical functions at the start of your meeting. You should also communicate the rules of play and conduct that must be observed during the meeting.
This includes important information such as the meeting times and break arrangements or your expectations regarding active participation. It also makes sense to explain what expectations you yourself have of the online workshop and what learning outcome you hope to achieve for the participants. You should also let your audience know whether and where you will make the content of your presentations generally available.
Checklist for video calls
3. organization of the warm-up and networking of the participants
To break the proverbial ice, participants in face-to-face events often come together in advance to share a coffee or start a personal conversation. Or the moderator starts the meeting with a team-building activity. In a remote workshop, on the other hand, it is not only important to arrive in the group, but also to find your way around the tool. These circumstances require a little planning to ensure that the mood does not change right from the start.
As a rule, the very beginning of the online workshop determines whether the participants are willing to give you their attention or not. The important thing here is not to overwhelm anyone - and to involve everyone at the same time. As with offline workshops, it's basically about developing team spirit and connecting the participants with each other.
Working together at Raidboxes: Our Code of Conduct
This is a promising way to give the participants a sense of community right from the start: Schedule a check-in. This is an introductory question that wakes up the participants and encourages interaction. In groups that have been working together for some time, this question works like a morning pick-up.
How personal the check-in should be depends on the social structure. Is it a team whose members are dependent on each other? Or is it a group whose members are unlikely to see each other again? In the first case, the team bond is more intense and the check-in can be a little more personal. In the other case, it is often about getting to know each other first - personal or emotional check-ins are rather out of place here. A tip: If time is short, the check-in can also take place in the chat. Ask a question there and let the participants answer it at the same time. The answers can then be read through together.
4. the right introduction to the topic
Various methods can be used to get participants interested in a new topic as quickly as possible:
- Scale questions: Participants can visualize their prior knowledge in a graphic - for example, using a scale from little prior knowledge to a lot of prior knowledge.
- Cyberstorming: This virtual brainstorming method is used to get creative and find ideas. All participants freely associate a large number of ideas on a specific topic and exchange them in the chat. The aim is to pick up on unusual ideas and to break away from established thought processes.
- Mind mapping: You can use a mind map to find out which terms or subtopics are already known. After the participants have noted their terms on the whiteboard, they briefly comment on their notes. Unknown topics that will be discussed in the course of the event can be highlighted in color.
5. entertaining presentation of your talk
Many speakers who are still inexperienced with online moderation fear that imparting knowledge via Zoom and the like is more difficult than offline. I can reassure you: This is by no means the case. It's just a matter of presenting the content in a suitable form and not overwhelming the audience with too much input. So use a small amount of concise content and an appealing design - both of which attract attention. By the way: the same applies to face-to-face events.
Many people find it difficult to break down speeches or presentations to the essentials. Make this important step easier for yourself and keep in mind that the participants of the online workshop will mainly see your slides. You as the speaker (at least in presentation mode) are only visible in a very small way. There may also be people who only attend your event via smartphone or tablet. Your slides should therefore be well structured and only cover the most important points.
It is very practical to collect questions that arise during the presentation in the chat. This approach protects your input and avoids lengthy interruptions, during which some listeners quickly switch off. Important: Communicate this rule in advance, ideally with the other working agreements.
Another tip: If possible, you should stand up during the presentation phase. This promotes the resonance of your voice and therefore your presence in the (virtual) room.
6. promote cooperation between the participants
Because frequent and intensive exchange phases between the participants increase attention enormously, promoting interaction is probably the most important element of any successful online workshop. If you don't take advantage of this opportunity, the participants could simply listen to a recording of your presentation instead of a live workshop. After all, you want to offer added value with your online seminar.
The following tools are helpful to stimulate interaction in the form of group phases:
- Breakout sessions promote discussion and exchange in small groups
- Opinion polls make it possible to ask questions on a specific topic and obtain an opinion (e.g. via mentimeter or echometer)
- Chat Waterfall and Round Robin are used to obtain feedback quickly and enable brainstorming sessions
- Digital whiteboards (e.g. FigJam, Concept Board, Miro or Mural) and other collaborative tools (e.g. Google Suite) support the collaborative creation of sketches and texts as well as the annotation of documents
- Here you will find hundreds of tools for collaborating in distributed teams.
Tools for the home office and remote work
7. tips for more energy and interaction
Everyone knows it: sitting in front of a screen for hours on end inevitably leads to a loss of attention. Don't worry - this is completely normal. To prevent the energy from completely disappearing from the virtual room, you can plan small movement games into your workshop agenda. These not only lighten the mood, but also improve the physical condition of the participants. They loosen up tense muscles and activate them for the next round.
Here you will find a great collection of workshop games for more creativity for your team. You can be bold in your choice, as experience shows that participants usually accept such an offer. If you already have experience in facilitating remote workshops, you can of course also use the methods spontaneously.
Excursus: Remote work & remote leadership
8. final moderation
At the end of every online training course, there is a recap of what has been learned. Give the participants a brief overview of the content, methods and activities used and make sure that there are no more unanswered questions.
A good check-out gives the group space and time to reflect on what they have learned. To do this, you can use the chat one last time and ask the participants questions about what is most important, what they have learned and what questions may still be on their minds. Instruct the participants to send their answers at the same time so that all messages can be read at the same time.
The check-out can also take the form of a final round in which everyone has their say in turn. In order not to lose track of time, it is helpful (especially for larger groups) to limit each contribution to a maximum of three words, for example.
Sample agenda for an online workshop
Probably the most important rule for any online agenda is to regularly alternate between presentation and interaction phases.
| Task | Location |
| Welcome, technical introduction, check-in | Plenum |
| Getting to know each other/warm-up (introduction of participants and first statement on the topic) | Breakout rooms, then summary in plenary or chat Waterfall |
| Introduction to the topic | Plenary, supplemented with scale question or mind map |
| Lecture/input (imparting knowledge) | Plenum, share screen selectively if necessary |
| Discussion/working phase(s) | Breakout rooms and digital whiteboards |
| Presenting work results | Plenary, share screen if necessary |
| Obtain feedback | Survey tool and/or Chat Waterfall |
| Conclusion, check-out, end | Adoption in plenary session |
quäntchen + glück has developed a helpful guide for remote workshops. Here you will find valuable tips and ideas for the preparation and follow-up of online workshops and meetings.
Conclusion on online workshops
A very important point for the success of online events is whether and how much experience the participants have with the relevant technology. Participants with sufficient prior knowledge will find it easier to concentrate on the content. If, on the other hand, the group has never worked with the tool used before, the seminar should not overwhelm the participants with more specialized functions.
It doesn't matter whether participants are sitting in front of their laptop at home or their PC in the office: Remember to activate them again and again. The appropriate tools are voting rounds or breakout sessions, a brief exchange (verbally or in a chat) or creative exercises on the whiteboard. As a moderator, you can see from the participants' reactions how attentive they are - and, if necessary, take countermeasures with targeted activation.
