Facilitating design thinking workshops

Coming soon (it was available for a short time but the publisher closed, and I’m sorting out what to do with it)

About the book

Great design thinking workshops don’t happen by accident. They need clear goals, deliberate planning and a terrific facilitator to guide a group to great outcomes. This book will help you to plan and facilitate great workshops. You’ll learn how to determine workshop goals and plan with a flexible structure. You’ll understand how to frame the workshop, introduce activities and manage time. You’ll get the best out of people by breaking activities into achievable chunks and building skills. And you’ll get tips for working with people, managing groups and handling the unexpected.

Outline

What is a design thinking workshop

  • What happens in a workshop
  • A real example

Planning a design thinking workshop

  • Facilitating without contributing
  • Workshop goals
  • Problem statements
  • Who will attend
  • Location and venue (in-person workshops)
  • Technology and tools (remote workshops)
  • Timing
  • Workshop structure and flow
  • Activity flow
  • Before the workshop

Running a design thinking workshop

  • Workshop introduction
  • Great warmups
  • Introducing activities
  • Managing time
  • Brainstorming and idea generation
  • Sharing back
  • Reflecting
  • Documenting the activity
  • Making decisions
  • Building skills
  • Wrapping up the workshop

Managing people

  • Making sure everyone contributes
  • Managing groups
  • Elephants in the room
  • Pet projects
  • When people say or do odd things
  • How to manage the unexpected

Remote workshops

  • All in-person or all remote
  • Pace
  • Technology skills
  • Group size
  • Attention