by Jeff Humble
Dear Reader,
Workshops have been a huge career booster for me.
Designing workshops got me in front of the leadership team before I became the head of design. Some of my workshops even became paid client gigs, like a UX conference gig in Istanbul and a design sprint training for Lufthansa Airlines in Frankfurt.
But looking back, I made some rookie mistakes.
Here are 3 tips to save you from those rookie mistakes and help you iterate your workshops toward perfection.
Slide design can be a huge distraction when designing workshops. Never jump into slides until you have a plan for your workshop. I used to design so many beautiful slides that I eventually threw out as the workshop idea evolved. That's a big waste of time. Simple-text outlines, Miro boards, practicing, and even a blank piece of paper will keep you out of the slides until you know the structure. Pro Tip: Fill out an Audience Strategy Worksheet to ensure you have a plan before jumping into slides.
When I started workshops, I thought the slides were good enough to keep the audience's attention, but that's just not true. You have to keep the talking brief. Try to encourage conversation at all times throughout the workshop. I like to put up a slide that says "reflect" after every activity to remind me to spur conversations. These moments of reflection will tell you if the room is on the right track or not. Pro Tip: Ask an open-ended question and wait 10-15 awkward seconds to get through those inevitable...........long........silences that precede a good group discussion.
I had this monthly workshop called "Intro to UX" that I was doing at my old job. I wanted the workshop to improve, but after a while, participant feedback wasn't helping. After inviting a few experts to join, the truth started to come out. Anonymous feedback certainly helps, and it can get you 80% of the issues. But only an expert will get you that final 20% of critical feedback to reach perfection. Pro Tip: Offer an expert a feedback trade and give them feedback in return for helping improve your workshop.
If you're interested in getting better at workshops and even turning it into a career, check out Facilitating Workshops: LIVE.
There will always be a demand for workshops and clients are quite willing to pay you for it. In my experience, a custom workshop is one of the fastest ways to develop a paid offering for some extra freelance cash.
Who doesn't need a little extra cash these days?
COURSE: Defining UX Strategy |
Until next week, have a Happy Halloween, y'all! 🎃👻
The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.
Before The Fountain Institute, there was Art School Dropout By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, In spring 2020, when the world had just gone remote, we ran a tiny experiment called Art School Dropout. It wasn’t about UX or product design. We didn’t even know that’s where we’d end up focusing yet. It was about exploring the overlap between art and design, and figuring out how to make learning online feel human, creative, and social. We weren’t thinking about building a business yet. We were just...
Ready Beats Perfect (+ four habits from Hatch Conference) By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, Last week I had the pleasure of hosting the Dome Stage at Hatch, a design-leadership conference bringing product and UX folks together to share what’s working (and what isn’t). Q&A with Iris Latour, co-founder of THEFT Studio. Photos from Hatch Conference Photographers Rebecca ruetten, Indigo Lewisohn, Not because I’m fearless, but because I’d done two simple things: I prepped my intros for each speaker,...
10 Design Diagrams To Study Instead of Staring Into the Void by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, It's that time of the year. Another boring Q3 earnings call, and all you want is to go back to the beach. You look at yourself in Zoom, and all you see is a bottomless void. Hey. Stop that. Instead, check out some of the best Jeffing diagrams on the internet. At least you will look like you are kind of working... 1. Diverging and converging in action by Nicholas Frota Designers talk a lot about diverging...