Why do I love to make custom canvases for workshops?

Why do I love to make custom canvases for workshops?

In short:

  • It forces you to be clear on the end result

  • It clarifies expectations

  • It makes me feel like a tailor

  • It solves exactly the challenge without anything else

  • It makes workshops easier

A custom workshop canvas forces you to be clear on the end result

Imagining a canvas that will be used in a workshop is like designing the end result of the workshop.

So making a custom canvas for a workshop forces you to ask yourself : is there here all what we need to get out of that session? Is something missing?

A custom workshop canvas clarifies expectations

What’s nice with a custom canvas or even a canvas you’ve borrowed is that you can go to the workshop organizer or the client and say:

This is what you’ll get at the end of the workshop. Good for you?

A canvas really ensures that people have the right expectation about the results that workshop will bring.

A custom workshop canvas makes me feel like a tailor

Creating a custom canvases to use in a workshop is pretty nice because you’re really making something super personalized for the organization you are working with.

You can brand it so that it looks like the rest of the organization material. And maybe even more important you can choose the wording so that it fits the culture of the company.

Working with bankers you might want to use more technical terms. Working with volunteers you might want to use a more down to earth language.

A custom workshop canvas solves exactly the challenge without anything else

When you are building your own workshop canvas you’re building a tool that contains just what you need for that workshop.

When you use a canvas made by someone else there might stuff in it that doesn’t apply to the challenge you were tasked to solve.

A custom workshop canvas makes workshops easier

As I’ve explained in other articles, having a canvas that is printed and that people use throughout the workshop makes it both simpler for me as the facilitator and for the workshop participants.

On the canvas all the key information is visible at all times:

  • what’s the activity

  • How long people have to do it

  • How they should do it

  • Etc.

Q&A: Workshops and facilitation with Service Design

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Workshop fatigue

  • What is workshop fatigue or survey fatigue?
  • How do you combat workshop fatigue or survey fatigue?

Preparing a workshop like a service designer

  • What does it take to create a workshop?
  • Where can I find workshop templates and ideas?
  • How can you run a good workshop without preparation?
  • ▶️ What's the perfect meal and food for a workshop?
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  • When is it best to force a on-site workshop?
  • ▶️ How can I start the preparation of a workshop?
  • How long does it takes to create 3 workshop scenarios?
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  • How to prepare workshop slides when there is no projector?
  • What apps do I use to plan my workshops?
  • Are homework exercices before workshops a good idea?
  • How to transform a workshop schedule in slides in one minute within Notion?

Custom workshop Canvases

  • Why do I love to make custom canvases for workshops?
  • What makes a good custom workshop canvas?

Workshops with a lot of participants

  • How can I facilitate workshops with a lot of participants?

Running and facilitating a workshop like a service designer

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  • How can I use spirituality in a Service Design workshop?
  • What's the right way to facilitate a workshop or meeting?
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  • How to mix bottom-up and top-down approaches in a co-creative workshop?
  • How do you celebrate achievements in a creative way in a workshop?
  • What are passive boards and how to use them in workshops?
  • How Has My Use of Timers Evolved in Workshops?
  • How Can You Clarify Feedback from Decision-Makers?
  • Can You Break Down a Workshop into Small 5-Minute Moments?

Creating focus

  • How do you help people stay on topic during a workshop?
  • ▶️ How can I manage conflicts in workshops?
  • ▶️ How to create common ground between teams that have a lot of disagreement?
  • How do you ensure people can get unstuck in a workshop or meeting?

Decision making

  • How can you accelerate decision making and workshops?
  • How can I avoid group think and biasing in remote workshops?

Creating a workshop report like a service designer

  • ▶️ How can you be quicker and more efficient when you have to create a report about a workshop?
  • ▶️ What are the different levels of a workshop report?
  • What do I include in a workshop report website?

Mass participation workshops

  • How can you align people in mass participation workshops?

Synthesis in Service Design workshops

  • How do I manage to do live synthesis in workshops and stakeholder conversations?