What is Workshop?

It is difficult to find an exact Vietnamese definition for this definition. In Vietnam, a workshop is known as a (or a series) of sessions to exchange knowledge, methods and skills in a certain field.

Depending on the topic of the workshop, the speaker will be selected appropriately to help discuss with the participants. Workshops usually last 2-4 hours, with 2 main activities, the first is guest talks and the second is Q&A (question and answer).

There is no limit on the maximum number of participants in a workshop, from only a few people to large events that can reach hundreds of people. It all depends a lot on the capabilities of the organizational unit such as content or space. And the organization space can be closed or open, but it should be spacious and comfortable enough for members to exchange, network, teamwork, etc.

 

Benefits of organizing a workshop

The information on  Malu Design  has helped you better understand the concept of what a workshop is. Currently, at schools or some companies regularly organize workshops. So why is the workshop so focused?

Some of the information below will help you know the outstanding benefits of organizing a workshop:

• Participants will learn more knowledge and skills from the speakers.
• You will be enhanced with the necessary skills.
• It is a very interesting meeting for introverts. Each person will be able to express their personal views and opinions to discuss an issue.
• Learn more from the experience of the seniors.
• A place to expand relationships, find more partners and potential customers.
• Businesses that organize workshops will save on  marketing , communication and brand promotion costs.
• Develop teamwork skills.
• Develop creativity and thinking ability.

Workshop in Vietnam

Currently, workshops are more and more diverse. You can find workshops for any industry or field: Information technology, healthcare, education, marketing, entertainment… Every time a prominent issue comes up, there are workshops open. out for experts to discuss and exchange with the participants.

However, it can be seen that the workshop is not really popular among Vietnamese businesses. According to statistics, the majority of workshops come from students or NGOs.

This is a pretty big pity. Because if a business knows how to take advantage of the workshop, consider the workshop as a marketing strategy, for example, providing customers with the knowledge they need and offering their own solutions, it will create credibility and convince customers to use it. your product a lot easier!

An effective workshop when determining factors in advance

• A group of people representing stakeholders
• A predefined goal
• Determine the mode of interaction
• Defined output work products
• And have a dispatcher with good leadership skills

An effective workshop fosters stakeholder trust, enhances mutual understanding, strengthens stakeholder communication, and produces valuable outputs.

An ideal workshop is moderated by an experienced, neutral person. However, a member of the project team can also serve as a coordinator. One person records the decisions reached and any highlights. A business analyst can be the coordinator or assist with note-taking at workshops. In situations where the business analyst is subject matter expert (SME) they serve under one workshop attendee. The approach must be carefully considered to avoid confusion about the role of business analysts.

>>> Read more: What is KPI?

The most popular types of workshops today

Workshop is one of the popular activities not only in Vietnam but also in the world. Workshops held in our country today, most of the speakers are professors and experts who have made certain achievements in their fields.

Currently, there are 4 groups of very popular and commonly used forms, including:

1. Workshop to share knowledge and experience

This is considered the easiest and most popular form of organization today. This type of event usually lasts from 3 to 4 hours with a medium scale from a few dozen to a few hundred attendees.

The first half of the workshop will be for speakers to share knowledge and the rest of the workshop will be for people to ask questions and exchange issues. After such information sharing sessions, participants can learn a lot of useful knowledge.

2. Training Workshop

This type is often used by companies and businesses mainly and is used within the company. They are intended to enhance the employee’s professional and behavioral experience. Here, you will be guided to practice right at the seminar. The majority of participants in the knowledge sharing session are those who want to improve their skills.

3. Practical workshop

Practical workshops are popular in many fields such as cooking, flower arrangement, art, fashion, etc. . The rest of the time, attendees do not need to ask questions but can immediately start practicing and experiencing. It’s a great time because you can directly do things that were previously unattainable.

4. Wokshop for marketing purposes

Organized on a large scale can be from 100 to 1000 attendees. This type often brings together many famous speakers from around the world to share and exchange experiences. In addition, the seminar will be attended by many famous brands and industry experts.

The purpose of the workshop is to promote the brand widely or new products.

Steps to make a successful workshop 

1. Prepare for the workshop

When preparing a workshop,  business analysts  need to prepare:

• Clearly define the purpose of the workshop and the outputs
• Identify stakeholders that need to be involved
• Identify coordinators and scribes
• Create an agenda – agenda
• Define method to record, capture output
• Plan the session and invite stakeholders to attend
• Arrange rooms, projectors, and other necessary equipment for the session
• Send agenda or scenarios (if any) for attendees to prepare and increase productivity at the meeting
• If appropriate, conduct pre-workshop interviews with participants

Good preparation will create the maximum conditions for a successful workshop. For some reason, if the preparation is not done well, the business analyst will not get the expected output.

2. Determine the role of the participants in the workshop

To conduct a successful workshop, it is necessary to clearly define the work and responsibilities and outputs for each role. You need to remember that one person can play many different roles in a workshop:

Sponsor (Sponsor)

Be a facilitator of the workshop but may not be a participant in the session and are not responsible for the output.

For example, in the workshop “Fashion Marketing: From Offline to Online: How Brands Stand Out” organized by FACE in November 2017, we can clearly see that the sponsor for this workshop is Toong Co-working. space.

Unlike programs with many sponsorship categories, the workshop size is usually quite small with a specific audience. Therefore, in the workshop, there is usually no division of sponsorship categories.

Facilitator (Facilitator)

The facilitator is the leader for the workshop, introduces the goals and agenda of the workshop, guides the participants according to the structure and rules of the workshop, keeps the activities on track with the goals and results of the period. output, facilitate decision-making and resolve conflicts (if any), and ensure that all participants express their views and are heard.

Unlike sponsors, facilitators follow the workshop from start to finish. Therefore, this position requires two things, that is,  the ability to generalize ,  the ability to coordinate with other departments,  and  the ability to handle unexpected situations .

To coordinate successfully, the dispatcher needs to:

• Learn from the seniors : no one can smoothly run a program from start to finish from the beginning. But the important thing is that you need to  constantly try and improve your coverage . Find experienced facilitators, listen to them share the elements or skills needed to coordinate a successful program, the problems they often face in the process, and the solutions to overcome them. their towels.
• Don’t rush the audience : a mistake of the moderators (even the veterans in the industry) is to stir up the atmosphere when the audience is too quiet (especially in the Q&A section – when the audience is ” give up the mic” to raise a question, idea, or contribution on the topic.In this case, instead of prompting them to respond, try summarizing the issues that have been mentioned, repeating good questions. suggest more information for the audience to have more material, more confidence to speak up without making them uncomfortable or pressured.
• Cleverly delivering a conclusion at the right time : in contrast to silence, sometimes the audience is so engrossed in arguing with the speaker that they forget the time has passed. How should the coordinator jump in to be skillful and still be pleasing to both sides? First, gently encapsulate the main content mentioned in the workshop, because that’s what the audience wants to bring back after the show, but sometimes they can’t remember it all. Then thank all the audience, speakers, as well as the organizers and sponsors for their contributions to the workshop.
• Add a little “spice” of humor : instead of being rigid or being too serious, add a little humor and wit to the workshop. This fun will connect the audience with the speaker, and make the story more confident, the audience is more open to asking critical questions to the speaker, and the feedback after the workshop is also positive and meaningful. more construction.

Note-taker

The scribe documents the decisions made in a predefined format for the workshop, keeping track of any items or issues that were left unfinished during the session.

Here are some qualities a scribe needs to get his or her job done.

 

Timekeeper

The time supervisor is responsible for ensuring that the items on the agenda of the workshop work according to the time frame and time in the original plan. Although not directly appearing in the workshop as a facilitator, this “behind the scenes” position requires very close attention and discipline in terms of time, as well as covering the workshop from the perspective of time (compared to the perspective of time). moderator content level).

As a timekeeper, what tools do you need to help with the job?

• A summary of the content/work schedule
• A pen
• Timer (or wristwatch)
• A notebook

 

Participant

Attendees, or audience, include stakeholders and experts in the field relevant to the workshop’s theme. They are responsible for providing data, personal information, their views, opinions, listening to the views of other members, discussing issues without bias for either party.

To achieve the final effect of the workshop, set specific criteria for the target audience you want to influence. Malu would like to give you a few suggestions as follows:

• Who are they? Are they male or female?
• What are they doing?
• What do they care about?
• Is the topic of the show something they’re interested in?
• Through what channels should they be reached?
• What is the media content for each channel?

Once you have drawn a portrait of your target audience, you can create content to reach this audience and then have a communication plan for the workshop effectively and quickly.

3. Select the venue

Depending on the number of attendees to choose a suitable venue. Small number of less than 10 people should choose conference rooms. The number of attendees ranges from a few dozen to several hundred, so outdoor venues should be chosen.

4. Conduct workshop

Ensuring that participants have a common understanding, the facilitator usually begins with a statement of the session’s purpose and expected outcomes. With some experienced facilitators, they often start the workshop with a funny short story to break down communication barriers and make everyone feel comfortable working together. Establishing rule-based consensus is an effective method for creating a highly collaborative session environment.

You can refer to a few common rules below:

• Respect the opinions of others
• Everyone is expected to contribute
• Discussion should be limited to the established time frame
• Discuss the problem, not the person
• A consensus on the decisions made

During the workshop, the facilitator will maintain focus by regularly validating session activities with purpose and output.

5. Workshop summary

Once finished, the moderator continues to work on the items discussed and documented in the workshop, completes relevant documents, distributes them to attendees and stakeholders about the item that has been discussed. complete.

Workshop is an effective technique to reach consensus on how to solve problems in a short period of time. This technique provides stakeholders to interact, coordinate, make decisions, and achieve a mutual understanding. This technique is usually less expensive than interviewing each stakeholder. Feedback regarding issues and decisions is provided almost instantaneously by attendees.

But deciding to use this technique requires planning considerations that are most convenient for attendees. The success of the workshop depends a lot on the experience of the facilitator and the knowledge of the attendees.

Frequently asked questions

Epilogue

Through the above article, perhaps it has helped people understand more about what the workshop is? Steps to a successful workshop. Hopefully, the information will provide you with more useful knowledge. Please regularly visit the Malu Design website to understand a lot of good knowledge!