26 reasons why online workshops are better than olden-days workshops ;)

I know there will be many I won't persuade with this post – and I'll admit that it's partly (ok, mostly) a provocation – but I have 26 reasons to share with you why I reckon online workshops are better than offline workshops. (Note: I keep adding to the set. Yesterday it was just 17 reasons, and 15 the day before that).

Let's begin with acknowledging that we'd still want to get together offline, in a room, old school... 

Reasons to get together in rooms

• We miss each other! Catching up in person is really sweet.
• To build connection with new people. The feeling that you've made a lasting connection is more easily gained when you meet in a room.
• The side-line conversation with someone in a breakout, or on a tea break.
• To understand the other's persons perspective by watching how they move, sit, stand, gesture. People think and communicate physically. Sometimes it helps to see that, or do that yourself. 
• To work with non-digital assets. Stuff you can't easily put online. Physical evidence for example.
• For the theatre of the room. Sometimes a status play, based on room physical dynamics is what you want (yes, this is a thing).
• It's a novel experience, one we haven't had that often lately.

There are more reasons beside, but that's a good start. 

Now, let's turn our attention to the reasons online workshops are better (in most other respects)...

26 reasons why online workshops are better

PREPARATION AND SET-UP

Easier to prepare

Once you have a template, it's easy to prepare a workshop in even a matter of minutes. Complex, compelling workshops still take time to put together well, but templates make them predictable, repeatable, and continuously improved. Actually, you don't even need a template to get workshopping in a few minutes.

Templates

There are a lot of online template assets available for online workshops. Most platforms have template libraries... Some have communities of template creators. 

Collaborative, asynchronous preparation

A team of collaborating workshop facilitators and content creators can build a board together using shared design systems. It's easy. And efficient. Everyone joins in to raise the barn.

Mixed media formats

In an online workshop you can switch between video, presentation, collaboration board and other digital assets seamlessly. 

Scale up

The methods for a workshop of 10 people are sufficiently similar to the methods for 100 people that it's easy to scale up online. Imagine if 100 people were coming to your workplace for an offline session. That's a logistical challenge, and a lot of sandwich platters. Ten breakout rooms too! Do you have that many rooms available that day?

Physical rooms need physical effort

Setting up a physical workshop can involve moving desks around, putting content out, pinning stuff to the wall. I like the physicality of it too, I must admit, but it's about 30 minutes extra effort before the session begins. Then you have to reset the room. 

No wasted time bumping in

And what if you can't access the room till the start time. Participants stand around waiting!

Ad hoc workshops

Because you don't need to find a room, and you can build a workshop in minutes, you can get going the moment you know you need one.

IN SESSION

Better attendance

It is so much easier to attend an online workshop, than one in a room somewhere. Travel costs time and effort. Because of this, you will get better attendance in an online workshop.

Rapid start-up for participants

I'll just send you a link and password to the board and you can get going in under a minute. Hat-tip to Donna Spencer for this one. 

Multiple channels for contributing content

Ah, the loud voices. We hear them online too of course, but in an online workshop there's a raising up of the quieter voices, and they have multiple concurrent channels to contribute to:

• say it aloud (ie: be noisy)
• put it in the call chat
• put it on the Miro board
• put it in the Menti Q&A

That's what leaves everyone with plenty of options to get their view across.

More inclusive

Which means that, in an online workshop done well, you're more likely to have feedback along the lines of "all voices were heard". In offline workshops, most commonly it's the loud voices that were heard. Say it ain't so.

More productive

Online workshops are more productive than their offline equivalents. You can generate more content, more quickly and more on point. 

Further, faster (= more conclusive)

Online workshops go further, faster. There I've said it. 

Asynchronous, distributed participation

People across different timezones and working patterns can participate at a time that suits them, in an asynchronous mode.

Anonymous contribution

Online affords a range of ways for facilitators to invite anonymous contribution, and for participants to choose that if they need to. In a room, it's a little harder to hide your anonymous sticky note on the shared worksheet. Thank you again to Donna.

Emojis and stickers

Online tools have emojis and stickers. The argument should be over by now, surely.

AFTER THE SESSION

Easier to report, better minutes

We set our online workshops up to be easily tidied up and issued as a workshop report, or minutes. This can usually be done within the same day. And the minutes look just like... the workshop everyone attended earlier. 

Easier to process

The workshop material is already in a digital form, which makes it easier to process and develop the value-added next step. 

Online workshops are available forever

Within a minute or two of searching, I can find any one of the now over 250 online workshops I've facilitated in the past two years. I can't say the same of the dozen or so workshops held in rooms. The worksheets are folded up somewhere, and I'm pretty sure a few sticky notes fell off in the office move... Um, did you get a photo of the wall?

MULTIPLE SESSIONS

It's a continuous, intermittent workshop

Some project workshops are just ongoing, intermittent collaborations that have no specific start date or end time. It just goes on... Participants dip in and dip out as needed. Which is good for those backburner projects that have an intermittent profile.

Rinse and repeat

Sometimes you want to create another workshop, just like the one you had yesterday, and change 10% of the content, and reset all the worksheets. Online that's easy. Offline, well, you could do it, but... why would you? 

National roadshow

When there are workshops to be done in a national roadshow mode, for example engagement with a series of regional locations of Australia, in the olden days you'd need to fly, or have some awkward conference call over an inflexible PowerPoint deck. Nowadays, it's just all... online and easy.

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS

Work-life balance

Let's guess and say that 20% of the workforce will be working from home on any given day. You'd better make it an online workshop then ;)

Covid-times

If Covid has shown us one thing, it's full of surprises and not going away. Within a few days you can go from free movement to lockdown. That means it's hard to confidently predict whether any workshop in the future will be online or offline. So perhaps just plan an online workshop, and then flip it at the last minute. 

Integrations

Online tools integrate. Teams has connectors for Miro. Miro can connect with Jira. Jira can connect with Teams. It's a magical circle.  Sometimes you can't even connect a room to the internet.

Physical rooms decay, online tools improve

Generally, physical rooms do not constantly improve with new features. If anything, there's decay. Meanwhile cloud-based software-as-a-service platforms are constantly improving. Here's Miro's change log, here's one of Menti's monthly update posts...

How do we know for sure?

In two years, from over 260 workshops, we've learnt a lot about what works.

Arup Workshop for complex online sessions

Have you got an online or offline workshop coming up? Get in touch if it's tricky. People hire Arup Workshop when the conversation is complex, and success is not assured.