When and How to Execute the Perfect Workshop Training

Ineffective training costs employers a whopping $13.5 million per year per 1,000 employees. And this is mainly due to training content that is uninspired and doesn’t truly resonate with employee learners.

Luckily, workshops offer trainers an effective way to encourage employees to engage with learning content, instructors, and one another. Workshops are highly interactive, can be hosted in person or virtually, and are fun.

When to Execute a Workshop Training

If you want your workshop training to be successful, you’ll need to know when it’s appropriate to develop and host one and when it’s not. Here’s when you’ll want to execute a workshop training:
When you have an acceptable instructor-student ratio. Because workshops are so interactive and hands-on, you want to make sure you have enough instructors to field questions and guide learners.
For example, if your employees are learning how to use a new technology platform, they’ll have questions as they’re clicking on things on their screens and typing things. So, you’ll want to ensure you have one instructor per group of 5–10 employees. Otherwise, some or most employees will tune out and be unable to follow along with the workshop.
When learners and instructors can be present at the same time. Even if you host a virtual workshop, you’ll want all attendees to be present at the same time. This way, they can ask questions about the information they’re encountering and learn in real time and engage with one another and their instructors in real time, too.
When learners are very new to the material being covered in the workshop and the workshop entails applied and interactive learning techniques. Typically, workshops are effective because they allow learners to learn as they’re applying what’s being taught and because they allow learners to interact with others. For instance, a workshop might involve mock sales calls or interactive computer modules.

How to Execute a Workshop Training

Here are some best practices for executing a successful workshop training.

• Understand your audience, what they care about and what motivates them, and what you want them to learn.
• Determine who the main facilitator and assistant facilitators or instructors (those who help field questions and lead group discussions) will be.
• Decide whether you’re going to host an in-person or virtual workshop, and know what technology you’ll need to use.
• Plan each portion of the workshop according to time allotments.
• Pinpoint clear learning objectives for each activity and portion of the workshop and how they’ll be measured.
• Create materials you’ll need for each portion of the workshop (i.e., video clip, handouts, etc.).
• Ensure you have a balanced mixture of exercises, icebreakers, reading materials, presentation materials and visual aids, discussion points for group discussions, etc., planned.
• Generate and share your workshop agenda with participants ahead of time.
• Send out questionnaires and follow-up materials following the workshop for feedback.

Use the information above to ensure your next workshop is successfully executed.