Conducting Remote Design Workshops

Remote workshops are conducted via online digital facilitation tools. Unlike traditional workshops, participants of remote workshops aren't located in one room, which makes them more suitable for teams not working in the same office building. The benefits of remote workshops include:

• Everyone can attend: Regardless of their geographical location and time zone, all team members can be invited to an online workshop. You only need to plan the right timing and find a tool that doesn't require too much learning.
• Focused work: In a room full of people, it is much easier to get distracted or lose your train of thought while trying to follow everyone's opinions. When brainstorming time comes in a remote workshop, however, you can turn off your mic and the sound and reflect individually on the problem.
• Faster iterations: It's much simpler to share a screen during an online workshop, demonstrate digital prototypes for discussion, and sketch on them to note problems or areas for improvement right away.
• Organized workshop notes: Remote workshops allow you to organize participants' notes using digital facilitation tools instead of typing in and digitizing notes scribbled on sticky notes or a whiteboard. Plus, you can record the whole session and go back to it when you need to refresh specific data.
• Easier facilitation: Online workshops are simpler and cheaper to arrange. You don't need to find a room, order supplies, buy snacks and coffee, or clean the space after the workshop. Remote workshops also need preparation, but they require much less effort.

Remote workshops are a great solution to gather all necessary people in one digital room regardless of geographical limits. However, there are also some potential pitfalls:

• Poor choice of a digital tool and insufficient preparation: Avoid using tools unfamiliar to your team that might take more time to master. Instead, select the tools everyone on your team uses daily for communication or creating artifacts (for example, Notion for taking notes and Google Meet for communication and screen sharing). Take notes and don't solely rely on session recordings and transcripts, especially if there are a large number of participants.
• Bad planning for workshop activities: Cutting back on warmups, icebreakers, or team-building activities because you're short on time won't result in a productive session. Icebreakers help people relax and feel more confident to share honest thoughts. Team-building activities are vital if you involve people from different departments who aren't familiar with each other. If schedules clash, move workshop activities to asynchronous mode using email or corporate messaging platforms like Slack to gather feedback.
• Failure to define workshop goals and instructions: It's much harder for facilitators to have everyone's full attention and prevent participants from getting distracted during remote workshops. What might help is to clearly state the goals at the beginning of the session and define the expectations. Also, send clear instructions and the workshop agenda before the session, so participants have enough time to familiarize themselves and prepare for the meeting.^[1]

Facilitating a remote workshop may seem effortless in comparison to an on-site workshop. However, many factors, like the technical limitations of a facilitation tool or a lost internet connection, can go wrong. Proper workshop planning prevents any unpleasant surprises and results in achieving the intended goals.

The best practices for having a successful remote workshop include:

• Defining clear goals and preparing data: Write down the problem and set the goals for the workshop — how will this workshop help tackle this problem? Qualitative and quantitative data gathered during user research can help reinforce the goals and problem statement and provide solid arguments in the discussion.
• Introducing the agenda: The facilitator should say a few words about the objective of the workshop even before the icebreaking activities. They should give participants a brief overview of the problem, introduce the invited stakeholders, and mention the artifacts attendees are expected to develop.
• Scheduling breaks: Workshops imply intense brain work, so it's vital to give the participants short breaks to recharge, make a cup of coffee, and let their eyes rest.
• Keeping it short: It's easy to lose track of time during remote workshops. Consider splitting the workshop into two days if the discussion takes longer than 3 hours.^[2]

In an environment where participants interrupt each other, do not mute their mics when others are speaking, or the internet is always down, it is impossible to hold a productive workshop.

Which best practices can help teams achieve their workshop goals?

• Select the right tools and activities: Test selected tools before the session and make sure you understand all the intricacies. If you introduce a new facilitation tool to a team, make sure learning how to use it won't take a ton of time. Plan and practice the activities you're going to conduct step-by-step, so there's no confusion about what comes next.
• Don't skip warming activities and icebreakers: While not all team members will be excited about icebreakers, don't skip them. They help people relax, get their minds off the topic for a while, and be more open during workshop discussions.
• Create a respectful and friendly environment: Simple things like a stable internet connection and backup are crucial and show professionalism. Be ready to quickly switch to a mobile network in case of wi-fi instabilities. Check the quality of your audio and video, set the appropriate background, and make sure your family members and pets won't interrupt you during the session. As a facilitator, you should encourage them to participate in the discussion and make them feel their opinions are valued.
• Get feedback, evaluate, and improve: Before the workshop, think of a way to gather feedback after the workshop. It can be an online survey covering aspects like activities, software, workshop duration, atmosphere, and insights. This information will help you improve future sessions and make them more productive.^[3]

One of the biggest mistakes a workshop facilitator can make is not planning some buffer time for unexpected activities like internet issues or technology troubles. Make sure to plan some buffer time so delays don't get you off track.

Here are some other things to look out for when planning a remote workshop:

• Underestimating the learning curve of online collaboration tools. Some people find remote workshops uncomfortable, and it takes them longer to learn new tools. Show people how to use the selected tool and encourage them to play around with it for a few minutes at the beginning of the workshop. You may even send instructions or a video tutorial in an invitation email, so participants have time before the workshop to get familiar with the tool.
• Limitations of an online format. Firstly, a remote format makes it harder to see participants’ body language, and notice that some people feel shy and tense, even if they have something to say. When it's time to make a decision and move forward, the facilitator should find a way to check on everyone's opinions and concerns. Secondly, some offline activities like co-design sessions may require the use of physical materials like Lego and Play-Doh. By facilitating such workshops online, you are limited to using post-its and sketching.

The choice of workshop tools depends on the type of workshop you're willing to conduct with your team.

Synchronous workshops represent live sessions where everyone participates at the same time. For this type, you'll need:

• A videoconferencing tool like Google Meet, Skype, or Zoom
• A collaboration tool where participants can submit their thoughts and opinions — online whiteboards like Miro, Mural, or Stormboard or online design tools like Figma or Canva

At asynchronous workshops, participants contribute on their own when they have time. The facilitator should set a deadline for submissions and select a tool where people can submit their insights and observations. Participants can use:

• Online survey tools: Google Forms, Typeform, or SurveyMonkey
• Online whiteboards: Miro, Stormboard, or Mural
• Online design tools: Invision, Figma, or Sketch
• Online communication tools: Slack or Discord
• Any other online tool allowing people to represent their ideas: Google Draw or Google Slides

Engagement and virtual facilitation tools like Stormz, Butter, and Mentimeter allow for video conferences, whiteboards, and other engagement features in one place.^[4]