11 Elements of a Successful Online Workshop

Online workshops and webinars are becoming the new blog – everyone is doing it, but very few are doing it well. The market is there and greater than ever, but consumers are becoming far more discerning about what they sign up for. So, what’s a potential webinar publisher or workshop host to do?

At Program 11, we fuse the science of learning with the power of storytelling to create interactive workshops for nonprofit organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and the world’s largest tech companies. Here are 11 fundamentals of webinar and workshop design to drive traffic and keep your audiences engaged.

Here are 11 instances where we’ve seen Instructional Marketing work for online workshops:

1. Know your audience. Create two to three persona or persona groupings for your audience that include mindsets, pain points, learning preferences, and needs. Understanding your audience will help you design a learning experience that speaks to them.

2. Have a very clear goal. A great workshop, like a great course, begins with a clear goal. What do you want your audience to get out of this? What is the purpose of the workshop? What do you want to achieve? Without a goal, you’ll lack focus and intentionality. This goal, or learning outcome, is your workshop north star.

3. Determine the learning objectives. Once you’ve established the desired goal for your workshop, you need to figure out how to make it happen. You do this by establishing learning objectives for your audience. What do you want your audience to know and be able to do, as a result of the experience? What learnings will help you reach your goal? Identify three to four objectives for an hour-long workshop. Any more than this, and you should consider breaking up your workshop into two experiences. (Here’s how to design stellar learning objectives).

4. Select the platform. When selecting a platform and mode of delivery, consider your audience’s needs, the technology, your ability to facilitate an event, and your budget. Synchronous (in-person, live) workshops are engaging because of the opportunity for interactivity and social learning. Asynchronous (recorded and on-demand) webinars can be easier to produce, control, and recycle.

5. Focus on accessibility. Creating a webinar or workshop that accommodates people with disabilities should always be at the forefront of your content development. There are a variety of ways to be inclusive, such as writing at an 8th-grade level, maintaining plenty of white space on your slides, and providing alt text for images. For a full list of guidelines, review ADA and WCAG guidelines.

6. Develop an outline. One of the keys to learning is to give the learner what they expect. When they know what to expect, their brains can focus on learning materials instead of thinking about what’s coming next. Model your outline after a lesson plan. Ease the audience in with a light warm-up. Then, state the purpose and learning objectives for the workshop and establish your credibility. Before launching into the content, introduce an activity that has the audience reflect on their prior knowledge. When moving through learning content, be sure to scaffold, starting with simple concepts before moving to anything complex. Finally, give your audience an opportunity to ask questions and practice what they’ve learned.

7. Be social and interactive. Your audience will learn better and enjoy the experience more if you allow them to interact with the content and each other. Here are some ideas:

   • Have the audience express what THEY want to learn today. For larger audiences, they may do this independently; have them write it down to remind them after the workshop what they had hoped to gleanEncourage your audience to talk about their learning in breakout rooms, chat, whiteboards, and even emoji polls.

   • Incorporate storytelling, case studies, role-playing, and other compelling narratives that help your audience see themselves and connect the experience to their own lives and goals. 

   • Include polls, quizzes, or mini-questionnaires throughout — remember, you’re not only breaking up any monotony, but you’re incorporating brain science principles to ensure your audience retains this information! 

8. Appeal to different learning preferences. To reach the widest audience, your workshop should include a variety of ways to learn and experience content. Avoid merely using text and a talking head to present your information. Instead, incorporate video, data visualization, imagery, and music in addition to interactivity. (Here’s how to discover learning preferences).

9. Develop a leader guide. Whoever is leading, facilitating, or hosting the workshop needs to know how to prepare and what to expect. The leader guide might include the following:

   • Overview

   • Length

   • Background

   • Audience description

   • Learning objectives

   • Required leader preparation (advance and day of)

   • Clearly defined “Say, Do” instructions

   • Skills or knowledge needed

   • Recommended resources 

   • Best practices for leading an inclusive, accessible, engaging workshop

   • Technical support or things to know

   • Workshop outline

10. Offer a participant guide. While your host will need a guide to help them lead the webinar, your audience should have a participant guide to help them follow along, take notes, and complete activities. The participant guide should include, at minimum, learning objectives, key vocabulary,, and key takeaways. Superior participant guides also include activities for learners to engage with and test their learning, like reflections and application questions.

11. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! Make sure all the technical issues are addressed, that the leader understands the format and the flow, and that everything is at their fingertips. Have backup technical and Wi-Fi plans if you are expecting a crowd. And if you have guests joining the workshop or event, prepare them for the experience and walk them through the expectations.