graph_3 Workshopr.io
Academy

Eight modules on one clock.

2:15 of video, 270 minutes end to end with the practice and the quizzes. The modules are standalone: nothing you make in one is needed by the next, so take them in order or start with whichever one matches this week's problem.

Course overview

Before anyone walks in

Modules 1 to 4. Everything you control from a desk, days before the day.

0:00
Module 1

What Facilitation Really Is

The role, the mindset, and when it is actually worth it.

play_circle 18:24 video 28 slides 35 min with the practice quiz 8-question quiz

Most people’s reference point for “workshop” is a bad one they sat through. Before anyone can learn the craft, that reference point has to be replaced.

Key concepts
  • Process versus content. The group owns what. You own how.
  • The three jobs. Design the path, hold the space, keep it moving.
  • The ego trap. The tell of a good session is that people credit themselves.
  • When not to facilitate. Low stakes, a clear owner, or a call you have already made.
In-module exercise
  • Watch one meeting you do not run. Catch the moment someone with authority grabs the content.
Quiz
  • 8 questions on the three jobs, neutrality, and the facilitate-or-decide judgement.

Watch module 1 Take quiz

0:35
Module 2

Setting the Objective

The single highest-return thing you do before anyone walks in.

play_circle 17:32 video 24 slides 35 min with the practice quiz 8-question quiz

Almost every workshop failure traces back to a fuzzy objective, and it fails silently.

Key concepts
  • The objective sentence. “By the end, we will have ______.” One sentence, one objective.
  • Artifact, not feeling. “Aligned on Q3” cannot be checked. A ranked Q3 backlog can.
  • Topic versus outcome. Topics have no finish line, so those sessions run to the clock.
  • The pre-mortem question. It is over and it went badly. What happened?
In-module exercise
  • Rewrite five real calendar-invite lines into objective sentences, then apply the artifact test to each.
Quiz
  • 8 questions, most of them outcome-or-topic judgements on real examples.

Watch module 2 Take quiz

1:10
Module 3

The Anatomy of a Workshop

The five blocks every session is made of, and the exercises that fill them.

play_circle 18:50 video 21 slides 35 min with the practice quiz 8-question quiz

A workshop is not a list of activities. It is a structure with a shape, and the shape does the work.

Key concepts
  • The five blocks. Frame, Diverge, Converge, Commit, Close. Commit is the missing one.
  • Transitions are the joints. Crossing between blocks without saying so is the commonest fault.
  • Kaner’s Diamond. The struggle in the middle is the session working, not failing.
  • 1-2-4-All. The one mechanic to learn if you learn nothing else.
In-module exercise
  • Diagnose three supplied agendas, then build a ninety-minute skeleton from a supplied outcome with every transition written out.
Quiz
  • 8 questions on the blocks, the Groan Zone, and the divergence rule.

Watch module 3 Take quiz

1:45
Module 4

Designing the Agenda

Turning the blocks into a timed arc a real room can walk.

play_circle 15:12 video 24 slides 33 min with the practice quiz 10-question quiz

Module 3 gives you a skeleton. A skeleton is not an agenda.

Key concepts
  • Backward design. Start from the artifact, work backward to the door.
  • Every activity earns its slot. If you cannot say what the group leaves with, cut it.
  • The 3x rule and buffer. Activities take three times longer with a group. Ten percent spare.
  • The Rule of Thirds. New facilitators underbudget the last third every single time.
In-module exercise
  • Find the collision: a two-hour agenda with three planted faults.
Quiz
  • 10 questions, half of them applied faults on short agenda extracts.

Watch module 4 Take quiz

2:18 · the door

The hinge is Module 4. It is where the subject stops being paper and starts being people.

The room itself

Modules 5 to 8. Everything that happens once people are in front of you.

2:18
Module 5

Opening Strong and Giving Instructions

The first ten minutes, and the unglamorous skill of being understood.

play_circle 17:12 video 28 slides 35 min with the practice quiz 8-question quiz

Two things decide whether an activity works, and neither is the activity.

Key concepts
  • IDOARRT. A complete opening in seven lines, left visible all day.
  • The re-explain tax. An unclear instruction costs the activity its time twice.
  • The 20-second framing. What, how long, alone or together, what you produce.
  • Demonstrate, do not describe. For anything with more than two steps, show one.
In-module exercise
  • Rewrite three supplied bad instructions into a 20-second framing each.
Quiz
  • 8 questions, including rewriting three genuinely bad instructions.

Watch module 5 Take quiz

2:53
Module 6

Creating Participation

Getting a real contribution out of everyone, not just the confident.

play_circle 18:11 video 31 slides 35 min with the practice quiz 8-question quiz

The default state of a group is that three people talk and everyone else waits. That is a design problem.

Key concepts
  • Individual before group. Silent written work protects the unusual ideas.
  • What beats why. “Why did you do that” puts people on trial. “What led to that” does not.
  • Seven seconds of silence. Your discomfort is everyone else’s thinking time.
  • The leader speaks last. Speaking first sets a ceiling on the whole room.
In-module exercise
  • Choose the structure for four described room situations, and say what each one protects against.
Quiz
  • 10 questions, including choosing a structure for four described situations.

Watch module 6 Take quiz

3:28
Module 7

Managing Time and Energy

Pacing a session, and what to do when the room goes flat.

play_circle 14:27 video 24 slides 30 min with the practice quiz 8-question quiz

Every facilitator learns time management by running out of time. Nobody teaches the energy half.

Key concepts
  • Timeboxing out loud. A timebox is permission to work fast and badly.
  • The two-minute warning. People finish a thought instead of having one amputated.
  • The energy arc. Hardest thinking early. Never the key decision at 4:45.
  • Cut whole activities. Half-doing four things frustrates everyone. Doing three properly does not.
In-module exercise
  • Mark the low-energy points on a supplied all-day agenda, then change the agenda rather than your delivery.
Quiz
  • 8 questions, mostly “you are twenty minutes behind, what do you cut”.

Watch module 7 Take quiz

3:58
Module 8

Reading the Room and Closing Well

Sensing what is happening while it happens, then landing the end.

play_circle 15:20 video 30 slides 32 min with the practice quiz 8-question quiz

Everything before this is preparation. This is the live skill, and the one that lands the day.

Key concepts
  • The four reads. Seating, devices, eyes, and the sound of the room.
  • Trust the read over the plan. The plan was written by someone who had not met this room.
  • The Commit block, delivered. Who does what by when, with a name and a date attached.
  • Your own practice. One sentence after every session on the block you underbudgeted.
In-module exercise
  • Call the read on four described room moments, and say what you would change and what you would say.
Quiz
  • 10 questions, half scenario-based on live reads and difficult moments.

Watch module 8 Take quiz

Start at 0:00.

Module 1 runs eighteen minutes and asks you to watch one meeting you do not run.

Module 1 quiz

A letter for facilitators who give a damn.

Workshop tips picked for the rooms you actually run. Three times a week. No "10 tricks for hybrid" listicles, no synergy slides, no hot takes dressed as frameworks.

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