How to facilitate your first workshop (step-by-step guide)
Your crash course on how to plan & run impactful design workshops for teams
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Friends,
Design workshops are a critical part of any designer's toolkit. They're where we bring together diverse perspectives, foster creativity, and make significant progress on our projects. As someone who's facilitated many workshops in my career, I know how powerful they can be when done right.
That's why I'm excited to have Blair Fraser (Design Leader, UserTesting), an expert in design facilitation, contribute to this guest post. Blair will share his insights on how to plan and run a design workshop that not only achieves its objectives but also leaves your team inspired and ready to take action.
Educator Edgar Dale described the retention rates of learned material using the “Cone of Experience.”
The more active a learner is, the more information they remember over time.
Active experiences are more distinct than passive ones and move into long-term memory faster. Relatively passive activities like reading (like you’re doing here…sorry!) may make sense at the moment, but after two weeks, only 10% of the material read will remain in your long-term memory. People remember 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they say and write, and 90% of what they do and experience physically. The more active a learner is, the more beneficial learning is.
Whether you're an early career designer looking to build your facilitation skills or a design leader seeking to optimize your team's workflow and collaboration, this post has something for everyone.
Here’s what you’ll get today:
Why design workshops matter
How to design your workshop
Running your workshop
Facilitating with confidence
When things don’t go to plan
Follow up - After the workshop
Beyond the workshop - Improving facilitation skills
So, let's get started and learn from Blair how to run a design workshop that makes a real impact.
Blair Fraser is a design leader passionate about helping teams tackle complex problems through collaboration, facilitation, and human-centered design. As a lead designer and manager at UserTesting, he enables companies to connect with their audiences, get valuable feedback, and make better, insight-driven decisions. With 13+ years of experience spanning finance, startups, agencies, and L&D, Blair specializes in workshopping, strategy, and building impactful products.
Beyond design in his day job, he explores his own challenges with perfectionism and self-doubt through The Imperfect Designer, a Substack publication dedicated to helping creatives embrace imperfection and navigate the realities of their craft.
You can follow Blair on Substack or LinkedIn
Your Step-by-Step Guide to Workshops that work: Planning & running impactful design workshops
Workshops are a designer’s secret weapon. They help bring teams together, spark ideas, align goals, and accelerate decision-making. But let’s be honest: they can also feel chaotic, unpredictable, and daunting when planning and facilitating.
I’ve run my fair share of workshops, and I’ve learned a lot along the way. Some things went better than expected, and some… well, let’s just say I learned what not to do. But here's the good news, with thoughtful preparation and flexibility, you can run workshops that deliver impactful results while keeping participants engaged and inspired.
Why design workshops matter
Workshops are powerful because they have the potential to help:
Align teams: They get everyone on the same page, fast. Instead of endless email chains or meetings, workshops consolidate discussions into focused, actionable, productive sessions.
Generate ideas: With the right facilitation, workshops foster creativity and innovation, giving space for voices across the team to contribute diverse ideas.
Accelerate decisions: Workshops help teams move forward quickly by surfacing priorities, solving problems collaboratively and clarifying next steps.
Solve problems: Using structured frameworks to tackle challenges with clarity and focus.
The strength of workshops lies in their ability to bring people together and create momentum. But making this happen takes thoughtful planning, some facilitation know-how, and a healthy dose of flexibility.
Part 1: Designing your workshop
An effective workshop agenda is the backbone of a successful design workshop. Here are some key ideas to help you prepare and plan a workshop that works.
Start with a clear goal:
What's the purpose of your workshop? Start with the end in mind. Think about the goals(s) and outcomes you want to achieve and structure the workshop around achieving this. Try to align with your stakeholder, client, or sponsor to ensure the workshop’s purpose and goals are crystal clear. This helps make sure the session is a valuable use of everyone’s time.
Is your workshop meant to:
Kick off a project?
Align team members or stakeholders?
Uncover new opportunities?
Explore research findings?
Generate ideas?
Build consensus or make decisions?
Whatever the challenge, having a clear goal established in advance helps keep the session focused and valuable from the get-go.
Quick tips for planning your agenda
When structuring and drafting your agenda for the workshop(s) here are a few ideas that might help:
Plan for imperfection: Build buffer time into your agenda. People will arrive late, conversations will run long, and tangents will happen. Flexibility is key.
Time-box activities: Assign specific time limits to each activity and use a timer. This keeps the energy high and ensures sessions don’t drag.
Include breaks strategically: Breaks help maintain focus and energy. Schedule short breaks, and be specific about return times (e.g., 14:12 instead of 14:15). People tend to remember to return on time, when you give them a very specific time to come back by.
Prepare in advance: Send the agenda out ahead of time to give attendees time to prepare. This could include pre-reading or small assignments.
Duel agendas: I create a hyper-detailed facilitator agenda just for me, and a short attendee agenda. My facilitator's agenda is full of notes, alternative ideas, exact timings and other details I want to remember.
Design the experience of your workshop, not just the agenda.
Don’t just focus on the agenda, think about how participants will experience the workshop. Beyond achieving the planned outcomes, your goal should be to ensure people have a positive and memorable experience. My personal aim isto make the workshop the best thing they did that month or quarter, something they enjoyed and found valuable. I want them to walk away being advocates for design workshops and have caught the workshop bug!
You don’t have to work too hard to take your workshop up a notch to ensure people enjoy themselves. Here are a few simple ways to enhance the experience:
Project a warm, friendly and energetic charisma.
Personally greet participants by name and thank them for coming.
Monitor and maintain the energy levels of your participants.
Celebrate people's contributions and thank them for their input (but mean it!).
Snacks, not boring snacks, fun snacks!
Include fun moments, games and activities that help people relax, laugh and ease into the workshop.
One new idea I learned from a recent workshop I attended as a participant was the value of having fidget toys available on the table. They’re a simple yet effective tool for helping people stay engaged during long sessions. These small items can help reduce the natural discomfort or hesitation people may feel, making it easier for them to stay focused and participate more actively.
Choosing activities for a workshop
If you’re new to running workshops, start with simple activities that are easy to facilitate. Don’t start with planning a 2-hour workshop or a day-long adventure. Run a 30-60min session with a simple goal in mind.
There are countless templates and design thinking exercises freely available that you can pick up and use with minimal preparation.
As you gain experience, you’ll be able to experiment and design bespoke sessions that are both engaging and impactful. Think of it like cooking—it’s about building confidence over time, learning what works, and being able to combine different ingredients to create something great.
Instead of listing activities here, check out the resources at the end of the article for inspiration.
Plan according to the location
Decide whether your workshop will be in-person, remote, or hybrid. Each format has its own challenges, so choose what best suits your team and goals.
In-Person Workshops: Focus on creating a collaborative and comfortable environment. Ensure the space has the right tools (e.g., whiteboards, sticky notes, markers) and enough room for group activities.
Remote Workshops: Leverage tools like Zoom, Miro, or FigJam to facilitate collaboration. Plan for shorter sessions with frequent breaks to combat screen fatigue and disengagement.
Hybrid Workshops: These can be tricky. Ensure remote participants feel included by using high-quality audio/video equipment and design activities that work for both groups.
Part 2: Running the workshop
Setting expectations
After welcoming everyone, it’s time to get to work. I always start by setting clear expectations about the workshop. Explaining why we’re here and what we will accomplish together. Grounding participants in the purpose and outcomes helps prevent surprises, overwhelm, or fatigue.
Invite the group to share what they hope to get out of the session. This builds shared focus, fosters ownership, and ensures everyone feels heard from the start.
Before jumping into the agenda, especially for longer workshops, address potential concerns to ease participants in and manage expectations:
It’s normal for things to feel fast-paced or rushed at times.
You’re not expected to have ideas yet—this process will help.
Feeling sceptical or awkward is completely okay.
This quick check-in helps set the right mindset and encourages openness from the outset.
Agree on ground rules
Introduce some ground rules, and even stick them up on the wall. Keep them simple, clear, and visible for everyone to see. Here are a few key ones I've found to be foundational to successful workshops.
No devices - Eliminate distractions by keeping phones and laptops out of sight unless they’re essential to the workshop. If someone needs to step away for something urgent, they can do so—but avoid allowing devices in the room to prevent disengagement.
No judgement - Encourage participants to explore alternative ways of thinking without fear of disagreement or constraints. As I like to say, “We don’t ring the bell on any idea.” This ensures people feel safe to share freely.
Working together, separately: Silent, independent work during group activities might feel counterintuitive, but it’s incredibly effective. It ensures everyone’s input is heard—not just the loudest voices—and reduces groupthink by encouraging unbiased, individual contributions. This approach creates space for quieter participants and shifts the focus from endless discussions to meaningful action.
A great example of this is the “2-Year Goal” activity. Participants independently write where they see the company or product in two years. By doing this separately, you gain insights into alignment, uncover novel ideas, and avoid the natural drift toward group consensus that often happens in open discussions.
Don’t skip an icebreaker
No matter who’s in the room, whether leaders, execs, or ICs, always include an icebreaker. Even if time feels tight, a well-chosen activity can help people loosen up and set the tone for collaboration. Tailor your icebreaker activity to fit the workshop: for ideation and sketching, try something like a quick sketching activity; for longer sessions, focus on fun and building trust to create a relaxed, open environment.
Create a car park
When discussions drift off track, use a “car park” to capture those ideas. Dedicate a space on the wall to note down off-topic thoughts or suggestions. This ensures people feel heard and know their ideas aren’t forgotten—they can be revisited later if needed.
Encourage participation
Workshops thrive when everyone’s voice is heard. You should keep an eye on peoples contributions to the workshop and invite participants to share their inout if you notice the contribution in the room is feeling unbalanced.
The power of voting
Dot voting is a simple yet effective way to make decisions in workshops. It removes bias, gives everyone an equal voice, and quickly highlights the ideas the group is most invested in. Using stickers to vote creates a visual "heat map" of preferences, helping the group to focus on the most promising directions. It also energises participants, gets them moving, and encourages them to engage with and evaluate ideas beyond their own.
Start strong, finish stronger
The first moments of a workshop set the tone, and the last moments leave a lasting impression. This is where the peak-end rule comes into play. People tend to judge an experience based on its most intense moment (the peak) and how it ends.
Start strong with an engaging activity or an icebreaker to energize participants and create excitement.
Close with a high note by summarising key outcomes, celebrating contributions, and clarifying next steps
Facilitating with confidence
Facilitation is a skill you build over time. Here’s what I’ve learned about guiding discussions and keeping workshops on track:
You're not the hero of this story!
Your job is to create an environment where ideas flow. You don’t need to have all the answers. Think of yourself as the guide who helps the group navigate and uncover insights.
No one is looking for your credentials.
Feeling nervous about running a workshop? Don’t worry—no one’s asking how many you’ve done before. Projecting confidence and calmness is what matters most.
Early on, I realised my job wasn’t to be perfect or even a fantastic facilitator but to make everyone feel supported and focused and to be a good listener. Even when things went off track, staying adaptable earned trust. For example, in one of my first workshops, half the participants showed up late, and my agenda fell apart. Instead of panicking, I adjusted on the fly, removed an activity, and refocused the group.
Confidence isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about staying steady and flexible when the unexpected happens.
You don't need to have any ideas or expertise.
Here’s a secret: running workshops isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about creating a space for collaboration. Workshops bring together subject-matter experts and idea-driven people to solve problems together. Your job is to guide, not to be the authority on the topic. This is what makes workshops one of the easiest and most rewarding parts of being a designer.
You're not an attendee.
Remember you are there to facilitate, not to participate, try to limit your participation, and make sure you have invited the right people you need to attend. If you're a designer running a workshop and you want design input in the workshop, try if possible to invite another designer along.
When things don’t go to plan
Workshops always go to plan 🤣 - I’m kidding - they never go exactly to plan. People walk out, arrive late, go off on tangents, change their mind about the problem to be solved… all of it! Anything that can happen, will happen!
Agendas are created with blue skies in mind, but in reality, you’re working with people, not robots. Go with the flow. The key to success is adaptability and staying focused on the goal.
Here’s a quick list of common challenges I've experienced and ways to navigate them:
Strong egos or voices in the room: Redirect the conversation with gentle facilitation techniques to ensure all voices are heard and the discussion stays balanced.
That one person who keeps derailing the workshop: Politely but firmly bring the focus back to the agenda. If needed, address them privately during a break to reset expectations.
Odd dynamics because the boss is there: Set ground rules upfront to encourage open participation and remind everyone that all ideas are equal, regardless of hierarchy.
Participants leave unexpectedly: Plan for flexibility. If people walk out or take long breaks, keep the session moving and adapt as needed.
Activities over-run: Build modular agendas with "must-have" and "nice-to-have" activities so you can skip or condense on the fly.
Time runs out: How awkward, you're only half-way through your agenda and it's time to stop, the session is finished, people have places to be, and other commitments, resulting in an unclear conclusion to the workshop. Avoid this by building in healthy buffer time. If you need 1 hour of focused work, schedule 1.5 hours or more to account for delays, overruns, and breaks. A 2-hour workshop often nets you around 1.5 hours of actual agenda time. Finishing early is fine—running over rarely is.
Breaks: Schedule short breaks, but plan for people to take longer. Use precise return times (e.g., 14:12 PM) which helps people better remember when to come back.
Missing participants: If key attendees are absent, keep going with those present—or recruit others to join if numbers are low.
Co-facilitator issues: Have a solo plan ready in case your co-facilitator cancels last minute.
Workshops are dynamic by nature. Stay calm, stay flexible, and keep your eye on the outcomes. Anything can happen, but with preparation and the right mindset, you can make it work.
Part 3: After the workshop
A workshop’s value doesn’t end when the session does. Follow-up is key to ensuring your workshop is impactful and delivers value. The magic happens. Don’t delay on the follow-up. I’ve made the mistake too often of becoming busy with something else and leaving follow-up too late, even just a day or so later, and the momentum, care and enthusiasm can die.
People move on quickly to the next important thing. Don’t wait long to share! View following up as simply a part of the workshop itself, not as an afterthought.
Summarise the session - Send a concise summary of what happened, key decisions made, and next steps. Aim to do this the same day to keep the momentum alive.
Share outputs - make sure any assets, sketches, artefacts or things created during the workshop are easy to access and share. If you're running an in-person workshop. Take photos of everything!
Assign ownership - Every action item needs a clear owner. If no one owns it, it won’t happen. Be specific about who’s responsible for what and by when.
Ask for feedback - Workshops are a learning experience for everyone, including you. Ask participants what worked, what didn’t, and what they’d like to see next time. Use this feedback to keep improving.
Bonus: Only if it feels appropriate I like to leave sketches, post-its, research and anything else we’ve covered the walls and windows with up for as long as possible. It can serve as a good talking point or drive curiosity for others to “Walk the wall” and see what's been going on.
Building your facilitation skills beyond workshops
Facilitation doesn’t begin and end with the workshop itself. Here are some ideas that I’ve found can help build your skills, confidence, and knowledge and put yourself in the best position to be ready for running kick-ass workshops.
Sleep - make sure you're getting enough sleep in the days running up to a workshop can make all the difference to your energy levels and ability to think on your feet. When your mood & energy are good, it helps the rest of the workshop attendee’s energy rise.
Timekeeping - Find ways to improve your time management skills, as the facilitator you are the keeper of time and time is valuable during a workshop. Learn and take notes on how long things take and by practicing you’ll get better at time management.
Organisational and communication skills: Outside of the workshop look for opportunities to practice your planning and communication skills, whether giving a presentation to a team, running a design critique, or putting yourself in social situations that you might typically find less comfortable.
Assertiveness: As the facilitator, you’re the guide, responsible for keeping the workshop on track and moving toward its goal. You can be kind and assertive at the same time! Create a fun environment while staying firm when needed. Tools like a stopwatch can help you move things along gracefully by “blaming the clock.” Whether it’s shutting down conversations, keeping breaks short, or redirecting focus, assertiveness is my key to ensuring the session stays productive.
Learn from others - Attend workshops as a participant and take notes. What did the facilitator do well? What could they have done differently? Observing others is one of the best ways to grow.
Start small - Practice in low-stakes environments, like team meetings or design reviews. These smaller moments build your confidence for bigger sessions.
Keep learning - Dive into resources like the book Sprint or the Workshopper blog. The more tools and techniques you’re exposed to, the more adaptable you’ll become.
Final thoughts: embrace the imperfection
Workshops are messy, unpredictable, and dynamic. But that’s what makes them effective and exciting. Focus on progress, not perfection, and remember to stay adaptable. By planning thoughtfully, staying flexible, and focusing on the people in the room, you’ll create sessions that work, provide value and accelerate projects. Embrace the chaos, have fun, and make your workshops the highlight of everyone’s day.
Shoutout to Blair for contributing! You can follow Blair on Substack or LinkedIn.
That’s all for this week. Thank you for reading! 🙏
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Felix
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love this!!!
I’ll take note of this and hopefully I get to facilitate a design workshop soon! Thank you! ☺️