How to Facilitate a Workshop

Facilitating workshops is part of your job as a tutor; everyone will get practice doing this at some point. It requires a different set of skills than one-on-one discussion or even small group sessions. This guide is meant to help you prepare and be confident in facilitating.

The Role of a Facilitator

Your role as a facilitator is to make sure

• there is effective participation
• participants gain understanding
• participants contribute to the discussion

Basics

• Before you facilitate, you’ll observe at least one workshop. You’ll then take the “helper” role before you take the lead in a workshop. You should familiarize yourself with workshop materials, activities, and handouts. Some basic guidelines:
• Make sure you’re timing the workshop appropriately. Remember that the more participants you have, the longer everything will take. Count on activities taking three times longer than you think they will.
• Don’t rely on the handouts to run your workshop. Workshops are meant to be hands-on, and the handouts are something the participants can take away as a reminder and reinforcement of what you covered. Let the participants read through most of the handout later, on their own. Rather than reading the handout word-for-word, describe a concept in your own words.
• Speak loudly and clearly enough that the person in the back of the room can hear you. Speak slower than you would in a one-on-one conversation.
• Timing is very important. Respect the participants’ time. Adapt to their pace. Some groups take much longer than you expect and some groups are done in a flash. Be prepared. Use a timer.

The Importance of Activities

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 get moved into long-term memory at a better rate. Relatively passive activities like reading (like you’re doing here…sorry!) may make sense in 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 themselves say and write, and 90% of what they do and experience physically. The more active a learner is, the more beneficial the learning.

How does this apply to a workshop?

Design activities that participants can really get involved in. Get them moving around. Get them to talk to each other and to you. Ask them to model what you’ve showed them. Below are a few links with ideas for active learning. Most of them are aimed at teachers, but you can adapt them however you like.

• Basic Active Learning Strategies – University of Minnesota
• Active Learning for the College Classroom – Cal State Los Angeles
• 12 Examples of Active Learning Activities – Queen’s University (organized by small and large groups)

Preparing for Your Workshop

• Create clear outcomes.
  • What do you want participants to know/understand? Be concrete. “I want students to know how to use signal phrases effectively.” “I want students to be able to structure their essay in a way that helps the reader understand the information.”
  • How will you assess their understanding? (suggestions: ask them to summarize what they’ve learned; ask them questions; ask them to produce something)
  • How will you make sure participants are engaged?
  • How will you make sure participants have the chance to practice/retrieve what they’ve learned?
• Gather your materials. Make copies, double check any pieces you need for the activities. Go over the outline together with your partner and decide who’s going to say what. Bring dry erase markers. Most rooms have them, but some of them are pretty tattered. At the very least, take a black marker with you.
• Know your participants to the extent you can predict: how many do you expect? who are they? what do they want from this workshop? why are they attending? Talk to consultants who have done the workshop if you’re not sure.
• Decide what you’ll do if…
  • Only one person shows up
  • A whole class shows up
  • Participants expect something much different than you’re offering
  • Participants are very distracted or disruptive
• Make sure everyone attending the workshop has signed into WC Online.

In the Workshop

Remember that you have between 50 and 110 minutes for an in-class workshop. Time yourself carefully, leaving at least 5 minutes for getting settled in, transitioning between activities, and so on.

Beginning

• In a 50-minute class this should take about five minutes. In a longer class, you can take about 10 minutes.
• Begin with something participatory and hands-on. Be brief but fun. Icebreakers are important.
• Set expectations for what they can expect from you and what you expect from them. Establish a positive, supportive atmosphere with your own attitude.

During the workshop

• In a 50-minute class, this part should take about 35 minutes total, allowing an extra five minutes for getting settled in, letting the teacher give announcements, and so on. In a longer class, adjust your timing accordingly; you can give yourself about an hour.
  • Don’t be intimidated by longer classes. You can add another activity or two, or simply give students more time for discussion and practice. Sometimes, teachers might ask you to do a 50-minute workshop and then stay the rest of the time to support students while they work.
• Small groups are better. They allow students to be able to talk to each other and process without getting drowned out.
• Use a variety of learning tools. Have several on hand to try but don’t try to do them all.
• Engage the senses as much as possible. Use visuals and audio if you can, and give them something to do. Ask them to move around if possible. This will surprise them, but being active will also help them focus.
• Apart from establishing the topic of your workshop and giving instructions, the balance of talking in the room should be 80-90% students and 10-20% you.
• Give clear directions backed up by writing; repeat at least twice, ask them to repeat them back to you if necessary.
• Write down participants’ contributions to the discussion on the board.
• Be flexible! Embrace unpredictability in a group dynamic.
• Allow silences, just like in a session.
• Don’t try to cram too much in. 1-2 activities is enough for a 50-minute workshop.
• Use a timer. If you expect an activity to take 10 minutes, tell the group and set a timer. This keeps the participants (and you) focused and on schedule.
• Make it a group project; everyone encourages everyone else to participate.
• Respect different group interaction styles, from quiet to talkative, but try to balance the two.
• Explain the purpose of everything you do.
• Consider using nonverbal signals to “take the temperature” of the room. For example, ask them to give you a thumbs up if they’re pretty confident they understand, a thumbs down if they’re confused, or a thumb in the middle if they’re starting to understand but aren’t quite there yet.
• Write on the board whenever possible.

Wrapping up

• Leave at least five minutes to wrap up. Don’t just rush out the door.
• Review the main points of the workshop, including any points the group brought up that weren’t planned.
• Give a short takeaway: something concrete the participants can remember and put into practice immediately, like a mini homework assignment.
• Encourage participants to make appointments on their way out if they need help with any specific paper or issue.