Making Workshops Work: Creative Collaboration for Our Time

by Penny Pullan

Making Workshops Work takes you from an initial idea or brief, through step-by-step preparation, to an engaging, well-run, effective session resulting in agreed actions and clear follow up. Feel competent and confident as you deliver great results, with everyone committed to their actions afterwards, whether it's a virtual, face-to-face or hybrid event.

Penny Pullan's experience and inspiring stories will support you at every stage, along with templates, checklists and guides to ensure that you are fully prepared, making the best use of your, and your participants’, valuable time.

'Chock full of helpful step-by-step guidance that will add sparkle to tired meeting formats and bring people together in deeper and more creative ways – just what we need in the new world of work.' - Caroline Webb, Author of How to Have a Good Day

'Encapsulates all the best techniques and approaches to manage and deliver change in our increasingly remote working environment..... Long overdue, and sorely needed, this is a book for our time.' - Chris Alexander, Project Manager, Computacenter, UK

'A book that is not only competently resourceful, but timely too... a rich source of knowledge, grounded in practice and informed by theory, on how to effectively facilitate virtual and hybrid (in addition to in-person) workshops whilst promoting creativity and collaboration.' - Professor Niki Panteli, Professor of Digital Business, Royal Holloway University of London, UK

260 pages, ebook

Published July 13, 2021

Reviews

[Ell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I frequently give workshops and seminars. One thing I have learned along the way is what works for one audience does not necessarily translate well with the next. What works in person may not work in an online environment. Facilitators must be adaptable, flexible, well-organized and confident. I'm new to facilitating online, so I picked up this book to sharpen my skills in this arena. If you're new to facilitating workshops and seminars, I highly recommend this book. Not only does it provide a good background in what to expect and key character strengths needed, author Penny Pullan provides you with templates, checklists and guides to ensure that you are prepared, organized, managing your time effectively and hitting your objectives.

[Chel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I regularly give workshops, and am a confident presenter, but I always think there are new tips someone can pick up. This book is great - readable, with strategies for all people, regardless of levels of experience. There are strategies, examples, checklists and models jam-packed in this book. I highly recommend it especially for those new to presenting, or needing to rethink the objective of their presentation, but it would be of use to all presenters.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Hem Back · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penny breaks down clearly with examples ways of both running in person workshops, but also the horrors of virtual or hybrids too.
Whilst there is a good amount of information for a complete beginner, I found that despite running workshops myself for the last 15 years that there were a large number of tips and war stories to help shape and inspire my thinking.
She has helpfully referenced many great resources, including a free app which I've recommended to all the business analysts and user researchers in my team.
I am now looking forward confidently to my next workshop.

[Martin Gilbraith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wide-ranging introduction and an invaluable resource for anyone leading any sort of workshop, whether in-person or online or both – it is packed with tips and tools and rich with insightful stories… highly recommended!