A great online workshop with my blog community

Last Saturday, I finished our first online meet-up of the year with my blog followers, and I’d like to write a post to summarise it.

Overall, I was very happy to overcome procrastination and gather everyone, and I learned a lot during the sharing session.

After the meeting, I asked everyone if this format was worth repeating and to let more workplace friends get access to it, and the answer was a unanimous YES.

So I plan to continue to open this meeting topic, and those who didn’t have time to participate this time can sign up, once a certain number of people sign up, I’ll gather some dates.

Topic

This online meeting was a workshop-style training, and the topic was – how to successfully host an online workshop.

I chose this topic because hosting large-scale meetings is an important skill for workplace communication and collaboration, and under the influence of the pandemic, how to chair a successful and attractive remote meeting has become a workplace killer skill.

In the whole training, I only used Klaxoon, a software that is very powerful and can effectively control the entire meeting. The host can switch between ppt, white boards, quiz, survey, live questions, and other different activities, and the chair of the meeting can control all the activities throughout the meeting, and the members won’t get lost.

I did contact Klaxoon to check if they can sponsor my license, however, after a call with the sales executive, the conclusion is that they won’t give out a license for free, but I need to prove that I can bring qualified leads. So I bought a license specifically for the event 😀 😀

If the members who have participated in the meeting are interested and want your company to purchase some enterprise licenses, you can get a 10% discount through me! Maybe then they will sponsor my license later!

Process

The process of this meeting was originally planned as:

Opening remarks – 5 minutes

Icebreaker game – 10 minutes

Code of conduct – 2 minutes

Quiz – 10 minutes

Theory – 25 minutes

Practice – 15 minutes

Closing – 5 minutes

However, the time was not 100% synchronized with the plan, but I was still happy that we spent time on some important topics.

PART/1 Opening

The opening was actually very simple, I just briefly introduced myself and why I chose this topic. Then I asked everyone to write their expectations for this meeting on the whiteboard.

I also introduced when I would use online workshops in my work.

PART/ 2 Icebreaker game

The icebreaker game was a bit longer than planned, but according to the feedback form, although it was long, it was very interesting.

This game lets everyone position their photos in a two-dimensional space that can describe themselves (the horizontal axis is staying home lover vs global trotter, and the vertical axis is sunshine yellow vs cool blue).

Then everyone introduced themselves one by one, wow, our profiles are great, and very diverse, and also added an extra spark to this meeting.

PART/3 Quiz

Since I started using Klaxoon, I have added Quiz to almost all of my meetings, which is the best way to motivate everyone and sneak in some focus and competition.

And through the quiz, the host of the meeting also learned more about the background of the participants.

PART/4 Theory

After the test, I started a deep discussion on how to host a remote workshop, which is also the essence of this training.

There are two topics:

1. The advantages and disadvantages of remote workshops compared to face-to-face meetings.
2. What are the essential items for designing your workshop regarding before, during, and after the session
   
   Nowadays, popular training has transformed from PPT to encouraging everyone to actively use their brains and piece together theoretical knowledge. So at the beginning of the meeting, I only had two empty whiteboards, and in a few minutes, everyone filled the whiteboard with ideas, and also asked each other questions, discussed, and shared their use in the workplace.
   

During the discussion, I was also enlightened!

PART 5 Closing

For the closing, I planned 3 points:

1. Look back at the expectations that everyone wrote before, and then interview if there is anything missing
2. Feedback form
3. Q&A session
   
   In the end, because we were too enthusiastic, I forgot to check on the expectations! But looking at the feedback form, 4.3/5 match expectation is still good!

My own reflection

I also summarized some areas that can be improved next time:

1. Meeting invitation, the meeting invitation was sent by email address, and unfortunately, for some people, it was identified as spam and missed, I should also have notified them by chat. I invented the multi-channel communication method and forgot to use it!
2. Time – Saturday morning timing was not popular! I feel that a lot of people have plans, and some people even cancel last minute. Maybe it is better to choose Sunday night or weekday night.
3. For time control, there is still room for improvement, the facilitation theory should have been discussed more, and there was no time for exercise.
   
   But then again, you either succeed or learn, so there is nothing to be discouraged! I’ll work harder next time hahaha!

If you want to attend such sessions again, register by filling in this form before 28th February, max 20 persons, the form will be closed once full.