virtual Workshop with nancy white: BETTER virtual workshops
Workshops are very special kinds of meeting in organisational life. They usually comprise interactive and collaborative activities, where participants must:
There are a number of design and facilitation techniques for helping workshop facilitators in a face to face setting. Not all of them lend themselves to the more complex interactions described above, nor translate well online. In fact, we may be porting poor workshop design from offline into the online space, delivering consistently WORSE results! It is time to creatively destruct those previous practices and unleash people differently.
Liberating Structures are a coherent repertoire of 33 facilitation microstructures that exist to unleash and engage everyone in shared sense-making and problem-solving - to "creatively engage people in shaping their own future". They are curated by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless together with a large community of practitioners around the world. In this time of rapid change, the Liberating Structures community has quickly prototyped and implemented most of the structures for online use. The community response is a tangible lesson and resource on how we must adapt our approaches to those practices of workshop design and facilitation.
In this two-part virtual workshop, spaced over two weeks, online communities expert Nancy White will guide us through a series of steps in planning, designing and facilitating virtual workshops, using a "Deconstruct, Reconstruct" approach, and using a number of Liberating Structures as examples. All participants will need to be prepared with an example of their own intended workshop need, together with a clear purpose, and we will work on these together over the two sessions. This workshop will be limited to 25 persons, and participants will need to commit: (a) to bringing their own workshop need to work on and (b) to attend both workshop sessions. Expect to practice and work on your design between the two sessions.
- work together to build or maintain their alignment and common ground;
- perform collective sensemaking on complex emerging events and chart a way forward;
- make decisions and plans together;
- divide up responsibilities and manage collective action.
There are a number of design and facilitation techniques for helping workshop facilitators in a face to face setting. Not all of them lend themselves to the more complex interactions described above, nor translate well online. In fact, we may be porting poor workshop design from offline into the online space, delivering consistently WORSE results! It is time to creatively destruct those previous practices and unleash people differently.
Liberating Structures are a coherent repertoire of 33 facilitation microstructures that exist to unleash and engage everyone in shared sense-making and problem-solving - to "creatively engage people in shaping their own future". They are curated by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless together with a large community of practitioners around the world. In this time of rapid change, the Liberating Structures community has quickly prototyped and implemented most of the structures for online use. The community response is a tangible lesson and resource on how we must adapt our approaches to those practices of workshop design and facilitation.
In this two-part virtual workshop, spaced over two weeks, online communities expert Nancy White will guide us through a series of steps in planning, designing and facilitating virtual workshops, using a "Deconstruct, Reconstruct" approach, and using a number of Liberating Structures as examples. All participants will need to be prepared with an example of their own intended workshop need, together with a clear purpose, and we will work on these together over the two sessions. This workshop will be limited to 25 persons, and participants will need to commit: (a) to bringing their own workshop need to work on and (b) to attend both workshop sessions. Expect to practice and work on your design between the two sessions.
About the Facilitator
Nancy White is the founder of Full Circle Associates, her consulting practice that includes an extensive network of professionals, working in facilitation, online communities and collaboration. She is co-author with John Smith and Etienne Wenger of Digital Habitats: Stewarding Technology for Communities (CPSquare 2009). She is a passionate believer in sharing, and her Online Community Toolkit is an invaluable free resource. She is a frequent contributor and a past core group member of KM4Dev, a global networked community of international development practitioners who are interested in knowledge management and knowledge sharing issues and approaches, who seek to share ideas and experiences in this domain. Nancy is a leading thinker, writer, and practitioner of online facilitation (group facilitation for distributed environments). Nancy supports distributed learning, teams, and communities of practice, where technology is just the tip of the iceberg. She believes that organizational capacity and strong processes are the links to success. She also supports communications for NGOs, non profits and community organizations, thinking in, out, around, and beside the box. She offers fresh ideas and practical plans for implementation. Her specialties include online interaction strategic planning, design, execution, online facilitation, training, NPO/NGO knowledge sharing/management, strategic communications framing, issue communications, project management - and chocolate tasting! |
Date/Time
Venue Type of Event Who should attend |
Session 1 - Tuesday 14 July 2020, 9-11am (Singapore)
Session 2 - Tuesday 28 July 2020, 9-11am (Singapore) Some pre-workshop preparation was required, as well as practical work between the two sessions. This was a virtual session, hosted on Zoom. Only registered participants are admitted to the workshop Case Discussion | Networking | Panel | Site Visit | Talk & Discussion | Workshop * Internal comms teams, knowledge and information managers, organisation development practitioners, change management professionals, facilitators and trainers, people working on remote collaboration. |
event materials - part one
The slides for Part 1 of the workshop are available for download here
The homework document for Part 1 of the workshop is available for download here
Edited highlights of Part 1 of the workshop are available in the video below
The homework document for Part 1 of the workshop is available for download here
Edited highlights of Part 1 of the workshop are available in the video below
event materials - part two
The slides for Part 2 of the workshop are available for download here
Nancy recommended the use of a Run Sheet to plan the activities in a workshop. Here is Nancy's run sheet for Parts 1 & 2 of the workshop for your reference - download here
In Part 2 of the workshop Nancy introduced us to the use of the Liberating Structures Matchmaker worksheet, which suggests Liberative Structures that can be used together. Here is the pdf of the worksheet - download here
Nancy provided a link to one kind of activity that helps to humanise virtual workshops - "The Zen of Zooming" by Beck Tench
Here is the main website for Liberating Structures (note there is also a mobile app)
Nancy recommended the use of a Run Sheet to plan the activities in a workshop. Here is Nancy's run sheet for Parts 1 & 2 of the workshop for your reference - download here
In Part 2 of the workshop Nancy introduced us to the use of the Liberating Structures Matchmaker worksheet, which suggests Liberative Structures that can be used together. Here is the pdf of the worksheet - download here
Nancy provided a link to one kind of activity that helps to humanise virtual workshops - "The Zen of Zooming" by Beck Tench
Here is the main website for Liberating Structures (note there is also a mobile app)
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By continuing to use the ISKO Singapore website you are agreeing that ISKO Singapore may collect, use and disclose your personal data obtained by ISKO Singapore as a result of your use of the ISKO Singapore website. Please consult our data protection policy, including how you may access and correct your personal data or withdraw consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal data.