People often seem to forget that there is a big difference between delivering content live to a face to face audience, and building content for online learning.
One of the biggest differences, believe it or it, is that the participants are actually there with you in the room. They interact with both yourself, and the other participants attending.
Let’s talk about Group Dynamics
Group Dynamics is all about people getting on with other people.
Interacting with each other is one of the biggest benefits of attending a live event, and no doubt one of the reasons that someone purchased a ticket. They might not say this outright, buy if they just wanted the content they could have researched or purchased it online.
If they’ve bothered to buy a ticket to a live workshop, it’s because they want interaction.
That interaction might be with you, or it might be with other people in the group.
So, during your workshop, you want to make sure you leave plenty of time for people to benefit from this interaction, from yourself and from the others in the group.
- Maybe a session at the beginning of the day where they can introduce themselves and explain why they are there. This wouldn’t work if you have 500 people, but is great for a smaller workshop
- If your group is too large, split them into pairs and small groups and allow them to get to know each other.
- Use breaks as an opportunity for your audience to connect if they want to. If you only allocate 5min to grab a coffee and go to the toilet, then that is all they are going to do. Make sure they have enough down time to connect with people if they want to (or run and hide if they have had enough of other people).
- Encourage them to find a lunch buddy
- Allocate group activities and paired work
Have you ever met some amazing people at a live event? I know that I have.