Ways Rene Can Work With You to Get Your Workshop Up and Running!

YOU HAVE THE TOPIC, BUT YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO CREATE A WORKSHOP DESIGN

Example:  Becky was very excited about an hour and a half workshop that she was going to be doing at an expo in a couple of weeks.  She knew her content backwards and forewords, but she was nervous about presenting.  I assured her that we could take her enthusiasm and channel it into a great workshop.  I didn’t create a design for Becky, I coached her on how to create a presentation that took the audience’s needs into consideration, had a clear purpose and 1 or 2 main ideas she wanted to get across.  We then discussed ways in which she could use her strengths to deliver her message and get her audience involved.  As we went through this process, Becky and I became collaborators on creating a design that would best suite her needs and her style. 

YOU HAVE THE TOPIC BUT YOU WANT RENE TO DESIGN THE WORKSHOP

Example #1:  The workshop I designed on Interviewing Skills is a good example of my client wanting a workshop to teach people in her organization how to conduct interviews.

I met with Ange initially to understand the current interview process being used in her organization, the strengths and weaknesses of the current process, the results desired from this workshop, and any materials or models she wanted to use in the design.  I did research on all the latest successful techniques in conducting interviews, designed a one-day workshop that combined content and exercises to build skills in interviewing.  I met with Ange to go over the design, created a workbook for participants, and coached Ange on her workshop presentation skills.   I observed her facilitation of the first workshop, gave her feedback and continued to be available for coaching.   

Example #2:  As a full-time consultant for over l0 years, I worked very closely with my colleague, Jeff.   He was a wonderful organization consultant, but he looked to me to design new programs and workshops.   Over the years, I produced many workshops and workbooks for Jeff’s clients – what fun!!!   One project was a l/2 day program on Meeting Management.  Jeff gave me all the background information on the participants for this program (what they were looking for, how they would use information, types of meetings they attend, their learning style, etc.)   I researched everything on effective meeting management practices, developed my own check-list of leader and member behaviors/practices and designed an interactive and content rich program with a design for Jeff to follow in facilitating this workshop and a workbook for participants.  It was a huge success.

YOU HAVE THE CONTENT, BUT YOU WANT RENE TO DEVELOP MATERIALS

Example:   I designed a workbook for a solopreneaur who had been doing workshops to teach small business owners how to write their own business plans.  Jolette gave me everything in print that she currently used in her workshops (handouts, exercises, a transcript of a section of her workshop) and she sent me a rough outline she used as her design notes to guide her in doing the workshop.   She was really excited about creating an additional income stream that she could use in her workshops and expand to sell on her web site.  Initially she was a little skeptical that I would be able to turn her outlines and materials into a useable workbook.  Once I received all her materials, I studied them to see how much I understood about the design and content of her workshop.  Jolette and I then had a four-hour conference call in which I asked her questions to gain information on the audience  for her workshops/level of knowledge/learning style... We then walked through her outline and I filled in all the missing pieces and kept asking questions and summarizing to make sure I understood the content and process of her design.

I did one draft of the workbook, Jolette reviewed this and she said it really helped her to get even more organized and creative about the design she really wanted.  She loved the materials, the formatting of the exercises, the themes that I created to help guide her workshop participants through the workbook. I also gave her feedback on places I thought she needed more data.   After a second revision, Jolette was ready to price and print her workbooks!