Bridgeport, CT • Brooklyn, NY • Hartford, CT • New Haven, CT

Planning Effective Workshops for Adult Learners

March 2009

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Warm-up – On a Spectrum:

Facilitating workshops is my favorite part of my job.

Facilitating workshops is stressful and frustrating.

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Warm-Up: Four Corners

I put a lot of time into planning the workshops I lead. Facilitating is the tricky part.

What’s planning? I try to get by on my charisma and natural facilitation skills.

Yikes! Both planning and facilitating are tough for me.

I feel pretty good about planning and facilitating.

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As a teacher of adults . . .

Your job is to help people learn something rather than just inform people of

something.

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To do this, takes . . . Planning! • Welcome to the newly titled session . . .

Bridgeport, CT • Brooklyn, NY • Hartford, CT • New Haven, CT

Planning Effective Workshops for Adult Learners

March 2009

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So . . . Aims of this Workshop

• Facilitators will be able to articulate the importance of planning for workshops with adult learners.

• Facilitators will be able to incorporate specific session planning and engagement strategies into their workshop preparation.

• Facilitators will be able to get a headstart on planning for an upcoming workshop.

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Agenda: Warm-up Aims - The Importance of Planning Framework for Adult Learning Structure of your Session (Agenda)

Partner Planning Time Engagement: J-Factor and Culture

Partner Planning Time Top Ten Tips Closing

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What you will walk away with: • A good start on an agenda and engagement strategies

to go with the aims you brought.

• New strategies and tools to help you plan.

• Confidence and energy.

• A thought-partner.

• World peace.

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Principles of Adult Learning • The most effective adult learning does not happen at a

training away from your job. It happens in the context of your everyday work.

• Stretch opportunities

• Planning with manager or colleague

• Feedback from a manager, coach or colleague

• Reflecting and planning again

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Theory on Adult Learning also suggests:• Adults have greater life and prior experience to draw

upon in learning new skills and knowledge. Connecting to these experiences is important in helping them learn.

• Adults’ readiness to learn is linked to their need to know or do something.

• Adults tend to have a problem-centered orientation to learning rather than a subject centered orientation.

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What are the implications of this research for us?

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Planning a Workshop: • Aims• Structure

• Modeling, Guided Practice, Independent/Group Practice• Gathering and Creating Tools and Materials• Personal Agenda Planning• Flow and Time Management• Visual Anchors• Talk Ratio• Interactive Participant Worksheet• Planning for J-Factor and Engagement• Exit Ticket or other Assessment Tool • Connecting workshop to Beyond

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Planning: The Biggest Bang for your Buck• Aims

• Structure of Agenda• Do-Now, Modeling, Guided Practice, Ind/Group Practice, Closing

• Gathering and Creating Tools and Materials• Personal Agenda Planning• Flow and Time Management• Visual Anchors• Talk Ratio• Create Interactive Participant Worksheet

• Planning for J-Factor and Engagement• Exit Ticket or other Assessment Tool • Connecting workshop to beyond

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Planning the Structure of your Workshop • Warm-up/Do-Now

• Access prior knowledge and experience• Hook – get to the “why”

• Modeling/Explicit Instruction• Model or show video• Think aloud

• Guided Practice • Group discussion• Group processing

• Independent/Group Practice• Planning time (!!!) or applying the skill time

• Closing

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A Couple Session Plan Examples

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Plan a Rough Agenda on One of the Below Aims:

• Team members will be able to create long term project plans that track multiple stakeholders and a large amount of deadlines effectively.

• Team members will be able to give feedback to and receive feedback from their team members.

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Individual and Partner Planning Time• Plan or revise a rough agenda for the aim(s) you

brought to this workshop.

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Planning for Engagement• Most Important: Planning to hook participants on the

why of your session.

• What is the “Why” behind your session’s aim?

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Examples of other Engagement Strategies• Humor

• Celebrations

• Connection to Self/Prior Experience

• Interactive Methods

• Talk Ratio

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Individual and Partner Planning Time• Plan engagement strategies into the session you are

planning.

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Exit Ticket• Send your partner an email (and cc Sara) about

reconnecting for additional feedback or thought-partnering on your session.