Conventional Approaches to Workshops

part two

The conventional approaches don’t serve you in creating transformation.

In this section, I’ll break down four characteristics of the dominant (and dominating) culture that sneakily weave themselves into our gatherings.

Part 1 | Part 2 (You are here) | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

They may get partial results, but can be highly detrimental.

Our society can lead us to believe these things are required – but they’re not. And once you know what they are, you might begin to notice other people (and yourself!) doing them all the time.

Please be gentle.

We’re often not even aware of the undercurrents in what we’re doing. A lifetime of subtle influences shapes us into who we are.

If we’re lucky enough to have the veil lifted, it can still take a lot of time and effort to undo our conditioning.

There’s layers to this shiz, and no one is perfect.

On that note, shall we dig in?

#1 - Perfectionism

a.k.a trying to do it all "properly"

Perhaps you’ve been attempting to fit into the “flawless presenter” mold, thinking that’s what a successful workshop leader should look like. Hours and hours spent writing, rewriting, and editing your presenter notes, trying to find juuuust the right words.

However, if you’re trying to do things the “right" way or just like someone else, your message may fall flat.

Being an excellent workshop host is not about taking on the persona of a polished presenter with fancy slides and a perfect webinar script that you follow to a T.

Sure, that’ll help you remember to say all of the things you want to say. And people will get the information you intend. But.. that’ll cause your audience to be disconnected from you.

My guess is you're not aiming for "unrelatable" or "unattainable".
(And if you are, you're in the wrong corner of the internet for all that)

Our society has a habit of setting unnatural, unrealistic, and unattainable standards.

I don’t want to perpetuate that.

Perfectionism also makes you more stiff and boring than you naturally are.
(Have you seen a cookie cutter? To make things uniform, they’re pretty rigid.)

You have so much more to offer in your workshops than a replica of someone else's style.

When you remove your youness from the equation, you strip the presentation of your magic. You deprive the world of a little bit of the diversity you naturally bring.

There's so much more to you than just what you know. Information is cheap and widely available. (…AI can do that)

Perfectionism is neither attainable nor desired.

#2 - Centralization

a.k.a all eyes on you, always

When all the information shared comes from your knowledge and experience – you alone are an “expert” that spoon feeds workshop participants answers – well, how have you set them up to continue digging into the topic when you’re not present?

Workshops are also not about you knowing everything and being the source of all the answers.

(…AI can do that too)

How many times have you seen the energy and excitement of a workshop fade away as soon as it’s over?

Many workshops create a temporary buzz, and then the discussions end when the session does.

If there’s not sufficient space for them to wrestle with their own thoughts on the topic, they won’t take ownership of the ideas. Their brains can’t create “hooks” for the information to hang on to.

It might sound good and have them nodding and smiling, but it’s in one ear and out the other.

What if what they really needed was to experience less of your brilliance, and more of their own?

If you’ve been struggling to extend the conversation around your message beyond the workshop’s duration, your approach may benefit from some decentralization.

But don’t worry, you’ll still be able to share original, unique ideas with people. We’ll talk about this more later.

#3 - Surface Engagement

a.k.a could it be a recorded video?

Asking attendees regularly to type things in the chat (so they feel like they’re participating) is a widely shared technique.

Typing “that’s me!” or “I’m committed!” might be enough to occupy their hands so they pay attention to you and don’t click away to their email.

Seeing their comments pop up alongside others saying the same thing can create a sense of “we’re in this together”. It might even produce some feel-good chemicals in the brain too.

But…

It’s not about hacking attention and engagement either.

What’s the point of asking them to engage?

Are you just trying to make sure they’re paying attention to you?

Will it result in any sort of real transformation for them? Does that represent the change you are working so hard to create?

Probably not.

Is their continued attention the goal of your attention, or does it serve a deeper purpose?

This is the difference between Surface Engagement and Real Engagement.

Build your workshop for engagement, and people might be entertained. But build your workshop for transformation? Engagement will happen naturally, too.

#4 - Information Overload

a.k.a firehosing with content

It’s a natural instinct to want to share as much as you can, as a way of being helpful. But bombarding participants with a deluge of information can have the opposite effect.

Instead of feeling enlightened, they might end up feeling weighed down by all there is to process. It’s kinda like trying to drink from a firehose – you can’t possibly take it all in.

Enchanting Workshops aren’t about teaching *as much content as possible*.

I’m guessing you don’t want your guests to feel like they’re drowning in a sea of information?

Cramming your workshops with content will likely overwhelm participants.

I've heard it explained with a food metaphor: it's definitely possible to eat faster than your body can digest, but only for so long. Eventually you hit a limit.

It doesn’t matter how useful the information is, if the volume of it prevents them from actually absorbing it.

It's much more helpful if workshop participants can retain the core idea(s) you’re trying to convey.

Alright... so, to summarize:

Revolutionary workshops AREN'T about:

You can throw allllll that out! Revolutionary workshops aren't about all that. So, what are they about?
Read on to find out.
(I know, I know… the draaama! But I’m trying to make this more digestible for ya )

Next - Part 3/5:

You’ll have a moment to reconnect to the reason why you’re even running workshops, and I’ll make my case for why I see workshops as a form of activism!