Designing and Facilitating Workshops

Online training on skills and techniques for successful workshop preparation and group facilitation.

📅 Dates: Thursdays in February/March 2025.
⌛ Format & Duration: 4 x 3-hour sessions, once a week.
💻 Delivery Mode: Online
📈 Co-Design Maturity Model Level: Understand/Apply

📜 About this training

Workshops are at the heart of design and innovation, bringing a range of people together to share experiences and ideas in real-time. There’s more to co-design than workshops, but getting workshops right can make or break your project.

The success of your workshop hinges on the preparation and facilitation you bring to the table - with most of the work happening long before participants gather together.

Designing and Facilitating Workshops is a short training program that covers the foundational skills and techniques needed to deliver an engaging workshop.

Why do this course?

This course helps grow confidence in facilitating workshops, empowering you to create more effective, inclusive, and impactful engagement with colleagues, clients or community members.

How is it delivered?

This course consists of four online training sessions, with 10-20 participants, delivered once a week.

Part 1: Preparation for Effective Workshops

Understand the importance of preparing for workshops.
Learn a simple and adaptable framework for planning co-design engagements.
Discover best practices for inviting and preparing participants for design and research activities.

Part 2: Group Facilitation Skills

Develop key guidelines for creating safe and inspiring environments.
Recognise different styles of facilitation and engagement.
Explore skills to foster creativity, dialogue and collective decision-making.

Part 3: Workshop Tools, Techniques and Formats

Identify key considerations for in-person and online group facilitation.
Dive into platforms, tools and techniques for remote and virtual facilitation.
Experience and practise productive ways to generate and review ideas.

Part 4: Facilitating Remote Engagement

Understand the pros and cons of asynchronous collaboration and digital tools.
Identify benefits and roles of co-facilitation.
Experience and practise creating safe and inspiring online environments.

Who is leading this?

This program is delivered by Dr Emma Blomkamp, who brings extensive experience in co-design facilitation and capability building, creating safe and engaging spaces for practitioner development.

Is this course for me?

✅ It is for you if you:

want to facilitate workshops for any sort of research, design or innovation purpose. This training focuses on co-design facilitation but is relevant for anyone wanting to expand their skillset in delivering engaging workshops.
are ready to practise your facilitation skills in a safe environment in small groups.
are able to attend all four 3-hour online training sessions.
allow at least an additional 30 minutes per week to engage in preparation and application activities, or more if you’d like to dive deeper into the resources we provide.

❌ It is not for you if you:

only want to learn theory or observe others. This training is interactive and you need to be ready and willing to practise facilitation yourself.
aren’t able to attend all four online training sessions or don’t have a strong internet connection to participate in online activities. This interactive training won’t all be recorded.
expect to learn everything you need to know about co-design from this course alone

📆 2025 schedule

The next course consists of four online training sessions on Thursdays in February/March.

February/March 2025 Thursdays: 13.02.25, 20.02.25, 27.02.25 & 06.03.25. 10.30am-1.30pm AEDT (Melbourne)

🕰️That’s 7.30am-10.30am Perth / 9am-12pm Darwin / 9.30am-12.30pm Brisbane / 10am-1pm Adelaide / 12.30pm-3.30pm NZ time.

📍 This is on Wednesdays in North/South America, starting February 12th: 3.30pm-6.30pm Pacific Time / 6.30pm-9.30pm Eastern Time.

🌎 Located elsewhere? Find out what time this is for you.

✅ Investment & payment options

Pricing

Early-bird registration: $1100 AUD incl. GST, or $700 USD^ per person.
Register before 13 January 2025, to access the early-bird rate!

Standard registration: $1300 incl. GST per person, or $850 USD^ per person.

Your place is confirmed on receipt of full payment.

Includes:

Four online training sessions & digital resources.
Certificate of completion.

Optional add-on:

Individual follow-up coaching session with Emma to discuss how to implement what you have learned into your work:
- 1 x 45 minute one-on-one coaching session $240 AUD incl. GST, or $170 USD^.

^If paying via invoice in USD (with no GST, for participants outside of Australia only).

Payment Options:

Credit Card
Register directly via Humanitix to pay via credit card and reserve your place right now.

Invoice
Register via Humanitix and request to pay via Invoice.

International Participants
You can contact the team to request:

an invoice free of GST (10%) in USD or another currency, if you're based outside of Australia.
an invoice (discounted) in NZD to pay into a New Zealand bank account, if you’re based in Aotearoa.
information on discounts available for participants from lower-income countries.

Scholarships
We offer at least one fully funded scholarship place for a First Nations practitioner for each of our courses, and a discount for participants with an income under $70,000 AUD per year. Contact us to apply.

We highly recommend registering early to avoid missing out.
To provide a great learning experience, participant numbers are capped at 20.
Registrations close on 6 February 2025 to allow time for onboarding onto our platforms.

💬 Previous participants have said…

The most rewarding part about attending the Designing and Facilitating Workshops Training was the immersive way that Emma facilitates and the practical, ready-to-use tools and processes that we were guided through. I also treasured the opportunity to connect with other co-design practitioners and learn from each other in an open-hearted, generous culture of mutual growth.
As an emerging co-design practitioner I found Emma's training invaluable to refining my practice. I have already had the opportunity to incorporate some of the practical methods I learned through Emma's training in practice and have had very positive feedback from both the stakeholders and participants. I will definitely be back for more training and would like to thank everyone I met through the training course for the incredible culture of learning and growth in the room. Emma is so attentive, generous and reflective in the way she facilitates and her impact on the world of co-design is an inspiration.

Juanita (Nita) Childs - Design Strategist & Consultant

👉 Access Information

You’ll need access to the internet, a computer, and the ability to read and communicate in English.
We meet via Zoom, with closed captioning enabled, and also use the chat function.
Our courses always include a mix of presentations, activities and discussions - to keep things lively and meet different learning needs and preferences.
We use a collaborative whiteboard and breakout rooms for interactions. Participants can opt out of breakout conversations and choose how much they engage with others.
We take at least one 5 minute break once every hour online, and at least one 15 minute break during these sessions.
A tech and access support person (co-host) will be present throughout the training to attend to any emergent participant needs regarding Zoom, collaborative platforms, and access.
We provide information ahead of the sessions to help you prepare.
We may record sessions, and include a transcript with any recorded sessions. These are not a good substitute for live attendance but are available during the program for participants to catch up if they miss (part of) a session. During group discussions, the recording can be switched off at any time at a participant’s request.
When you register, please let us know about any access needs or learning preferences.