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How to Design Inclusive Workshops in a Hybrid World

How to Design Inclusive Workshops in a Hybrid World

In the past, there was a mindset that we need to be in-person to conduct great workshops. Anyone remote would bear the burden of figuring out ways to contribute and follow the conversation.

As employees become empowered to decide where they work best, we're rethinking how we collaborate on a daily basis. So how do we meet everyone’s needs when designing and facilitating a workshop?

In this interactive talk, we'll walk through proven ways to engage your participants and tailor workshops to get the most engagement. Conference participants will get a chance to try out some of these techniques.

Mary Fran Thompson

September 27, 2022
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  1. How to Design Inclusive Workshops in a Hybrid World UX

    Y’all 2022 9/23/22 Michelle Chin & Mary Fran Thompson
  2. Who We Are Mary Fran Thompson She/Her/Hers Senior UX Designer

    @ Insight Michelle Chin She/Her/Hers Design Advocate @ zeroheight We’re 2 friends that love UX! We’ve been collaborating over the last 8 years in and outside of work.
  3. Also... We Host a Podcast! It’s called UX IRL (aka

    UX in Real Life!) There’s UX in theory and then UX in reality. We cover the latter—everything from being scrappy with research to UX in video games. We're on most major podcast networks including Spotify & Apple!
  4. Who you are Facilitators • Learn what’s different about hybrid

    workshops • Learn best practices in planning and hosting inclusive workshops Participants • Discover how to meaningfully participate whether you're virtual, in-person, in a different time zone, etc. • Learn better ways for collaborating more inclusively!
  5. Pre-Pandemic In the past, there was a mindset that we

    need to be in-person to conduct great workshops. Anyone remote would bear the burden of figuring out ways to contribute and follow the conversation.
  6. “Post”-Pandemic… today As employees become empowered to decide where they

    work best, we're rethinking how we collaborate on a daily basis. We need to rethink how we create and facilitate workshops.
  7. Workshop experiences In-person experience Remote experience Hybrid experience Level playing

    field for participation ✅ Yes! ✅ Yes! ⚠ Doesn’t feel equitable Real-time collaboration ✅ Yes! (might require travel) ✅ No commuting ⚠Can be harder to collab ⚠Can be, but tough on time zones Tools ✅ Analog is easy ✅ Can use digital ✅ Digital tools make documenting easy ⚠Not always equitable Timing ✅ Can spend all day! ⚠Can’t spend all day ⚠Hard for remote people to spend all day
  8. Including people Goal: To make sure no one is left

    out. Ask yourself: • Am I leaving anyone out from participating? • Can people participate to their fullest extent possible? • Am I providing equivalent alternatives?
  9. Set Expectations What’s the goal? How do I participate? Why

    are we doing this? How long will it take? When will you have the results?
  10. Workshops can be intimidating • May be a new way

    of collaborating or participating • People can feel put on the spot • This isn’t like other meetings (e.g., reviews, stand-ups, etc.)
  11. Start with an Icebreaker • Low stakes, easy to answer

    • Opportunity to learn about each other • Get comfortable with tooling • Test the waters Pro Tip Have people on hand to sort out technical issues. While they’re working on it, you can be the scribe!
  12. Real-time kickoff When possible, real-time kickoffs help • Reiterate expectations

    • Provide a high-level overview • Let folks ask questions • Allow for more async opportunities Pro Tip If possible, get a head start on informing people about the workshop. Could be during a regularly scheduled meeting (design share, stand up, etc)
  13. Provide Written Instructions Participants can • Refer back to it

    later • Understand the instructions and intent When Facilitating… • Focus on activity steps • Avoid reading what you wrote word for word
  14. Provide an Example Examples can help participants: • Make sense

    of things • Sets expectations • Reduces questions during workshop When creating examples: • Keep it simple • Demonstrate the output
  15. Activity Let’s try out an ice breaker! Tell us a

    boring fact about you ON SLIDO!! Slido.com Code: UXYall
  16. Hybrid Workshops are a Design Problem • Get creative with

    your solutions • Think about the UX (for facilitators and participants) • Don’t lose sight about the workshop’s goal by over designing the workshop
  17. Under 8 people Over 8 Many, many Co-located Some co-located;

    some distributed Distributed 0-3 hours difference 4-7 hours difference 8+ hours difference Factors at Play # of people Location Time zones
  18. People: 8+/Many Keep groups under 8 people Group based what’s

    most compatible • People in similar time zones • People who are in-person • People who are distributed Hybrid group based on time zone Group working in the same office Remote group in same time zone
  19. Time Zones: 8+ Hour difference Be really intentional when meeting

    in real time; try workarounds • Create groups based on time zone compatibility • Try equitable solutions (e.g., recordings for “listening-only” activities) • Have “team leads” to help facilitate Hybrid group based on time zone
  20. Location: Some in-person; some virtual • Maybe have virtual people

    form a team • It’s OK to have in-person activities - maximize those in-person benefits! (make sure you digitize + share) • Upgrade your space Have members take turns being a scribe Better cameras Document camera Whiteboard camera
  21. Base guidelines Your energy is infectious! ≤90 minutes Groups ≤8

    Always be capturing Get comfortable repeating yourself
  22. Activity: Hybrid Simulation Part 1 ☀“Time Zone A” (Virtual friends)

    • Name some favorite flavors of ice cream 🌜“Time Zone B” (In-person friends) • It’s you’re evening, so just hang out Part 2 ☀“Time zone B” (In-person friends) • Morning! Name some favorite flavors of ice cream! 🌜“Time zone A” (Virtual friends) • It’s your evening, so you can hang out now Part 3 🌄Everyone - we’re meeting at a time-zone friendly time Using Mentimeter: Vote on the favorite flavor! Menti.com Code: 5987 7302 https://www.menti.com/aljikn79dkdb
  23. Use a Canvas to Plan Plan what you need to

    be successful Easy way to brainstorm ideas and organize your thoughts
  24. Outline the Workshop Outlines can help • Create an overview

    of steps • Get buy-in and set expectations • Think through timing
  25. Be intentional with your activities Know your audience Be flexible

    based on their needs Consider what activities are best for async or real-time Time zone A Time zone B
  26. Be intentional with your activities Real-time for… • Complexity •

    Setting expectations • Discussion + collaboration needed Asynchronous for… • Simple tasks • Requires little to no explanation • Independent-friendly work
  27. Create a Library! Pro Tip This helps you and your

    teammates in the future! Templates Icebreakers Activities Music playlists In-person kit
  28. Follow Up What are next steps? When will you reach

    back out? Following through builds trust (now and next time)
  29. Stay in Touch Reach out to us on… • LinkedIn

    (maryfran-ux & michelletchin) • Zheroes Slack (bit.ly/zheroes-signup) • Medium (@uxinreallife) Our podcast has UX Help Desk episodes! Find us after the talk to ask us your burning UX questions! We might feature your question in a future episode