Designing and Facilitating Workshops. Gain skills and techniques for successful workshop preparation and group facilitation. Online training in facilitation and delivering workshops

Designing and Facilitating Workshops

KEY INFORMATION

Dates: Thursdays in February/March 2025 — registrations closed 11/02/25. 

Format & Duration: 4 x 3-hour sessions, once a week. 

Delivery Mode: Online. 

Co-Design Maturity Model Level: Understand/Apply.

Keen to join us for a future session of Designing and Facilitating Workshops?
Registrations for our February/March training have now closed. Keep reading below for general details relating to this training, and express your interest below to be the first to hear when tickets for future dates go on sale.

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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

  • expect to attend all four 3-hour online training sessions.

  • allow 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 and practise your skills outside the sessions.

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.

  • can’t 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.

Registrations are closed

Registrations for our February/March training have now closed. Express your interest below to be the first to hear when tickets for future dates go on sale.

“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 — previous participant

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Keen to join us for a future session of Designing and Facilitating Workshops?

Express your interest below to be the first to hear when tickets for future courses go on sale.