Many of us are currently faced with the challenge of converting meetings and workshops that were planned to take place in person, into digital meetings. As a digital agency, at Novicell we are used to working and communicating online all the time, but we have always done workshops in person.

Like many others, we have had to quickly adjust to the new circumstances caused by COVID-19, and in this article, we want to offer you our best advice based on our first workshop with the investment management company and our client, 7IM.

Our 5 recommendations for an effective online workshop

1. Establish a clear objective

No matter what type of workshop you do, you'll want to make sure that the entire team is working toward a common goal. Workshops are a waste of time if you don't keep a clear objective at the center of the conversation. Without a goal, there's no point in getting together.

Our workshop with 7IM was a definition workshop. 7IM wanted to build a new website and our purpose was to ensure that the project team was in sync and understood the context of the project and the work to be done.

We do many scoping workshops with clients to get to know them better, their business and their needs and objectives. The objective is to define the scope of the project and understand the requirements.

2. Be prepared

This is not always possible, but the workshop will be much better if you don't cover the information points for the first time, but go a little further.

Before the online workshop, we asked 7IM to send information about their business: Competition analysis, description of the target audience, etc. This way we had a lot of information beforehand, so we didn't have to start from scratch and we could go straight to the challenges and opportunities.

3. Book on time and be there

As tempting as it may be, try not to do any other homework or read articles or send emails when you're in an online meeting. Make sure to book early and lock your calendar as you would if you were scheduling a physical meeting. Save your phone and other distractions, clean your desktop, and turn off notifications in Slack, Outlook, etc. to keep you focused and engaged during the session.

4. Avoid technical problems

The reality of remote working and conducting an online workshop or a virtual meeting is that, sometimes, people will have connection problems or technical problems. This is a challenge that cannot be 100% avoided, although steps can be taken to prevent or limit the impact of technical problems. Give people clear advice about what they need for the meeting and well in advance so they can work from somewhere with a good Internet connection and have their team ready.

5. End it

It is often recommended that online workshops, such as webinars or training, last no more than 60 minutes. Most scoping workshops take longer than that. If this is the case, remember to make time for breaks during the workshop that allow people to go to the bathroom or drink coffee. Specify when the breaks will be before starting the workshop.

The online workshop with 7IM lasted four hours. We had planned two breaks but ended up taking just one. Ideally, to keep people focused, the workshop should last a maximum of four or five hours. If you need more time, we suggest splitting the workshop into two days.

Feedback after the first Online Workshop

One of the participants in the workshop was Lars Hesselberg (Head of Digital Interaction):

- Holding the online Workshop was a very positive surprise. Everyone was well prepared and committed to making the most of it. Thanks to this, we were able to generate many ideas and solutions, as well as generate trust and relationships that I normally find more difficult in online meetings than in person. This will definitely not be the last online scoping workshop we do..

Zoe Baird (Head of Digital) from 7IM was also pleased with the result:

- We are very happy that Novicell suggested doing the online workshop, as this meant that we didn't have to delay our work for our new website and we were able to continue as planned. The online workshop went very well, it was a good experience and we got to know our Novicell team. The result was as valuable as we would have expected from a face-to-face workshop.

After conducting our first online workshop, we can safely say: Yes, it's possible. The objectives of online workshops are no different from those that are done in person. When you meet online, you only need to make a few adjustments to achieve those goals. By properly preparing and participating fully, your online workshops can be as successful as sitting in a meeting room together.

How can we help you?

If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact us.