Before the workshop it is necessary that the organization have a clear goal – is the workshop being run as a team building exercise or a training activity? Decisions must then be made as to who will attend. Knowing exactly who will attend directly relates to the objective.
To be successful the choice of the location for the workshop must be right. The size of the group attending will determine the type of facility to be looked for.
Thought needs to go to the logistics and practical details of the workshop such as the visibility of any visual aids and whether or not the location can support any technology that might have to be used.
Consideration needs to be given to organizing accommodation for people attending from afar, the catering facilities provided and if the venue has appropriate spaces available for breakout sessions.
Once the primary objective and attendees have been ascertained it will be necessary to develop outlines of how to achieve the workshop goal.
Thought has to be put into the main points to discuss and then each major point broken down into details and the visual aids listed that will be needed for each point.
Consideration then has to be given to which discussion points will be raised when and which activities will be held when and how much time will be allocated to each.
The only way to determine how successful the workshop was is to have a feedback plan. A questionnaire must be devised to give to all participants and there needs to be time to share their opinions on how well it went.