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Remote Design Thinking workshops…yes you can!

Tips for running effective remote Design Thinking workshops.

Melissa Voderberg

Published in

UX Collective

4 min readMar 19, 2020

2 people with clouds around them, an old desktop monitor, a cartoon wireframe

So… you’re working from home, but you still want to ensure you are following best practices and apply a human centred design methodology to your process. How can you best utilise online tools and software to get a great outcome?

For the last two years, I’ve run Design Thinking (DT) workshops with remote attendees; it can be challenging when you get a mix of attendees, some attending in person, while others dial-in. The great thing about running DT workshops with only remote attendees is that you can plan the session based on the same access and view.

A level playing field will actually improve your workshop experience!

Here are three top tips for running an engaging and productive remote Design Thinking Workshop.

1. Preparation

Pre-work

The key to a great workshop (face-to-face or remote) is making sure you carefully plan out your activities and send out a pre-work pack and agenda prior to the session. Pre-work is especially beneficial for remote sessions as it allows attendees to prioritise their time and jumpstarts the lateral thinking process. Align the pre-work exercises with the agenda, so it’s easy to follow along and be ready for each activity.

Rule of Thirds

To minimise distraction and disengagement, follow the rule of thumb and reduce your online workshop session time by two-thirds. Short, time-boxed sessions will structure the flow and motivate people to stay on topic. By sending out pre-work, you’ll be able to move through the content quicker and preserve the energy of your attendees.

Name-calling

Ensure you’ve documented your attendee’s details and background so you can direct questions to the appropriate person and draw them in by using their name. Instead of asking, “Can anyone tell me about…” try saying, “Carol, as the product owner, can you share some of the reasons why users…”. We’ve all been on a…

Hi Melissa! Thank you to share all these tips to prepare remote workshops.

I recently created Boardle.io with great facilitators who share their template and tips.

I would like to invite you to contribute and share your experience with the community. I think you will help a lot !!

Congratulations again!

Great tips Melissa! The rule of thirds is really useful. The format definitely needs to be shorter and more concise than co-located workshops — attention and energy deplete so much faster.

I added a link to this to the “Further Reads” section on my…