5 tips for remote sketching workshops

Preparing and facilitating sketching a session can be a challenge, but as more and more of us work remotely and with colleagues in different locations how do you replicate an in-person sketching session? Here are my 5 tips that have helped me to facilitate remote sketching sessions:

1. Define the goal

2. Prepare in advance

3. Make sure you have invited the right people 

4. Break the ice

5. Timing

Define the goal of the session

Ensuring that you define the outcome of the session seems a bit obvious but it is a key step that you should go through, you want to make sure that taking an hour plus of your colleagues time is the best option to get the outcome you need. You also want to make sure that a sketching workshop is the right format, as it does take time to plan and set up. Two things to ask yourself are:

• What do I want to achieve by doing a sketching workshop?

• Is a sketching workshop the best way to get to the desired outcome?

Prepare the boards in advance

Drawing using a mouse is not as easy as drawing with a pen and paper. To mitigate this I typically create boards in advance and name them after the participants. Like most workshops, the participants will have different skills and abilities so with that in mind, I prepare some elements so that it’s easier for participants to sketch. I also give them the option to sketch using pen and paper if they feel more comfortable. Doing this beforehand means that participants can spend more time focused on sketching.

Break the awkwardness of video calls

At the beginning of a workshop, it’s good practice to do an ice breaker. This helps to do two things, one to focus the minds of the participants and allow them to forget about previous meetings and work. Secondly, it helps the participants get to know each other and feel comfortable with each other. It could also be an opportunity for participants to feel more comfortable sketching in Miro. I have listed some of my favourite ice breakers below:

• Get a picture of your first car

• Get a picture of a childhood toy

• Draw an animal

To make it a little bit fun, I play instrumental music during the sketching parts, this creates a more relaxed atmosphere and helps to fill the silence while participants are sketching.

Timing is everything

I typically don’t like to do an online workshop longer than an hour and a half as it can lead to zoom fatigue. As a goal I like to aim for an hour workshop, as to not take up too much time, I find that people can make an hour workshop but it’s more challenging to find a 90mins in multiple peoples calendars. 

The below shows how I typically like to structure my sessions:

• Welcome - 2 mins

• Ice breaker- 8 mins

• Introduction to the problem statement - 5mins

• Sketching round 1 - 10min

• Run through sketches - 10mins

• Sketching round 2 - 10mins

• Dot voting- 5mins

• Close - 5min

I like to leave a bit of buffer time just in case we go over in parts, but to make sure we keep to time I display a timer, this helps especially when you have talkative participants. 

Make sure you have invited the right people

To get the best out of your workshop you want to make sure you limit the number of people you invite and make sure that the right people are invited. You want to make sure you have a good mix of experts (eg. Operations, account managers, key stakeholders) and people on the project (eg. Product Managers, engineers, designers). I like to try and limit the session to 5-6 people so that each participant has the opportunity to discuss their idea and so we are not pressed for time. If you really need to do a sketching session with over 6 people I would split the session up and have 2 sessions. 

You want the participants to be comfortable sharing their ideas so also think about the personalities and the seniority of the people joining.  Are you thinking of inviting a senior stakeholder to the session or someone who is quite outspoken, think about how the dynamic might change in the session and what measures you will put in place to make sure that everyone gets an equal chance to speak and ask questions. Some measures I would consider are:

• Leaving the outspoken person to the end of the discussion

• Ensuring that everyone has a chance to speak

• Directly asking participants that I notice are quite what they think

• Doing a separate session with the senior stakeholder

Key takeaways

Keep in mind that not everyone is comfortable sketching and presenting their ideas especially to people they don’t know well, as a facilitator it’s your job to make sure participants are comfortable in the session

Remember that people are giving up their time, so it’s important that your goals and outcomes are clear and that you are prepared. 

Lastly, be flexible you may have extensively prepared your session but the truth is anything can happen so be open and flexible for the session to go in different directions, that can be fine as long as you reach the outcome of the session.

These are some of the tips that I have picked up over the last year doing sketching workshops. For many participants it’s a great opportunity to be creative and have a break from their day job, so try to plan a session that feels fun and creative. The key element is to enjoy it, no one is expecting perfection and if you are enjoying it the rest of the participants will also.