Designing and leading effective workshops is vital in any collaborative work environment. The course aims to give students a practical and methodological introduction to creating, leading, and evaluating workshops. Different methods and techniques for optimal workshop facilitation are introduced in each double/triple diamond process phase.

This course will teach workshop design and explore various workshop formats, from ideation to decision-making. Students will be introduced to the role of the facilitator, learn how to guide sessions, practice how to foster a collaborative environment and ensure participant engagement. Students will learn to facilitate processes involving stakeholders, clients, experts, and users and how to conduct participant recruiting. Planning, execution, ensuring that relevant information is produced during a workshop, and extracting key learnings are practises taught in the course.

Students will apply interactive techniques, icebreakers, and activities that enhance participation and creativity. Visual facilitation and how to leverage digital tools and platforms to enhance workshop experiences to be part of the workshops that students create during the course. Follow-up and getting feedback after workshops are important for the continuous improvement of workshops, and students will be required to reflect on their own facilitating performance at the end of the course.

At the start of the second semester, students will be given this thorough introduction to workshops to learn how to conduct research and go in-depth into problems and user needs through efficient interaction and facilitation. Service design is centred around the involvement of various parties and actors. Practising becoming a capable facilitator in a safe learning environment is key to success in the service design industry. Courses later in the programme will draw on the skills students obtain in this course.