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Episode 091

December 16, 2020

091: Behind the Standard Template – How to Create Mind-blowing Visual Experiences with Shayne Smart

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    Intro

    Do you want to get better at creating mind-blowing visual experiences for participants?

    If so, you need to think about the story and method behind your canvas and its templates. A template is designed to guide participants through the various experiences of the workshop. You can think of it like a visual guide that provides participants with the instructions they need to follow. However, you can take your templates a step further and use them to create captivating visual experiences for your participants.

    Shayne Smart is an architect, designer and highly versatile change consultant with 5000 hours of experience in workshop design, facilitation, and delivery. So, who better to talk to about creating mind-blowing visual experiences than Shayne? I had the pleasure of speaking to him in this episode of workshops work, where he shares some of his best tips and advice to help you create unique templates that use icons and layouts that participants understand from their natural environment.

    Shayne also reveals how to create a template that works and how to guide groups through online collaborative experiences!

    Find out about

    • What a canvas is and the importance of designing captivating templates
    • Why facilitators must learn to lead groups through an equal-voice conversation
    • How to use prompts from the real world to design a space that participants can navigate as if it were in a place
    • Why a lack of alignment can lead to a workshop failing
    • How to know you’ve done well as a facilitator
    • How to create a canvas for participants who work in small groups or asynchronously
    • Why you shouldn’t reveal the complexity of a problem in one go
    • … and so much more!

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    Feeling inspired by the conversation in this episode? We can have our own – take a seat at my virtual table as part of a Mastermind Group.

    A huge thank you must go to SessionLab, the sponsor of Workshops Work. Claim your free two months of SessionLab Pro now – this deal is exclusive to Workshops Work listeners!

    Questions and Answers

    01:47When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?

    02:15What does it mean to you to be a facilitator?

    05:17How do you translate the key task of a facilitator into the templates you create?

    07:47What do you think most people get wrong when they design templates for workshops?

    15:55What is the difference between designing a template where you want a group to go from A to B and designing a landscape where you want a group to go from A to B?

    23:15How can you reduce the fear of waking something for the user?

    26:52How can you create an environment that triggers curiosity, and the will to interact?

    33:23How do you create a new habit of using a journal?

    42:38What makes a workshop fail?

    43:02What is your favourite exercise?

    47:07What is the one thing regarding the design production of the MURAL that you would have liked to know earlier?

    49:17How can you design something with the end in mind if you don’t know the end?

    51:10What is the main takeaway from our conversation?

    Links

    Connect to Shayne