Unstructured sessions rarely work out well, unless your goal is to see who can talk the most.

Let’s be real: designing workshops that actually work for everyone is tough, mostly because we’re all wired so differently. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how we interact with work, with each other, with ideas and one thing I know for sure is that there’s no such thing as a “typical” workshop participant. You have introverts (hi!), extroverts, and all the flavors in between, each with our own quirks and comfort zones. So how do you make a session that doesn’t just exhaust half the group or frustrate the other half?

Here’s what’s worked for me and what I wish more workshop designers would consider.

Respect Energy Levels (Seriously)

This can’t be said enough: introverts operate on a limited social battery. If we don’t see the point of a conversation, we’re probably saving our energy for things that matter more. And that’s not just preference; it’s survival.

“We only have so much energy and today we might not want to spend it on you… If you’re taking all my energy, I am going to want to get out of there as quickly as possible”

(Yep, quoting myself, but it’s still true.)

So, consider how you are using your participants’ energy throughout the session. Do you really need to do intros and include “networking opportunities”? How can you maximize participation and reduce unnecessary filler?

Adapt to How People Process Information

Not every activity works for every topic, or every person. This is why it’s so important to design your session thoughtfully. Try mixing it up and move between individual, pair, and group activities so there’s always an “out” for those low on social energy. This might look like a combination of brain writing or solo ideation before group discussions or breakouts.

Let People Choose How (and Whether) They Speak Up

Offer different ways to collaborate throughout the session. Combine open discussion with anonymous input. Use sticky notes. Or online forms. Or digital polls. Anything that lets people “speak” without actually speaking.

I once ran a workshop with 120 people which featured 20 stations. Groups moved between the stations and discussed the question posed at each one but they each individually wrote their responses on their own cue cards and deposited them anonymously in a box at each station. This format balanced sharing ideas with providing the space for people to submit their own personal views in a private context. (Yes, I built a workshop to basically have people fill out a survey without realizing it. It worked: 2,000+ data points collected in 45 mins 🙂)

The quiet people will thank you and you’ll get better results, too.

At the end of the day, it’s about respecting that we all have different ways of showing up, using our energy, and contributing. If you can build workshops with that in mind, you get all the brainpower in the room, not just the loudest. And for introverts like me? That makes all the difference.

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