Workshop Alchemy
The formula for workshops that work.
Subscribe to spydergrrl’s newsletter, Workshop Alchemy, a newsletter dedicated to the art and science of workshop design. If you’re passionate about creating sessions that inspire collaboration, engage participants, and deliver meaningful outcomes, this newsletter is for you.
Workshop Alchemy promises to be your go-to source for practical tips, proven strategies, and fresh ideas to create transformative sessions for remote, hybrid, or in-person teams.
My goal is to support your journey in architecting workshops that truly transform how teams connect and collaborate and help you architect workshops that actually work.
Subscribe to Workshop Alchemy today and get insights delivered straight to your inbox.
Issues
- Designing for sense‑makingHow to prevent the rush to solutions that undermines good decisions Last week I wrote about how AI is quietly replacing working sessions. Instead of pulling people together to understand a messy problem, someone “puts it into AI” and emails around the output as if the thinking is done. This… Read more: Designing for sense‑making
- How AI Is Quietly Replacing Working Sessions
Lately, I keep hearing the same line at work: “I put this into AI and it came up with this model / framework / analysis.” A few years ago, those same problems would have triggered a working session: get the right people together, map what we actually know, and design… Read more: How AI Is Quietly Replacing Working Sessions - Are your workshops too long?Why workshop length is a design decision “We need a half-day workshop.” Sound familiar? I’ve found workshop length is often treated as a given before the session even gets designed. Workshop length is a design choice But workshop length is not just a scheduling choice. It’s part of workshop design,… Read more: Are your workshops too long?
- Put the Naysayer in Charge of CritiqueThe moment you formalize the resistance, it starts improving the work. You’re not dealing with “difficult participants.” You’re dealing with a room that just lost momentum. You’ve seen it happen. Someone starts pushing back on everything. Not building, not adding, just contradicting. The energy shifts fast. You get eye rolls,… Read more: Put the Naysayer in Charge of Critique
- Why That Workshop Won’t LandNo shared problem, no shared progress. Your client wants a workshop to “fix” another team. You’re in the scoping call, 20 minutes in. They describe the tension: Team A gripes constantly about Team B. Team A wants a session where everyone hashes it out; they need Team B to understand… Read more: Why That Workshop Won’t Land
- Generative Play: Using creative moments to shape workHow workshops can turn play into progress A side-quest or a shortcut? You invite teams to build Lego models, create mood boards, or run design jams, and you see participation paired with scepticism. People lean into the activity, but they’re also asking, without saying it out loud: “This is cute,… Read more: Generative Play: Using creative moments to shape work
- How to Reset a Room Full of Preconceived IdeasWhen Assumptions Threaten Real Collaboration I was tasked with turning some 80s office space, mahogany boardroom and all, into a collaborative hub for our project team. Volunteers from across the teams showed up ready to redesign it, assigning spaces to groups based on their own fixed notions of who should… Read more: How to Reset a Room Full of Preconceived Ideas
- Set the One Goal That MattersFind the single goal hidden inside every overloaded brief. Clients love a busy workshop brief. By the time it lands in your inbox, it’s usually stacked with goals: “align on vision, brainstorm new ideas, prioritize the backlog, map the current process.” All in one session. With two hours. Over lunch.… Read more: Set the One Goal That Matters
- Workshop for OneHow to apply deliberate design to your individual work From Overload to Clear Findings Imagine you return from fieldwork with stacks of raw research, yet no clear path ahead. Your notes glare back from the desk. You gathered everything you need but you just can’t figure out the next step… Read more: Workshop for One
- Facilitating When Mental Health Isn’t Top NotchLeading workshops on off days: strategies for delivery when life piles on. You’re Off. Workshop’s On. You wake up drained, anxiety spiking not just from work stress but the world gone insane. A family crisis blowing up your phone, global affairs unraveling on every feed, life’s chaos piling on top… Read more: Facilitating When Mental Health Isn’t Top Notch
- Stop steering, start listening: Questions as your superpowerWhen discussions wander off track, open questions follow the undercurrent Going sideways Picture this. I am in the middle of a brainstorming workshop, laying out one fictitious future-state scenario as a spark for a team grappling with their program’s next steps. The goal is clear: push beyond day-to-day operations, dream… Read more: Stop steering, start listening: Questions as your superpower
- Diagnose Why Your Workshops Aren’t DeliveringSee if you’re Capable, Developing, or just Curious about real collaboration Workshops Feeling Flat? 72% of meetings are unproductive*. What about your workshops? When a workshop feels flat, most teams don’t stop to ask why. They just pick a new date, a new time, maybe a single activity that looks… Read more: Diagnose Why Your Workshops Aren’t Delivering
- De-escalate Before the Mutiny: 5 Tactics to Tame Toxic Workshop DynamicsTurn near-fistfights into breakthroughs by prepping smarter, spotting signs early, and pivoting with empathy (from a facilitator who lived it). Workshops can go off the rails fast. I ran one to help a small team finalize requirements. They had spent months drafting them but were stuck in analysis paralysis, terrified… Read more: De-escalate Before the Mutiny: 5 Tactics to Tame Toxic Workshop Dynamics
- Evolving Skills for Hybrid CollaborationWorkshop design skills are the missing piece in hybrid work. “Back to the office” is a misnomer. Commutes are harder, seats are largely unassigned, and for many of us, interactions remain superficial despite our co-location. Proximity doesn’t auto-spark collaboration. In fact, with geographically-distributed teams, most of us face the continued… Read more: Evolving Skills for Hybrid Collaboration