Workshops

One of the potential sessions in a Sustainability Unconference is a workshop. It’s different than a speaker session in a couple of ways. A workshop is typically led by one or a couple of people with expertise in a particular area, but the workshop format is such that the participants coming to a workshop will be guided through their own exercise in that particular area, and the instructors (workshop leaders) will help participants improve the outcomes of those exercises.

So a workshop which focuses on marketing a green business might be led by someone with an expertise in that area, who starts with some of the basics of green marketing in a brief lecture type format, perhaps with slides or other visual aids, perhaps just drawing out some concepts on a white board, or perhaps just talking. The workshop facilitator will then give participants an exercise, in this case, “Work through the target market of your business, and what keywords might appeal to them, now that you understand a little about green marketing.” Participants would then do some brainstorming, jot down some notes, etc.

The next stage of the workshop will have the workshop facilitator bringing up volunteers from the audience to present what they did in their exercise. This gives the group a chance to learn from each other, but also gives the presenter a chance to give constructive feedback to each volunteer in front of the group, so that best practices and lessons learned can be given real-life examples right on the spot.

The final stages of the workshop can consist of some summary points and key takeaways.