Basics
How to Deliver Strong Workshops (Even If You’ve Never Run One Before)
This guide walks you step-by-step through designing and delivering a workshop that works.
Running a workshop sounds easy on paper: gather people in a room, talk about something you know, answer a few questions, done. But the reality? If you’ve been there, you know it’s a balancing act between content, timing, engagement, and energy, and it’s surprisingly easy to lose the room.
For small teams and startups, workshops often come with extra challenges. They’re time-consuming to prepare, they can drain your already-stretched bandwidth, and because they’re often instructor-led, you risk talking at people instead of drawing them in. Worse, without the right design, your “training” can end up feeling like a meeting with snacks.
This guide walks you step-by-step through designing and delivering a workshop that works. And when I say “works,” I mean: people learn, they stay engaged, and they actually apply what they learned when they go back to their desks.
STEP 1: Define the Learning Goals and Objectives
Before you open PowerPoint or Google Slides, you need to know exactly what success looks like. This isn’t about guessing what might be useful, it’s about defining, in clear and measurable terms, what participants will walk away knowing and doing. Think of this as your workshop’s North Star.
A bad example: “Teach them about marketing.” Too vague, too subjective, and impossible to measure.
A good example: “By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to create a 3-step customer onboarding email sequence that increases activation rates.” Now you know exactly what to design for, and they know what they’re working toward.
Use the Know / Do framework:
Know: Facts, concepts, and principles.
Example: Describe the key steps to building an impactful presentation.
Example: Identify three strategies for engaging an audience.
Do: Skills, actions, and outputs.
Example: Draft an outline for a presentation.
Example: Deliver a 5-minute talk using a story-led approach.
When I worked with a founder running her first workshop on managing remote teams, we rewrote her vague goal, “Help managers work better remotely,” into: “By the end, managers will be able to run a 30-minute remote team meeting that keeps engagement above 80%.” The shift made the workshop sharper and easier to evaluate.
STEP 2: Break Down the Workshop into Core Topics
Once your objectives are clear, break them into logical sections that build toward the final goal. This is your roadmap.
Bad example: Topics in no logical order, "Engagement tips, Slide design, Storytelling, Presentation delivery." Participants will feel lost.
Good example:
Key steps to build an impactful presentation.
Strategies to engage your audience.
Drafting your presentation outline.
Building your slides.
Delivering with confidence.
This logical sequence moves them from foundation to delivery.
Plan the flow: Where will participants talk? When will they try the skill themselves? Where will you share a personal story to connect the dots?
When I ran a sales storytelling workshop, instead of defining “storytelling” first, I asked: “Tell your partner about the last time you bought something you didn’t need.” It instantly created laughs, engagement, and a lived example before we even touched theory.
STEP 3: Design for Interaction, Not Just Information
A great workshop feels less like a lecture and more like a guided experience. People learn best when they’re actively engaged, when they can ask questions, try ideas, and see real-world relevance in action.
Follow the rhythm: Explain → Demonstrate → Practice → Reflect.
Example: In a customer onboarding workshop:
Explain: Present the 3 onboarding steps proven to boost retention.
Demonstrate: Show a real onboarding email sequence and break down why it works.
Practice: Have participants write their own welcome email based on what they’ve learned.
Reflect: Invite them to share with the group, compare approaches, and discuss improvements.
Why it matters: If participants only hear information, retention rates plummet. But when they try it themselves and talk about it, they embed that knowledge far more deeply.
You can also mix in small group challenges, roleplay exercises, or real-world scenarios. In a sales workshop, you might give each group a tricky customer objection to overcome, then have them present their solution. This kind of interactive design keeps energy high and turns abstract ideas into actionable skills.
STEP 4: Watch Out for Common Pitfalls
Even the most well-planned workshops can stumble. Here’s how to avoid the most common traps:
Talking too much: If you find yourself speaking more than 60% of the time, you’ve turned the workshop into a lecture. Add activities to rebalance.
Overloading content: More content doesn’t mean more value. In fact, it can overwhelm participants and reduce retention.
No energy plan: Expect energy dips, especially after breaks or lunch. Plan energisers, quick movement activities, or fast-paced group tasks to reset the room.
Assuming attention = retention: Nods and eye contact don’t mean they’ve absorbed the content. Build in quick polls, show-of-hands checks, or short exercises to confirm understanding.
Not adapting in the moment: If something’s not working, change it. Shorten a section, switch to a story, or ask the group a provocative question to reignite interest.
For example, in one product training I delivered, I noticed the room zoning out halfway through a technical section. I paused the slides, asked everyone to share one challenge they face with the product, and turned it into a live troubleshooting session. The room came back to life, and we ended up covering the same content, just in a more relevant way.
STEP 5: Practice Your Delivery and Timing
Running through your workshop in your head is not the same as delivering it in real time. You need to rehearse exactly how it will unfold. This means practicing your full delivery from start to finish, with all slides, activities, and timing in place.
Here’s what to do:
Time each section carefully: You’ll quickly see if you’ve overloaded certain parts or left others too thin. It’s common to overestimate how quickly you can get through explanations, especially if you plan to take questions.
Practice transitions: The flow between sections matters just as much as the content. Clunky handoffs between topics can make the workshop feel disjointed. Smooth, clear transitions keep energy up.
Test your activities: Run them on a colleague or friend first to make sure instructions are clear, materials work, and timing is realistic.
Simulate the environment: If you’re delivering in person, practice standing, moving, and using the space. If virtual, rehearse managing screen shares, chat interactions, and breakout rooms.
Build in buffer time: Things always take longer with a live audience—especially discussions, questions, and group sharing. Give yourself room so you’re not rushing the most important parts.
Rehearse your opening and closing: The start sets the tone; the end cements the takeaways. Practice them until you can deliver them with confidence and without reading.
Example: I once helped a founder rehearse a workshop on pitching to investors. In the first run-through, we realised her “quick” case study actually took 15 minutes, leaving no time for the planned Q&A. We trimmed the example, rehearsed the new flow, and on the day, she nailed her timing.
Good practice also helps you stay flexible. Once you’re comfortable with the structure, you can adapt in the moment without losing your place.
STEP 6: Gather and Use Feedback
Feedback is your secret weapon for continuous improvement, and it’s not just about asking “Was it good?”
Ask specific questions:
One thing you learned today.
One thing you’d change.
One thing you want more of.
Why it matters: This tells you exactly where your content hit the mark, where it dragged, and where to invest more time next round.
Example: In a customer interview workshop, feedback showed participants wanted more live roleplays, so I doubled that section in the next session.
Measure success post-workshop:
Track performance metrics linked to the skill (e.g., presentation quality, deal close rates).
Use short follow-up quizzes to see what stuck.
Ask managers to observe changes in real work situations.
Follow-up training ideas:
Send a short quiz within 48 hours.
Share a one-page recap or “cheat sheet.”
Host a 30-minute refresher session after 2 weeks.
Offer a short follow-up course or micro-learning module.
This reinforces learning, keeps momentum, and turns a one-off workshop into lasting capability.
Why This Matters for Startups
In a small team, every skill gap shows. A single ineffective workshop can mean repeated mistakes, lost deals, or wasted time. Well-run workshops align teams, sharpen skills fast, and create shared language.
That’s where Deelan comes in. It takes your know-how and, in minutes, turns it into a complete workshop plan using proven learning design frameworks. You get structured, interactive sessions without weeks of prep, and your team gets training they’ll actually use.