What is my procedure for devising and planning a workshop?

Beginning in 2024 and continuing into 2025, I conducted an informal needs analysis to craft a workshop for Refugee Development Center (RDC) English Language instructors on the topic of disability inclusion for additional language learning and teaching. Wanting to make my workshop as useful as possible to RDC teachers, I engaged in an almost year-long process (since they contacted me far in advance and weren’t in a rush) to learn as much as I could and perfect my plan to my satisfaction and theirs. Because this particular workshop serves as a good example, I thought I’d outline my planning steps to give a comprehensive glimpse into my typical procedure for planning an intensive workshop for an institution or organization.

1. I was invited by RDC personnel to talk generally about disability.

2. I asked some initial and very basic questions about logistics first: when? where? modality?

3. Since they were aiming to host some professional development a few months away, I backwards-designed my preparation and created a to-do list (meet with X, read Y, arrange Z).

4. I asked for an initial intake consultation (in this case, via Zoom) to get a first sense of the needs of the center and its programs, teachers, and students.

5. I reviewed center curricula and other artifacts.

6. As I reviewed materials, I emailed clarification questions to various RDC personnel.

7. I toured the building and observed several classes.

8. Based on my needs analysis, I built a comprehensive but flexible draft of the workshop.

9. I asked one of the English teachers to preview the workshop plan in advance to see if (a) it felt true to their needs and (b) the varied engagement style would be feasible for the teachers’ and personnel expectations for professional development day.

10. I sent a follow-up email thanking RDC for having me, passing along the finalized version of the workshop slides as a resource, and asked participants to complete a short satisfaction survey to see what they liked, what they wanted more of, and how I can continue to be helpful to them in the future.

Does my workshop preparation list look like yours? Certainly mine looks a little different with modality changes and timeline differences. For example, how does your list look when you don’t have the luxury of a months-long needs analysis period?

Happy workshopping!