Gatlin asked:
I need to design and develop a 4-day, 12 hr/day management seminar plus workshop for mid-level corporate executives. I’m from the HR dept (recently promoted), and while I’m good at communications — i.e., I can deliver the message effectively — I have a hard time designing training modules that will make the job easier and effective. Would appreciate it if you could provide resources and links to help design, develop and conduct workshops effectively. I’ll be happy if these ideas could apply to private consultancy practice as well.
Executive leadership seminars are a two-point agenda: (a) to bring in management participants, and (b) to convert those participants into paying clients (or effective mployees). The first part is a sales and marketing function; it’s the second where the HR comes in to take up the cudgels for his/her company.
The best way to design and develop a workshop or seminar is to start with modules that have already been developed. If you’re looking to conduct a seminar / workshop on say Corporate Culture and Ethics, the worst you can do is start from scratch. Never do that. You’ll just waste precious time. What you should do is to look out for someone within your company or elsewhere who has already developed a similar module and then, customize it to your requirements.
By customize, I don’t been copy or steal from it. I mean, look for ideas and inspiration from a work that’s already there on paper. Look at how that person visualized his workshop and conceptualized the ideas related to it. What were the specific things he implemented, and in what order? What were his unique experiences, priorities and constraints? What were the problems, roadblocks and overlooked factors that he later realized and rectified. Also, did he have a last-minute change of mind, change of design, change of team even — and what was the time frame within which he got the workshop designed, developed and ready for corporate consumption?
There’s nothing like third-party experience to gain a first hand knowledge of workshop design. Presentation skills workshops, business writing workshops, sales presentation training, coaching workshops and corporate team building activities all become successful (and effective) only through idea brainstorms and smart customization.