DSD Workshops

Workshop Techniques

How to Use These Workshops

These workshop methods are designed to be used with small or large groups, and they are particularly good when bringing people with diverse backgrounds together around shared challenges. Each workshop is designed to be flexible and adaptable to your needs:

• Team Workshops: Facilitate group sessions with your team
• Client Projects: Apply activities to real-world projects
• Educational Settings: Teach DSD in courses and training programs

Materials You'll Need

• These workshops are designed for cheap and easy to access and use materials
• All paper-based materials are provided in easy to print formats, for you to adapt and print as required
• Worksheets are designed for print at A2 size for use with standard post-it notes. We encourage the use of post-it to facilitate involvement of all team members; ideas can be easily added, removed or moved around as the conversation progresses
• Any other materials required are cheap and easy to source - these are listed with individual workshops

Running the Workshops Online

Materials for these workshops have been designed primarily for in-person events, as these tend to provide richer learning for participants. However, we recognise that getting everyone together for these can be challenging. So we've made it is easy to adapt the workshop materials for online use.

To do this, simply load the required materials, (slide decks, worksheets or other printable materials) into collaborative workspace software such as Miro or Mural (see https://miro.com for access to free Miro online collaboration tool). Use this alongside a video call through which everyone can communicate. For workshops that have slides and sheets, these should be easy to organise into a meaningful arrangement for participants to follow online. We recommend organising the slides and sheets into a linear flow, so that the slide that describes an activity is placed before the related Activity Sheet (see image below). The slides with dark backgrounds give instructions, and are clearly distinct from the interactive Activity Sheets with a white background. The Activity Sheets have been designed to work well with digital sticky notes, and we recommend participants use these to complete the activities.

For workshops that have printable materials such as BlockExchange and ITTW?, these can also be loaded onto a collaborative workspace. Workshops that rely more on physical materials such as BlockExchange and Attaching Strings can be adapted for use online, by creating digital metaphors of the materials (such as Lego and string) in the workspace. Some creativity will be needed for this. If you are struggling to figure out how this could work we are happy to answer any questions. Please contact us using the online form.

Adapting Methods to Your Requirements

• These workshops are designed for you to adapt to fit the needs of your project
• All workshop methods have a series of steps, to speed up a workshop some steps can be skipped, shortened or completed in advance of the workshop. Extend or repeat key steps to explore in greater depth
• Worksheets and slide designs are simple. You can add your branding, and coloured graphics to tailor them to your context
• Some instructions include terms or examples that are context or sector specific, update these to match your sector
• More advanced adaptations can be made to alter the workshop activities e.g. developing new activity steps or unique metaphors. Ideas for how to do this are provided with each workshop

Tips for Success

1. Start with the Fundamentals workshop before moving to specialized topics
2. Allocate enough time - rushing reduces quality of insights
3. Include diverse perspectives in your workshop groups
4. Document everything - insights are valuable for future reference
5. Iterate - revisit activities as your project evolves