Designing the timetable for a workshop, conference, roadshow or seminar
when you have never done such a thing before may seem like juggling jelly
but you can take some tips from the professionals and make your event
a real success.
There is nothing too technical about designing a timetable for a half-day
or one-day event. All you really need to do is look at it through the
eyes of the delegates.
For example a breakfast workshop might provide the following experience:
8:03 I rush in, a little late for the breakfast workshop but find
a smiling administrator who gives me a name-badge, a data pack and briefs
me on what is going to happen. She tells me there is still plenty of time
to grab a coffee and relax a little before the start. I introduce myself
to one or two of my fellow delegates and we chat about our reasons for
coming.
8:15 We take our places in the training room and the trainer welcomes
us, goes through the usual introductory chat and launches into presenting
Session1.
8.40 The trainer breaks us into smaller groups to discuss and practice
the skills that she has been presenting. We have a really fun scenario
to work through and there's lots of laughter in the room.
9:00 Back together as a big group, we give feedback about the difficulties
we found and the trainer gives us some hints and tips to use in the future.
9:15 The trainer presents Session 2, the second half of the material
and uses some interactive exercises to demonstrate the main points.
9:35 We have an opportunity to mix in different groups to discuss
the new skills and information and to practice again.
9:55 Back in the big group, we give the trainer some feedback and
she adds some more practical advice before closing the session.
10:15 Before we all return to our various businesses, we relax
with coffee and a danish provided by the training company and fill out
their evaluation form. It's an opportunity to do a bit of networking and
to exchange contact details with people.
An example full-day timetable goes something like this:
9.30 Arrival - Time for coffee and networking
10.00 Session 1 - Information giving
11.15 Coffee Break
11.30 Icebreaker - break the tedium
12.00 Session 2 - more information giving
1.00 Lunch
2.00 Icebreaker - cure for the "graveyard" slot
2.20 Session 3 - even more information giving
3.30 Coffee Break
3.45 Session 4 - the final information giving slot
4.45 Review and call to action
5.00 Evaluation and close
When you think about your own threshold of boredom; the amount of time
you can sit and concentrate on one subject before you need a break, you'll
know it's between 45 minutes and an hour. This means that a typical one-day
workshop or seminar will have only around 5 hours or less of formal information-giving
time, usually divided into four chunks.
There is a temptation to try and achieve too much in this five hour period,
however it is always easier to cut material down from a surplus than it
is to invent material when there is a shortfall.
If you are organizing a seminar with guest speakers each giving a 30 minute
presentation you should schedule 9 speakers into set time slots throughout
the day. Their talks should fill four and a half hours but you will have
a half-hour contingency to absorb any over-run that may occur. If you
find that everyone runs to time, it will pay to ensure that the seminar facilitator has a
wind-up talk that can take 5 minutes or 35 minutes depending on the size
of the excess.
Of course it looks easy on paper and although a really talented facilitator
can either speed up or slow down the activities to get the learning points
across, the important point for the timetable designer is that they meet
the needs of the participants within the requirements of the providers.
If your audience does not get enough information to chew on they will
be just as dissatisfied as they would be if they get too much with no
time to ask questions. Juggling jelly is a real skill.
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