We talked about Post It note as my Swiss Knife tool, and I introduced you to several interesting uses. It can be used as a Doodling canvas as well as Yellow Card to short circuit an unnecessary, unwanted discussion. And THE most important use is as Note taking tool. Let’s look at Post It as a tool that can help you create effective and fun presentations and workshops.
Last year, I was engaged by a client in Ohio area, to jump start their Agile journey. As a first step towards that, we wanted to train the staff of 300+ people. Not only we wanted to give them basics of Agile but we also wanted them to experience those events and artifacts while in the workshop. So, we decided to do one week long workshops: Two days of classroom training and three days of ‘experience’ where they go through Release planning and be ready to start their first sprint from the following week.
To create the presentation deck for this workshop. We started with a brainstorming session: four coaches in a room with long wall, several multi color post it notes, and thinking hats on.
Starting with just a Straw man structure of the workshop; listing the days as columns and breaking each day in four sessions; each session having a main topic.
We iterated through this a few times. With each iteration adding additional post-it notes with a different color, focused on different aspect of the workshop. We added topic details (sub topics) on a different color Post Its, and then in the next iteration, added Games and fun activities using yet another color. Here is what our Whiteboard looked like after end of this ‘ideation’ session.
We used this outline as a starting point for creating presentation deck in electronic form. Post Its enabled us, the four coaches, to bring together their expertise and experience, working collaboratively to create a fun and engaging workshop.
Oh! by the way, this workshop was hugely successful!
What are the ways you have used Post Its? What are the other techniques you have used to create fun and engaging workshops? Share your thoughts in the comment below.
Hi Nimesh,
You have organised workshop in very excellent way.
We have also taken workshop for one of the largest Europion bank during Agile transformation. Some of the games we have taken were , split the team and identify the roles such as PO, Scrum Master , Team members. Take any topic and identify product vision.
Base on the topic, then we used to take Release planning, Sprint Planning, Estimation and Sprint review. This gives team idea about the Release/sprint execution.
Thanks Milind. I use iterative approach for building training workshops. I have a ‘golden rule’ that I always follow; at end of each pomodor (25 minutes) there must be some activity (games, exercise) for the participants. I do not go more than 25 minutes without a game or exercise.
Check out my Online course ‘Improve your Scrum Ceremonies’ for some interesting activities for your Scrum teams. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need any additional information or explanation on any of those activities.
Thanks, and keep making fun workshops!