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A workshop for 200 people

Can you craft a workshop for 200 odd people? Was the underlying question of a leisurely call a few months ago. The idea was enticing, ticked all the boxes of creativity, comfort zone (out of), challenge, credibility (of who it came from) and purpose (who it was for).

And I found myself saying yes.

As soon I kept the phone down - I began to think. I have done large format working sessions, handled large offsite gatherings, given speeches at conferences and spoken at panel discussions - but none of them were 4 hour long and none of them were workshops - with this level of interactivity.

And then began the planning. Creating an xls with the plan, the detailing of each segment, curating content for each slide - running it through the lens of 200 people audience, talking to people who think differently - thinking of audience engagement, audience interest and takeaways - planning each aspect of the workshop, scripting, rehearsing, inserting an activity, anticipating questions.

And then as it progressed, making run time adjustments - using an app, design a learning map, plan interactions, questions, breaks, fun and dives....

Suffice it to say that all the hard work paid off...with the session leaving people asking for more. So, well, thanks for the idea @Koushik!


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