Workshops and Brainstorming Sessions are all about thinking collaboratively to move something forward. Whatever format they take, they’ll usually involve reflection, generating new ideas or creating clarity from existing ideas – often all three.
Almost every workshop or brainstorming session should involve working together with some visual tools. In an office, this might be whiteboards and sticky notes. In a remote environment, it’ll probably be an online tool like Miro or FigJam (see 
The simplest brainstorming session might just involve a bunch of people in FigJam with a single problem statement on a sticky note. At the other end of the scale is a highly-structured day-long workshop with loads of pre-prepared boards.
Hard Rules
Whatever the form, workshops and brainstorming sessions should always…
- Have a facilitator. For larger workshops this person should only facilitate, and not take part.
- Have a clear goal, written down and clearly visible to everyone.
- Use some form of visual tool to think collaboratively.
More Tips
- If the sessions requires participants to have some background context, send out a pre-read document or video so everyone arrives prepared.
- Start with a checkin (Meeting Checkins) and a bit of grounding to get everyone in a creative state of mind.
- Have a clear structure, even if it’s very simple (See Fundamental Workshopping Tools)
- Use timers to keep folks on track.