user research workshop

The Roxanne Perspective

8 UX Workshops and when to use them

As a design researcher with over 50 UX workshops under my belt, I’ve personally facilitated all eight of the types of UX workshops described below. In fact, I’ll share an example of when I conducted a discovery, and user journey workshop at Yoripe , a recipe and grocery shopping app. 

UX Case Study: Discovery Workshop

The Yoripe UX team was struggling to identify and understand their early adopters. This made it difficult to develop new features and content that would appeal to our target users. The team and I, decided to conduct a comprehensive user research study to learn more about our early adopters. The study included examining the data of existing customers, survey data, user interviews, contextual inquiries and guerrilla research. 

Existing customer analysis

We analyzed data from their existing customers to identify patterns and trends. This helped us to understand the demographics, psychographics, and motivations of their early adopters.

Survey data

The team conducted a survey to collect more detailed feedback from their early adopters. We asked questions about their demographics, psychographics, motivations, and pain points.

User interviews

We carried out eight user interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the early adopters. The interviews also helped us validate the findings from the survey and existing customer analysis.

Contextual inquiries 

We were able to observe early adopters using the Yoripe app in their natural environment. This helped the team understand how early adopters use the app and what challenges they face.

Guerrilla research

We also carried out guerrilla research to collect feedback from potential early adopters who were not currently using the Yoripe app. This helped us to understand the needs and wants of a wider range of potential early adopters.

But what did we do with all that research? 

Once we had collected all of the data from the user research study, I facilitated a discovery and user journey map workshop to synthesize the findings and develop a persona and user journey map of Yoripe’s early adopters.

As a result of the user research study and UX workshop, my team and I were able to significantly increase our understanding of the early adopters of Yoripe. We were also able to develop new features and content that were more relevant and engaging for our target users.

Related: 6 Best Design Thinking Tools for 2023

What Are the 8 Types of UX workshops?

Now that you’ve read how I’ve used UX workshops to deliver on two core user experience deliverables , let’s look at all eight different types of UX workshops.

Discovery workshops

A discovery workshop is a collaborative session that brings together stakeholders from different disciplines to learn about a product or service, identify user needs and pain points, and brainstorm solutions . Discovery workshops are typically used at the beginning of a project to help UX teams develop a deep understanding of the problem they are trying to solve and to align on a shared vision for the solution.

When to use a Discovery workshop?

• You are launching a new product or service, and you want to make sure that you have a deep understanding of your target users and their needs.
• You are working on a complex problem, and you need to get input from different stakeholders to develop a solution.
• You are having difficulty getting alignment across stakeholders on a new design or feature.
• You are trying to generate new ideas for products, services, or features.
• You are looking to gather insights from users to improve your existing products or services.

When running remote or in person UX workshops my go-to tool is MIRO! They have a ton of templates for any UX workshop you can think of with templates from my favourite workshopper AJ & Smart.

I curated a list of 6 remote UX workshop tools for you to consider. A good and popular alternative for running remote UX workshops is Figma.

Empathy workshops

An empathy workshop is a collaborative session that helps participants develop a deeper understanding of the needs, motivations, and pain points of a specific group of people. Empathy workshops are conducted to help teams develop empathy for their users.

When should I use an empathy workshop?

• You are designing a new product or service, and you want to make sure that you understand the needs of your target users.
• You are trying to improve the user experience of an existing product or service.
• You are having difficulty getting buy-in from stakeholders on a new design or feature.
• You are working on a complex problem, and you need to get different perspectives.
• You want to foster a more user-centric culture within your team.

Design workshops

A design workshop is a collaborative session that brings together people from different disciplines to generate ideas, design solutions, and make decisions. Design workshops are conducted to help teams develop innovative solutions to complex problems.

When should I use a design workshop?

• You are designing a new product or service, and you want to generate as many ideas as possible.
• You have several different ideas for a new feature, but you need to decide which one to implement first.
• You have created a prototype of a new design, but you need to get feedback from users before you move forward.
• You are working on a complex problem, and you need to get input from different stakeholders.
• You are trying to build a more innovative culture within your team.

Prioritization workshops

A prioritization workshop is a collaborative session that brings together stakeholders to identify and prioritize the most important work items. Prioritization workshops help teams make decisions about what to work on first and what to defer using prioritization matrices such as the MoSCoW matrix or the RICE matrix .

When to use a prioritization workshop?

• At the beginning of a project: prioritization workshops can be used to identify and prioritize the most important features and functionality for a new product or service.
• When there are too many competing work items: prioritization workshops can be used to help teams to decide which work items to focus on first and which work items to defer.
• When there is disagreement among stakeholders: prioritization workshops can be used to help stakeholders reach a consensus on the priority of the work items.

An example of a prioritization workshop is one I am running now to narrow down our 400+ brainstormed solutions. I opted to use the IDEO Desirability, Viability, Feasibility Framework to score solutions and narrow down choices.

Critique workshops

A critique workshop is a collaborative session where participants share and receive feedback on their work. Critique workshops are used in design, writing, and other creative fields to help participants improve their work.

When should I use a critique workshop?

• To get feedback on a new idea or design.
• To identify areas where a piece of work can be improved.
• To learn from others and get new perspectives.
• To build consensus on a design or approach.
• To help participants develop their skills and knowledge.

User Journey Workshops

A user journey workshop is a collaborative session that brings together stakeholders to map out the user journey for a product or service. User journey workshops are typically used in UX design and research to help teams understand how users interact with a product or service and to identify areas for improvement.

When should I use a user journey workshop?

• At the beginning of a project: User journey workshops can be used to develop a shared understanding of the user journey and to identify areas for improvement.
• When launching a new product or service: User journey workshops can be used to ensure that the product or service is easy to use and meets the needs of users.
• When making changes to an existing product or service: User journey workshops can be used to identify areas where the product or service can be improved and to ensure that the changes are user-centered.

Usability Testing Workshops

A usability testing workshop is a collaborative session that brings together stakeholders to observe and analyze users as they complete tasks with a product or service. Usability testing workshops are typically used to identify areas where the product or service can be improved.

When should I use a usability testing workshop?

• At the beginning of a project: Usability testing workshops can be used to identify usability problems with a prototype or early version of a product or service.
• Before launching a new product or service: Usability testing workshops can be used to ensure that the product or service is easy to use and meets the needs of users.
• After making changes to an existing product or service: Usability testing workshops can be used to identify any new usability problems that may have been created by the changes.
• To investigate specific usability problems: Usability testing workshops can be used to investigate specific usability problems that have been identified through user research or analytics.

Accessibility Testing Workshops

An accessibility workshop is a collaborative session that helps participants to develop a deeper understanding of the needs, motivations, and pain points of people with disabilities. Accessibility workshops are done to help teams design products and services that are accessible to everyone.

When should I use an accessibility testing workshop?

• At the beginning of a project: Accessibility workshops can be used to help teams develop an accessibility mindset and to identify areas where accessibility needs to be considered.
• When designing a new product or service: Accessibility workshops can be used to help teams design products and services that are accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities.
• When making changes to an existing product or service: Accessibility workshops can be used to help teams identify and fix accessibility problems with existing products and services.
• To educate stakeholders about accessibility: Accessibility workshops can be used to educate stakeholders about the importance of accessibility and to help them understand the needs of people with disabilities.

How to run a successful UX workshop?

As a design researcher with over 50 UX workshops under my belt, here are my top tips for running a successful workshop:

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

“To quote one of my colleagues, “don’t get ready, get started”. Through hard won experience Jake Knapp and the team at Google Ventures have refined an efficient, hands-on approach to solving your product, service and experience design challenges.” – Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO and author of  Change By Design

Define the goals of the workshop

What do you want to achieve by the end of the workshop? Once you have defined your goals, you can start to plan the agenda and activities.

• Be specific and measurable. For example, instead of saying “I want to improve the user experience of our website,” say “I want to reduce the number of abandoned carts by 10%.”
• Make sure the goals are aligned with the needs of your stakeholders .
• Communicate the goals to participants in advance so they know what to expect.

Invite the right people

When choosing participants, consider their expertise and experience. You want a mix of people with different perspectives and skills. It’s also important to invite people who are willing to participate and contribute.

• Consider the different roles and perspectives that need to be represented in the workshop.
• Invite people who are decision-makers or who have the authority to implement the workshop’s outcomes.
• Make sure everyone invited understands the purpose of the workshop and is prepared to participate.

Choose the right activities

Consider the needs of your participants when planning the agenda. Schedule breaks and allow enough time for each activity. Be flexible and adaptable, as things don’t always go according to plan.

Create a safe and supportive environment 

This means creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas and opinions.

• Set ground rules at the beginning of the workshop, such as respecting everyone’s opinions and avoiding personal attacks.
• Encourage workshop participants to share their ideas and feedback, even if they’re different from their own.
• Be mindful of the group dynamics and intervene if necessary to ensure that everyone feels comfortable participating.

Facilitating the workshop

Your role is to guide the workshop and keep it on track. Encourage participation and manage conflict.

The Workshopper Playbook  by Jonathan Courtney

People spend more than 80% of their time at work on “busy work”, unproductive meetings, pointless discussions, and projects and ideas that never actually come to fruition. This book will teach you

Start with an icebreaker

Start with an icebreaker to help participants get to know each other and to create a sense of community. I love starting all my UX workshops with ice breaker sessions that are improv in nature to spark a creative mindset.

Keep the workshop on track

Keep the workshop on track by following the agenda and managing time effectively. No one likes it when meetings go on and on without any closure.

Encourage participation

Encourage participation by asking questions and by giving everyone a chance to contribute.

Manage conflict

Manage conflict by being respectful of all viewpoints and by working to find common ground.

Evaluating the workshop

After the workshop, it is important to collect feedback from participants. This feedback can be used to identify areas for improvement.

When I first asked to do this, I felt as though my work was being audited by all my colleagues. But that was not the case, the idea is to tweak the workshop according to your participants and improve on the next one. Remember if you’re a UX designer, you know there’s always room for improvement. Roxanne rosewood

Collect feedback from participants

Here are a few ways to collect feedback from participants:

• Send out a survey after the workshop.
• Hold a debrief session at the end of the workshop.
• Talk to participants individually to get their feedback.

I will have a one-on-one debrief session with my manager for feedback and then send a survey to the rest of the participants after the workshop.

Identify areas for improvement

Once you have collected feedback from participants, take some time to analyze it. Look for common themes and identify areas where you can improve.

Wrapping up my perspective on 8 UX workshops and when to use them

UX workshops have helped me and my team develop innovative solutions to some of our most challenging problems. By bringing together stakeholders from different disciplines and generating ideas in a collaborative environment, we’ve been able to identify and solve problems that we never would have been able to solve on our own.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your product or service, I encourage you to consider running a UX workshop. By following the tips and best practices in this article, you can run a successful workshop that delivers real results.

Start planning your own UX workshop today! Contact me if you need help 🙂

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the different types of ux workshops.

There are many different types of UX workshops, but some of the most common include:

• Discovery workshops: These workshops are used to learn more about users and their needs. They can be used to identify pain points, opportunities, and requirements.
• Empathy workshops: These workshops are used to help participants develop a deeper understanding of the needs, motivations, and pain points of users. They can be used to generate empathy maps and user personas.
• Design workshops: These workshops are used to generate and refine design ideas. They can be used to create wireframes, prototypes, and user flows.
• Prioritization workshops: These workshops are used to prioritize design ideas and features. They can be used to create MoSCoW matrices and other prioritization tools.
• Critique workshops: These workshops are used to get feedback on design ideas and prototypes. They can be used to identify usability problems and areas for improvement.
• User journey workshops: These workshops are used to map out the user journey and identify areas for improvement. They can be used to create user journey maps and service blueprints.
• Usability testing workshops: These workshops are used to test the usability of a product or prototype with users. They can be used to identify usability problems and areas for improvement.
• Accessibility testing workshops: These workshops are used to test the accessibility of a product or prototype for users with disabilities. They can be used to identify accessibility problems and areas for improvement.

How do I choose the right type of UX workshop for my needs?

The best way to choose the right type of UX workshop for your needs is to consider your specific goals. What do you want to achieve by the end of the workshop? Once you know your goals, you can choose the type of workshop that is most likely to help you achieve them.

For example, if you are trying to learn more about your users, you would choose a discovery or empathy workshop. If you are trying to generate and refine design ideas, you would choose a design workshop. And if you are trying to prioritize design ideas and features, you would choose a prioritization workshop.

How do I plan and run a successful UX workshop?

Here are some tips for planning and running a successful UX workshop :

• Define the goals of the workshop: What do you want to achieve by the end of the workshop?
• Invite the right people: Who needs to be involved in the workshop to achieve the goals?
• Choose the right activities: Select activities that will help you achieve the goals of the workshop.
• Create a safe and supportive environment: Make sure everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas and opinions.
• Facilitate the workshop effectively: Keep the workshop on track and encourage active participation.

What are some tips for getting the most out of a UX workshop?

Here are some tips for getting the most out of a UX workshop:

• Come prepared: Do your research and think about what you want to achieve in the workshop.
• Be open-minded: Be willing to hear new ideas and perspectives.
• Be participative: Share your own ideas and feedback.
• Be respectful: Respect the ideas and opinions of others.

How can I use UX workshops to improve my product or service?

UX workshops can be used to improve your product or service in a number of ways. For example, you can use them to:

• Learn more about your users and their needs.
• Identify pain points, opportunities, and requirements.
• Generate and refine design ideas.
• Prioritize design ideas and features.
• Get feedback on design ideas and prototypes.
• Identify usability problems and areas for improvement.
• Identify accessibility problems and areas for improvement.

By using UX workshops to improve your product or service, you can create a product or service that is more user-friendly, meets the needs of your users, and is more likely to be successful in the market.

UX Consultant

UX Consultant | UX Design Mentor

Roxanne Rosewood, is an accomplished UX designer and researcher with five years of experience. Drawing from her professional expertise in the field, she shares her valuable insights on UX design, UX research, UX writing, and UI design on her blog TheRoxannePerspective.com where she provides a wealth of knowledge and expertise in these areas.

Roxanne’s dedication extends beyond UX design and research, as she also serves as a mentor, guiding and supporting aspiring UX professionals.

Similar Posts

6 Best UX/UI Podcasts to Follow in 2023

In this post, I’ll share with you six of the best UX UI podcasts to…

How to run a discovery workshop (What is it and why you need it)

Do you struggle with gaining clarity, alignment, and direction for your projects and initiatives? A…

The best laptop for drawing and animation in 2023 (september)

As a UX designer and researcher, we are constantly learning and improving our skillset. In…

Workshop Facilitation for Beginners: A Practical Guide

Workshop facilitation is the process of guiding a group of people through a series of…

Will AI Replace UX Designers?

As a UX designer and researcher myself, we are constantly looking to the future to…

Understanding User Flow (UX Design): A Beginners Guide

Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect? It’s when someone who is the least competent in…

Join our FREE training and learn the 5 things you can do to become a top 1% facilitator

How to run a ux design workshop.

What is a UX design workshop & what are the benefits of running one? How can you plan a successful UX workshop of your own? Learn all you need to know here.

Workshops provide value at every stage of the UX design process. Whether it’s exploring a specific UX problem, getting key stakeholders aligned, generating ideas and solutions, or diving deeper into your end user’s needs—workshops offer a safe, engaging space to tackle UX challenges collaboratively, creatively, and efficiently.

Are you a UX designer looking to unlock the power of workshops? Then keep reading. This is your ultimate guide on how to run a UX workshop, and we’ve covered everything you need to know:

• 1. Do you want a Career in UX? 
•  Learn the Principles of UX Design
• Master a UX Design Tool ‍

First things first: What exactly is a UX workshop? Let’s get a definition in place. 

What is a UX workshop?

A UX workshop is a collaborative group session which focuses on a specific goal or outcome. It’s not just a meeting between UX designers and stakeholders; it’s an active, interactive session, carefully designed to empower progress through teamwork. 

A UX workshop follows a set agenda, with participants taking part in different activities throughout. The types of activities and exercises featured depends on the goal of the workshop. We’ll look at some of the different types of UX workshops and activities a bit later on.

Why use workshops in UX design?

UX workshops provide value throughout the UX design process. You can use them to:

• Explore and understand specific problems and challenges
• Generate ideas and problem-solve
• Develop user empathy
• Prioritize and plan what the team should focus on next
• Develop a UX strategy
• Gather feedback and critique
• Review and improve team processes

…and much, much more!

Whatever the focus of your UX workshop, the benefits are endless. While a UX workshop does require more time and effort upfront than a meeting, the returns are high. 

Join our FREE community and get answers to your questions about facilitation and workshops

Workshops are outcome-focused, collaborative, and designed to achieve specific goals within a set time frame. Ultimately, if you want to improve collaboration and accelerate progress within your UX team, start running UX workshops.

What are the different types of UX workshops?

Now we know what a UX workshop is, let’s get more specific and introduce some of the different types of UX workshops you might run. 

Discovery workshops

Discovery workshops are a bit like a project kick-off. They’re all about getting a handle on the current state of a project and getting people aligned.  You can use discovery workshops to gather knowledge and information from clients or stakeholders, to define the requirements of the project, to go over existing artifacts and deliverables (e.g. user research), and establish group alignment in terms of priorities and project milestones. 

Empathy workshops

Empathy is the very foundation of UX, and an empathy workshop is an excellent way to ensure that your design process is user-centric.  Just as the name suggests, empathy workshops help to develop empathy for the end user. They can be used to establish a common understanding of who your end users are, as well as their needs, goals, and pain-points.  After an empathy workshop, everybody will be better equipped to design products and features that meet the user’s needs. 

Connect with other Workshoppers worldwide and share your own experiences and expertise in our FREE community

Design workshops.

Design workshops are primarily used to rapidly generate ideas and solutions. You can run a design workshop when you’ve already got a clearly defined UX problem. Design workshops are all about leveraging a broad and diverse array of perspectives, so it’s important to involve people from different departments.  Design workshops can be used to come up with initial ideas at the beginning of a project, or to refine existing ideas, designs, and concepts.

Prioritization workshops

It’s not always possible to follow through with every single idea, solution, or feature. When you have competing initiatives or clashing priorities, it’s essential to figure out, collaboratively, where time and resources should be invested first.  This is where prioritization workshops come in. A prioritization workshop helps to reach consensus as to what should be prioritized and when, creating clear focus for the UX team. 

Critique workshops

Critique workshops provide a space to review existing designs and/or UX deliverables (e.g. personas or user flows) to ensure that they’re still hitting the mark. The goal of any critique workshop is to ensure that design decisions are still accurate and appropriate based on your understanding of the end user’s needs. This is also a good opportunity to hear feedback from different stakeholders.  You can hold a critique workshop as part of a new project kick-off, or as part of an iteration if you’re working in sprint cycles. 

UX strategy workshops

Every so often, it’s important to step back and consider the bigger picture. Whether you’re defining a UX strategy from scratch or reviewing an existing strategy, you can do so with a dedicated workshop. The goal of a UX strategy workshop is to define (or review) the long-term goals and vision for the product and/or the UX team in relation to the overarching business strategy.  We’ve written a general guide to strategy meetings and workshops here , and you’ll find that many of the principles can be transferred to UX-specific strategy workshops.

Retrospectives

A retrospective workshop is when you look back at a project to review how successful it was. Retrospectives aren’t specific to UX, but they are an extremely valuable tool for any team and therefore deserve a special mention here. During a retrospective workshop, you gain valuable insight into how people feel the project went. It’s an opportunity to discuss challenges and roadblocks, to identify areas for improvement before starting the next project, and to address any residual conflict.  We share some tried-and-tested retrospective exercises here .

7 activities to use during a UX workshop

There are dozens of activities and exercises you can run as part of your UX workshop. Overarching all of these different activities are 7 foundational exercises, as defined by the Nielsen Norman Group .  These are:

Participants come up with ideas, write them on sticky notes, and stick them on the wall (or the virtual whiteboard if you’re running a remote UX workshop). Post-ups are great because they give everybody space to generate and capture their ideas. This exercise is especially ideal for design workshops where you want to come up with lots of different ideas in a short space of time.

Affinity diagramming

If you’re in the UX field, you’re probably already familiar with affinity diagramming. In the context of a UX workshop, affinity diagramming is used to cluster and group people’s ideas based on themes and similarities.  Affinity diagramming is a good follow-up exercise after idea generation, when you need to organize everybody’s ideas and identify patterns and recurring topics across the group. 

Landscape mapping

In landscape mapping, you evaluate the themes you’ve come up with in your affinity diagramming exercise and see if there are relationships between them. Landscape mapping is a technique also used for things like empathy maps and customer journey maps. In a UX workshop, it helps you to identify relationships across a vast array of content.

Forced ranking

Forced ranking is a prioritization exercise which directly weighs up different items against each other to create a clear hierarchy of priorities. Some of the most popular forced ranking activities include dot voting , creating prioritization matrices , and the hundred dollar test .

Storyboarding

Storyboarding is a great visual technique used to tell a story through a series of images displayed in chronological order. For example, you might storyboard the process of how a user interacts with a specific feature. 

In a UX workshop, storyboarding doesn’t only encourage participants to get creative with pen and paper; it helps them to step into the user’s shoes and consider certain ideas in specific user contexts. As such, storyboarding is ideal for empathy workshops. 

Role-playing

Role-playing is notorious for getting people out of their comfort zones, and that’s the whole point! In a UX workshop, you can get participants to roleplay different scenarios, asking them to either step into the shoes of a user or even to take on the role of the product or system. This encourages new perspectives and naturally gets people challenging their own assumptions—essential if you want to create truly user-centric products.

Playback is, quite simply, the process of sharing insights and ideas throughout the workshop. If you’re workshopping with a large number of participants and frequently splitting off into smaller groups, it’s important to catch up as an entire group at regular intervals. This keeps everybody in the loop and will ultimately ensure alignment as the workshop moves towards a conclusion. 

How to plan and run a UX workshop (remote, in-person, or hybrid): 7 key steps

Here are 7 key factors to consider when planning a UX workshop:

What’s the goal of your UX workshop?

First and foremost, why are you running a UX workshop? What do you want to achieve? Another way to frame this question is: Where are we at in the UX design process?  Perhaps you’re kicking off a new project and want to get everybody aligned before moving forward. Maybe you’re nearing the end of a project and want to assess how it went. Your end goal will determine all the subsequent workshop variables, so have a clear outcome in mind before you do anything else.

What type of UX workshop will you run?

Based on your end goal, what type of UX workshop are you going to run? Refer back to the different types of UX workshops we introduced earlier on, but bear in mind that you can mix, match, adapt, and combine them to find a format that suits you.  For example, if you’re kicking off a new project, you might choose to run a UX workshop that combines elements of both discovery and empathy. You have full creative license! Just remember to keep the workshop focused on a specific goal.

Who should attend?

The success of your UX workshop rests heavily on who attends, so consider your guest list carefully. It’s always valuable to have a diversity of perspectives, but you want to hit a balance; don’t fall into the trap of inviting too many people. One or two representatives from each department is ideal.  When curating your attendee list, we recommend dividing it up into must-haves and nice-to-haves. Your must-have attendees are those you consider absolutely critical to the workshop (you’d rather reschedule it than run it without their input), while your nice-to-haves would make a valuable contribution but don’t necessarily have to attend if it isn’t logistically possible.  Once you’ve got your guest list sorted, be sure to invite everyone in good time, with a clear overview of what the workshop will cover and how they’ll be required to participate. 

What’s on your UX workshop agenda? (Including activities and time frames)

You want your UX workshop to achieve a specific goal, so you need to design your agenda with this goal in mind.  First, consider how much time you have for the workshop: will it take place over two hours, a day, or a week?  Then figure out how you’ll divide that time for maximum output. What exercises will you run, and how much time will be allocated for each? When will breaks take place, and how long for? How will you warm up the group at the start of the session, and energize them throughout? We recommend including ice-breaker activities and energizers at well-placed intervals.  Your agenda will steer your UX workshop and keep the group focused, so make sure it’s watertight. 

Where will the workshop take place?

Now for the logistics. Where will your UX workshop take place? Will it be an in-person workshop, an entirely remote affair, or a hybrid session with some in-person attendees and others dialing in?

Think about the physical or digital space you’ll use to host your workshop, as well as the tools and materials you’ll need (digital white board, Post-it notes, pens, etc). For an in-person workshop, consider how you’ll design the space for maximum participant comfort. For a remote UX workshop, plan—down to the very last detail—how participants will join, interact, and capture and share their ideas. 

What are the next steps after your UX workshop?

The whole point of running a UX workshop is to accelerate progress and drive action, so it’s essential to consider what the next steps will be after the workshop itself.  How will you act on what comes up during the workshop? Who is responsible for each action point, and what’s the desired time frame? Conclude your workshop with clear next steps (defined in collaboration with the workshop group) and establish a timeline. This ensures that your workshop efforts translate into real-world impact long after the workshop is over.

7 golden rules of UX workshop facilitation

As a facilitator, you are responsible for guiding the group and ensuring that your UX workshop stays focused on the end goal. To help you, here are 7 golden rules of UX workshop facilitation to bear in mind at all times.

Lead with a strong introduction

Getting your UX workshop off to a strong start is critical. Kick things off by:

• Clearly reiterating what the workshop is for and what you hope to achieve as a group
• Briefly running through the agenda and what your participants can expect
• Explaining your role as the facilitator 

A strong introduction will get everybody on the same page and help to manage expectations before you begin, setting the stage for success. 

Incorporate icebreakers

For many, the prospect of attending a workshop and taking part in different activities can be daunting. But, if you want people to be creative, innovative, and open, you need to put them at ease. Incorporate icebreakers into your agenda: certainly at the beginning of the workshop, and potentially after a long break to get people back in the swing of things. For inspiration, check out this list of tried-and-tested icebreaker activities .

Set expectations and ground rules

The best workshops are those where everybody has the opportunity to contribute, and feels empowered to do so. As the facilitator, it’s your job to create this space, so be sure to set clear expectations and ground rules around communication.  If you’re running a remote UX workshop, for example, is there a chat or messaging function that participants can use? Are there specific gestures or signals people can use to indicate they have something to say?  You don’t need to be too rigid with your rules, but a few basic guidelines will help to keep communication and collaboration respectful and smooth.

Give clear instructions for each activity

Whenever you introduce a new exercise or activity, make sure you give crystal clear instructions. Most importantly, keep your instructions simple. Don’t give participants multiple options for how to approach the task; stick to one method that everybody should follow. And, if you’re running a more complex activity, check that everyone’s clear on what they need to do before you start.

Keep troublemakers in check

Unfortunately, not everyone will attend your UX workshop with pure joy and enthusiasm. You may find some troublemakers in your midst, and it’s important to keep them in check so they don’t have the chance to derail your workshop. Fortunately, there are lots of tried-and-true strategies you can use to keep things running smoothly. Learn more in this guide on how to deal with workshop skeptics (with 9 actionable techniques) .

Stick to your schedule

Timing is everything in your UX workshop. If you consistently run over time, you’ll compromise the productivity of your workshop and risk things feeling rushed. Be diligent when it comes to sticking to your agenda, have a timer on hand to keep track, and build buffer time into your schedule.

End with a clear decision

The whole purpose of a UX workshop is to make progress on a specific challenge or topic. You’ll probably find that, throughout the course of the workshop, you collectively come up with not just one solution or idea, but several. To ensure the workshop is actionable, it’s essential to end with a clear decision regarding which solution, idea, or action you’ll pursue. Only then can you consider your UX workshop complete!

That concludes our guide to UX design workshops. Hopefully you feel inspired to run your own UX workshop, and have picked up some actionable strategies and techniques you can employ right away.  Want to learn more about workshopping? Check out these guides:

• A UX Designer’s Guide to Facilitation
• How to Write a Meeting or Workshop Agenda (with Templates & Examples)
• Digital Facilitation Tools for Virtual Workshops & Meetings

Emily Stevens

When Do You Need a Facilitator?

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus.

The Ultimate Facilitation Glossary: 50 Facilitation Terms You Should Know (From A-Z)

How To Improve Team Collaboration

Mastering User Research

Online (live)

Part time course, twice a week, 6:30pm - 8:30pm.

next start date: 14th October, 2024 -18th December, 2024

Ideal for those looking to pivot into user research, wanting to upskill, or needing a refresh of the latest UX research methods. The user research course covers design thinking, foundational theory, usability testing, industry tools and the must know user research methods. Learnings will be immediately applied to a real-life research challenge set by a local business.

Have some questions?

Interested in enrolling on a course with us, but need more information? Request a call back from our admissions team.

Experience Haus Course Information Evening

Join our next information session.

online via zoom

Wednesday 6th September, 6:30pm - 8:00pm BST

Who's this for?

For those who want to master their UX research skills and/or transition into an user research role

How long is it?

The user research course consists of 40 hours of live classes and discussion, taught via Zoom

On completion

You'll have a solid understanding of how to use qualitative and quantitive research on a project.

Our alumni have gone on to join some of the most exciting, biggest and best names across various industries.

EXPLORE THIS COURSE

Learn from industry experts

Our courses are all led by experienced user research and UX design professionals working within the industry.

They are all equipped with industry experience of helping students to develop their ux research knowledge, improve and prepare them for new opportunities.

Real project, real client.

Our ‘learn by doing’ practical approach gives our students the perfect opportunity to apply what they have learnt straight away in the real world.

Working as a team of user researchers, you will be given a project brief with a real client to work on. This gives you a taster of the ‘real’ working environment and allows you to build working relationships.

Classes capped at 12 students

Our small class sizes allow the instructor to spend more time with each student discussing key concepts, providing feedback on work, answering specific questions, and sharing the wealth of experience they have to offer.

Benefit from valuable critique as you learn the research process, build foundational knowledge and master the methods.

Learn by Doing.

A comprehensive user research course covering design thinking, user research theory, multiple methods of user research, creating a user research plan, usability testing and conducting effective research. Good UX research underpins a successful design project and reduces risk, so all of this needs to come together to play an important role in making successful design decisions.

Students will work as a small design team, working on a real-life UX research brief provided by a startup. At the end of the research course, students will present their findings back to the client.

Classes are live on all of our online courses, and held twice a week online via Zoom (from 6:30pm-8:30pm London time) either on Monday and Wednesday evenings, or Tuesday and Thursday evenings, depending on your start date.

Course syllabus

Students will enjoy a mix of lectures and workshop time, where they will get to practice their learnings and apply them to their projects.

PRE course Work

• Complete Student Profile
• Introduction to Figma
• Sign up to Slack community
• Pre-course reading
• Course Orientation
• User Research landscape
• Design Thinking
• Benefits of User Research
• Generative Research
• Evaluative Research
• Quantitative vs Qualitative Research
• Ethnographic field research
• Screening participants
• Contextual interviews
• User Interviews
• Types of questions
• How to conduct user interviews
• What is Evaluative research
• Usability Testing
• A/B Testing
• Card Sorting (Closed)
• Tree Testing
• Qualitative testing methods
• Quantitative testing methods
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• When to use
• How to balance the two
• Behavioural testing
• Tree testing
• Eyetracking
• Attitudinal research
• Card sorting
• Focus Groups
• Diary Studies
• Client brief introduction
• Creating a user research plan
• Evaluating existing research
• Identifying objectives
• Defining your research problem
• Choosing the right research methods
• Recruiting participants
• How many users?
• Using recruitment agencies
• Preparing for user research
• Obtaining consent and GDPR
• Team and individual roles
• Practice interviews
• Conducting user research
• Circulating surveys
• Workshop preparation
• Artefact analysis
• Workflow analysis
• Analysing the data
• Affinity mapping
• Generating insights
• Early stage design ideas
• Preparing to present
• Storytelling
• Live client presentation
• Course retrospective
• What’s next?
• Getting a job in user research

POST course Support

• Portfolio Clinics
• Q&A Sessions with Recruiters
• Workshops with Industry Experts
• Career Advice and Support

Hear from our alumni

Join over 1,000 alumni who have gone on to highly-skilled, high-growth opportunities with industry-leading companies, from startups, agencies, consultancies and more.

Lucas Shorvon

Freelance UX/UI Designer

We were taught various methods to research in a systematic way that can be applied to almost all projects to unlock key findings that might not have been clear at first. Looking past the obvious and finding a product in the gaps.

Rosie Blackburn

UX Design Intern

The UX and user research half of the course was incredibly useful and interesting. I really enjoyed the entire end-to-end design process and a hugely important part of that is understanding and getting to the crux of the problem trying to be solved.

Melissa Matos

Research Assistant at CIES-Iscte

I have completed two courses now and have enjoyed both immensely. The teachers are super knowledgeable and supportive and the opportunity to work on a live brief has really benefitted my portfolio and given me lots to talk about in interviews!

Sean Conneely

Junior UX/UI Designer

I learned about user behaviour and needs through various research methods. Witnessing how these insights can improve user satisfaction was motivating. I now use this knowledge to collaborate with clients to create delightful products and experiences.

Apply your learnings on real client projects.

Early in the course you will be assigned a real client as a team, and will work on a live brief for them. You will apply your learnings to the project as the course unfolds.

The culmination of this project will be you presenting your process, findings and takeaways back to the client.

By the time you graduate from this course you will have a full end-to-end case study to add to your professional portfolio. We advise adding a few more projects to the portfolio, so by using your learnings from this course you will have the framework to work on other projects with best practises.

Meet our instructors

Led by Industry Experts.

You will be learning from the best in the field. Our talented and experienced design instructors have worked with various sized teams, from early-stage startups to award winning agencies, and industry leading organisations such as Amazon, PwC, and more.

Senior Product Designer at Elsevier

Cece is a product designer/researcher, now living in London. She currently works at Elsevier, a clinical research organisation working on point of care tools for Clinicals worldwide on web and native apps.

Lead User Researcher and Service Designer

Merje is a freelance Lead User Researcher and Service Designer who is passionate about using technology to create positive change. She has over 15 years of experience in the digital industry and is a seasoned leader with a track record of success.

Orok Brooks

Head of Product Design and UX at TES Global

Orok is currently Head of Product Design and UX at TES Global, as well as the founder of UX consultancy Omagood. With over a decade of experience, he is dedicated in solving complex problems and guiding businesses in integrating UX strategy into their projects.

Next Steps.

Still looking for more information?

WE'RE HERE TO HELP YOU ALONG THE WAY.

Here are some ways we can help you and give you all the information you need to make your decision.

Book in a Zoom call with one of our team members here.

Book in a studio visit to see our learning space here.

Email us with any questions at [email protected]

MASTERING USER RESEARCH.

Course Dates and Fees.

£ 1,195.00 (inc. VAT)

Pay in full now and save 10%

Reserve your space today by paying your course fees in full, saving 10% off the regular price.

This course runs online via zoom and takes place between 6:30pm – 8:30pm (UK Time)

To pay in full, first pick your course dates:

14th October, 2024 -18th December, 2024      • Mondays and Wednesdays      • 6:30pm-8:30pm (BST)      • Online

21st April, 2025 - 25th June, 2025      • Mondays and Wednesdays      • 6:30pm-8:30pm (BST)      • Online

£ 131.50 (inc. VAT)

Spread the cost over the duration of your course

The total cost of paying in instalments is £1,315.00

Simply pay a deposit of £131.50  to secure your space and then a further 3x £394.50  payments will be taken via direct debit over the duration of your course.

If you have any financial concerns please contact [email protected] to discuss different payment options.

To pay by instalments, first pick your course dates:

Have more questions? We have the answers.

What exactly does a user researcher do.

User researchers (or UX researchers) plan, design and then carry out various research activities (and understand various user research methods) with users, which can help product teams get a deeper understanding of the people that will end up using their products and services. This research data also helps build team alignment, confidence in product decisions, and reduces the risk of building the wrong thing. User researchers will end up working closely with UX designers, UI designers and product teams.

What exactly does this course focus on?

This UX research course is focused on covering user research theory, design thinking, multiple methods of user research, creating a user research plan, doing user testing, user interviews and conducting effective research. Good ux research underpins a successful design project, so all of this needs to come together to play an important role in making successful design decisions.

Does this course include UX and UI Design?

User research is a subset of user experience design. On this research course we will cover user research, data analysis and user journeys, which are part of the UX process. We will not cover anything related to UI on this course, but we have other courses that are perfectly suitable if you are looking to enhance that area of your skillset.

How much homework is there?

This can change depending on the stage of the course but we say on average there will be 6-8 hours of individual homework each week.

Do I work with an actual client?

Yes, during the course you will be assigned to an actual client to work on a real ux research project and at the end you will be presenting this work to your client.

What are the payment options?

We offer two payment options for all of our courses. You can pay in full and save 10% off the regular price; or you can spread the cost by paying in 3 instalments taken during the course.

If you have taken any courses with us before, you will save 20% off the regular price.

Do I need a design or development background to take this course?

No, our courses are open to anyone. Whilst some of our students have studied or worked in design-related fields, many have very little experience (if any). We’ve had everyone from very senior ux researcher and digital designers with over 10 years’ experience to paramedics, lawyers, police and coffee shop baristas!

Can I come with a colleague or a team?

Yes, most definitely. This course will only benefit you more if you attend with a colleague or your wider team. If you are looking to run a course just for your time, we can help with that too – just email [email protected] and put in your request.

What is the application process?

There isn’t one! To secure your space on the research course all you have to do is book via our website or by contacting [email protected] and telling us which programme you’d like to do. For those doing our larger courses, you’ll then get the chance to speak with one of our instructors and talk through your objectives, previous experience and how we might best support you during your time with us.

Will I get a job after the course?

This course will definitely prepare you well for your job search and give you the confidence to move forward in your ux design career. A course is only half of the work, the other half will come from your own determination, hard work, networking and desire to succeed.

Do I need a portfolio, and will I get one from the course?

Yes, you will have the relevant ux design process, work and artefact in order to build a case study and professional portfolio. We will discuss portfolio building on the course, and you can then complete this after the course in your own time – but with support from us as part of our lifelong mentoring service.

What software and hardware will I need?

Courses can be taken with standard Windows PC or Apple hardware. The only programs that you will almost definitely need to use at some stage are Figjam, Mural and/or Miro (for capturing ideas, thoughts, and notes. these can be run through your internet browser with no need to download their desktop applications unless you want to work offline. Many other programs may be discussed throughout our courses, but none are essential. You will also need to use Google Slides, Keynote or PowerPoint to work on your final presentation.

What is your cancellation or refund policy?

Purchases are non-refundable, except at the discretion of Experience Haus Ltd. Typically, cancellations or refund requests received 14 days prior to the start of a course or workshop will be honoured. However, due to the complex nature of the service being provided this cannot be guaranteed, and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. This policy does not include deposits, all of which are non-refundable.

Can I change my start date once I’ve booked?

Provided you give us enough notice, we are happy for you to change courses once you’ve booked.

Do I get a certificate to say I have completed the course?

All students receive a digital Experience Haus course completion certificate at the end of the course. The course is recognised in regards to Experience Haus being an industry recognised brand for delivering design education.

Can I change my brief?

No – the briefs are selected to help you apply your learnings in the best way and create a great portfolio piece. We cannot change the brief that has been selected for you as we want this to be as real life as possible, where you don’t always choose what you work on and would need to deliver the project regardless of personal preference.

What happens if I have to miss a class?

We understand there might be times where you need to miss a session (you are unwell, have to work late etc). In these instances we will ask the instructor to record the session so you can catch up afterwards. Students will have access to all course materials, including slides and any recordings, even after the course has finished.

Stay in the loop.

Subscribe to the Experience Haus monthly newsletter. We'll keep you updated on everything we have to offer.

• Reviews / Why join our community?
• For companies
• Frequently asked questions

How to Run a Great User Workshop

The whole point of UX research is to get in touch with your users. One technique for doing so is the user workshop. You bring together a group of users (and possibly the client too) and get them to talk about their opinions, behaviours, feelings, etc.

It’s worth noting that user workshops are not ideal for basing your decision making processes on – they rely a little too much on people “telling you what they do” rather than “showing you what they do”. However, they can provide excellent insights that help you guide future research efforts.

In general, you use user workshops at the start of a project for ideas gathering. The good news is that user workshops aren’t particularly expensive to run so they can be incorporated into a UX research plan fairly easily.

So let’s take a look at how to run a great user workshop:

It All Starts with a Plan

Before you can even think about holding a user workshop you need to start to bottom out what you want to get from the workshop:

Which types of user do you want to speak to?

What data are you expecting to get from the workshop?

Which discussion topics are most likely to lead to the data you need and provide other valuable insights?

Then you want to:

Create Some Profiles of Potential Participants

How many participants do you need? What are the kinds of people you want represented in the group?

The more accurate a profile you have, the more likely it is that you will recruit useful participants. Make certain that you think about the numbers carefully too, half-a-dozen users might be perfect for a simple discussion forum but you might need a few more if you’re going to do something which involves a lot of additional exercises.

Recruit the Participants

How you go about this is up to you but remember that recruiting users always takes more time than you hope it will. You can use an agency to speed up the process (at a cost) or reach out to your user base. Always make sure that you recruit slightly more bodies than you need, someone always fails to show up.

Make certain that the incentives you offer are sensible but enough to encourage participation. You don’t have to hand over huge sums of money but $5 probably won’t be enough and $500 is probably too much (people who don’t care a jot about the product will be happy to turn up for $500).

Brief Participants in Advance

You want the user workshop to focus on achieving your objectives and not on explaining to participants why they are there. Send a letter or an e-mail to each participant and explain what you will be doing, what they should be doing, how much time will be spent, and anything they need to do or prepare in advance. Then when they arrive… you can get straight down to business.

Find a Decent Venue

Venues should be easy to get to for the participants. Don’t choose somewhere 12 miles out of town and away from all public transport links.

Do choose somewhere that will comfortably hold all your participants and any activity sessions you want to run.

On the Day – Opening the Session

Many people will never have attended a user workshop before; it’s a good idea to hold a brief kick off speech at the start of the session to get them comfortable with what’s expected of them. Something like this should be fine:

“Welcome! Today, we’re going to be hold discussion based sessions about our product. We want you to speak up and share your insights and will encourage you to do so throughout the process. Don’t be afraid to put across your viewpoint, I am not the client and your feedback will be treated with total confidentiality. Don’t be afraid to tell us what you don’t like, it helps us help the client to build things you do like. And please remember, there are no daft ideas – say what’s on your mind, whenever you want to. Thank you for coming.”

Get People Talking

Don’t present long speeches at your participants. You’ve got a whole bunch of users together – you want to hear from them, you can talk to yourself after they’ve gone home if you really need to deliver a speech.

The more active people are physically, the more likely they are to become involved intellectually too. Try not to keep everyone in their seats. Get some flipcharts or Post-It notes and get them stood up and scribbling ideas down. (This also helps to manage larger groups where you can’t listen to everybody at once anyway).

You shouldn’t use user workshops to drill deeply into any given issue (there are better research techniques for this) what you want is a wide array of useful feedback on many topics. Kill any subject that you feel has become exhausted and move on quickly.

Step in as a facilitator and close down, gently, any individual who is monopolizing the group’s time and draw out, also gently, those who are more reserved and encourage them to speak up too. It’s a group exercise and not an interview.

Don’t be afraid to wait for a response to a question. A little silence just means people are thinking – not that they are ignoring you.

Record the Proceedings

You’re going to miss a ton of useful data when you’re facilitating user workshops. The best way to overcome this is to video and record the session for repeated review later. If you can’t do this – then get an observer or two to come in and make notes in addition to your own. The extra bandwidth this gives will enable far more feedback from the same session.

After the User Workshop

It’s time to let people know what you’ve discovered. That means reporting on the workshop. Don’t write a huge 200 page report – no-one will read it. Instead highlight key observations and potential action that can be taken on these. If you videoed the session – use video highlights to support these observations.

Getting user workshops right, can take a little practice but the tips above should help you get started without too much hassle.

Header Image: Author/Copyright holder: Scottish Government. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-NC 2.0

Design for Thought and Emotion

Get Weekly Design Tips

What you should read next, picture perfect: how to use visuals to elevate your ux/ui design portfolio case studies.

4 Tips to Amplify the Potential of Your UX/UI Design Portfolio

No Experience? No Problem! 3 Ways to Find Projects for Your UX/UI Design Portfolio Case Studies

The Myths of Mobile Design and Why They Matter

5 Steps for Human-Centered Mobile Design

Customer Journey Maps — Walking a Mile in Your Customer’s Shoes

• 1.1k shares

How to Design for AR Experiences on the Go

• 2 weeks ago

Your Gateway to UX Design: Norman Doors

How to Select the Best Idea by the End of an Ideation Session

• 3 weeks ago

Revolutionize UX Design with VR Experiences

Open Access—Link to us!

We believe in Open Access and the  democratization of knowledge . Unfortunately, world-class educational materials such as this page are normally hidden behind paywalls or in expensive textbooks.

If you want this to change , cite this article , link to us, or join us to help us democratize design knowledge !

Privacy Settings

Our digital services use necessary tracking technologies, including third-party cookies, for security, functionality, and to uphold user rights. Optional cookies offer enhanced features, and analytics.

Experience the full potential of our site that remembers your preferences and supports secure sign-in.

Governs the storage of data necessary for maintaining website security, user authentication, and fraud prevention mechanisms.

Enhanced Functionality

Saves your settings and preferences, like your location, for a more personalized experience.

Referral Program

We use cookies to enable our referral program, giving you and your friends discounts.

Error Reporting

We share user ID with Bugsnag and NewRelic to help us track errors and fix issues.

Optimize your experience by allowing us to monitor site usage. You’ll enjoy a smoother, more personalized journey without compromising your privacy.

Analytics Storage

Collects anonymous data on how you navigate and interact, helping us make informed improvements.

Differentiates real visitors from automated bots, ensuring accurate usage data and improving your website experience.

Lets us tailor your digital ads to match your interests, making them more relevant and useful to you.

Advertising Storage

Stores information for better-targeted advertising, enhancing your online ad experience.

Personalization Storage

Permits storing data to personalize content and ads across Google services based on user behavior, enhancing overall user experience.

Advertising Personalization

Allows for content and ad personalization across Google services based on user behavior. This consent enhances user experiences.

Enables personalizing ads based on user data and interactions, allowing for more relevant advertising experiences across Google services.

Receive more relevant advertisements by sharing your interests and behavior with our trusted advertising partners.

Enables better ad targeting and measurement on Meta platforms, making ads you see more relevant.

Allows for improved ad effectiveness and measurement through Meta’s Conversions API, ensuring privacy-compliant data sharing.

LinkedIn Insights

Tracks conversions, retargeting, and web analytics for LinkedIn ad campaigns, enhancing ad relevance and performance.

LinkedIn CAPI

Enhances LinkedIn advertising through server-side event tracking, offering more accurate measurement and personalization.

Google Ads Tag

Tracks ad performance and user engagement, helping deliver ads that are most useful to you.

Share Knowledge, Get Respect!

or copy link

Cite according to academic standards

Simply copy and paste the text below into your bibliographic reference list, onto your blog, or anywhere else. You can also just hyperlink to this article.

New to UX Design? We’re giving you a free ebook!

Download our free ebook The Basics of User Experience Design to learn about core concepts of UX design.

In 9 chapters, we’ll cover: conducting user interviews, design thinking, interaction design, mobile UX design, usability, UX research, and many more!

New to UX Design? We’re Giving You a Free ebook!

The process and benefits of organizing a UX workshop

A UX workshop is a crucial phase of a well-thought-out product. There is a wide variety of cases where such workshops can help solve pressing problems, critical for a project's success. They can range from tackling intricate design or UX issues to receiving constructive feedback on your designs.

However, despite being such a vital part of the process, user experience workshops are often poorly organized and managed. In this article, we'll explore some valuable tips on how to run a UX workshop and how you should prepare for one.  

One Plugin for All Workshop Needs

26 templates; Get stakeholder buy-in; Become a better UX'er.

So what is a UX workshop?

User experience workshops are aimed at solving critical issues and stimulating progress . These sessions are focused on a limited range of problems. This is why they allow teams to achieve actionable goals and detailed roadmaps for achieving them.

But first, how are workshops different from regular meetings?

They are held to achieve a clear goal or develop a plan that would help reach a specific goal;

They take much longer to organize and plan;

They zoom in on a minimal list of topics, and their structure doesn't approve of going on tangents;

They are active in nature. All participants must be invested and involved in the discussion or the workshop's activities;

They are often much longer — while there are 1-hour workshops, they typically range from a few hours to an entire day;

Preparing a UX workshop

Planning a workshop can be time-consuming — we need to be mindful of that. Generally, the first instinct is to start working on the activities, since they're at the crux of the workshop.

However, it's essential to underline that there is a bunch of things we need to take care of before we address the process. It's always a good idea to look into goals and strategy first.

A workshop's goals

Goals generally fall into (but are not limited to) these four standard categories:

Consensus — finding common ground within teams/departments;

Learning — sharing in-depth insight into an important topic;

Ideation — exploring new ideas or potential solutions to specific problems;

Building relationships — connecting people within departments;

Assess the gap

Once you've defined the workshop's goals, you can establish what kind of information you lack, in order to achieve them. Ask yourself: "What questions must we answer to reach the desired solution?".

Here are a few examples:

Who is our end-user, and what problems are they looking to solve?

What are our users' most powerful inner motivations?

Is the research we have sufficient ?

What other data do we need to improve user experience?

While identifying the gaps, you should also work closely with potential participants and stakeholders to evaluate whether there's an actual gap and how severe it is.

How do we achieve that?

Now that you've explored the central goals and the questions that need to be answered, you can identify the most suitable processes.

UX workshop activities can be very diverse and they all serve different purposes. Here are a few of them that are most common:

Post up (generating individual ideas and then grouping them)

You could have post-up activities both offline and online. The digital tools provide more flexibility and are generally more convenient.

Affinity diagramming (grouping similar ideas into clusters)

Dot voting (having all participants allocate a cast finite number of votes in favor of the ideas they like)

Storyboarding (visualizing a specific part of the customer journey to foster empathy)

Roleplaying (having workshop participants representing other stakeholders or user groups on foster empathy)

These activities can have an invaluable impact on:

Gap and pain point identification — discussing problematic areas that don't fit user journeys;

Defining an MVP — collectively defining high-level values by grouping themes in user stories;

Managing risks and expectations — establishing essential strategic steps to reach a favorable outcome;

Discovering scenario triggers and outcomes — determining key user tasks that have not been brought up in the user personas;

User needs prioritization — establishing the most important of user needs through argumentation;

Other important stuff

Location/platform.

There are lots of things that also need to be taken into account that have nothing to do with UX as such. They are purely organizational in nature and are important for a "frictionless" workshop. Here are some of them:

Choose the right venue/location

Prepare the room

Make sure the invitees are also prepared

Consider arranging some snacks and water

Please note that workshops can also be held remotely. If you need to gather your team online, consider such tools as Miro, Whimsical or Figma. These instruments allow real-time collaboration, which is exactly what you need for a productive workshop.

Consider having a facilitator

A facilitator is a person responsible for guiding workshop participants toward the goal of the meeting. Unlike other participants, facilitators don't have stakes or interests that might skew their judgment. Long story short, the more participants you have, the more useful a facilitator would be. You can think of a facilitator as a host on a TV show.

Building rapport

Oftentimes whenever you're organizing a workshop, there will be participants who don't interact with one another much by the nature of their work. Nevertheless, you need to ensure that everyone is comfortable enough to be as active as possible. In order to do that, there are a few techniques.

The first technique is having icebreakers. Spending a couple of minutes doing less formal activities does wonders to get the participants at ease.

Another important aspect is ensuring equal participation. By virtue of their character, some participants may be more vocal about their ideas, which might skew the end result and create a false consensus. To avoid that situation, make sure to encourage the quieter participants to share their thoughts as well.

Finally, on our remote workshops, we strongly recommend all participants to turn on their cameras. Otherwise, you're risking having your participants unconsciously reach to their phones and scroll through their feeds or inboxes. On top of that, seeing participants also helps people be more at ease with one another.

Who needs to come?

It's essential that only the people that really need to be there attend the workshop. Having too many people that are not directly involved in the matter at hand can make things less productive and more scattered.

If your invitee list is getting big, consider running multiple workshops, rather than having an overcrowded one.

Similarly, it's important to look for people who will help you organize and manage the event. This will ensure that your facilitator's responsibilities will not overlap with workshop management responsibilities.

Common types of workshops

These events come in a variety of shapes and sizes. However, all of them are typically a variation of the following five central types.

Discovery workshops

Typically held to:

Define business requirements

Gather essential data from teams and stakeholders

Define project goals and priorities

Empathy workshops

Learn more about end-users

Establish users' needs and motivations

Create empathy for end-users

Design workshops

Solve significant design problems;

Incorporate multiple perspectives into your product's design;

Instill shared ownership;

Prioritization workshops

Establish essential features and values;

Create consensus among teams and team members;

Establish which features should make it into the MVP;

Critique workshops

Understand how well existing designs satisfy UX needs;

Identify potential optimizations and improvements;

Thoroughly analyze whether user flows, and usability heuristics are up to par ;

We also have a comprehensive video that covers all aspects of heuristic evaluation. Consider taking a look at it if you prefer watching over reading.

What are the benefits?

We've discussed workshop goals and requirements. Now, let's take a look at their benefits.

UI/UX design workshops are key for cultivating a company-wide understanding of the product and user-related issues. As a result, this allows people to work on a certain product to have a shared vision and direction.

They are essential when it comes to validating assumptions and looking for the best solutions for your users. This leads us to maximize the value your products offer to your customers.

All of these benefits ensure that your project will move forward with less uncertainty and a greater deal of success.

Wrapping up

Here are the central takeaways that will help you plan, organize, and run a successful UX design workshop:

Think about goals and strategies before diving into activities;

Choose the most suitable type of workshop and build your activities respectively;

Make sure to invite people that need to be there. When it comes to invitations, less is more;

Aside from UX-related stuff, make sure to choose a suitable venue and ensure that invitees have access to water and snacks;

How to run a UX workshop?

Create an agenda, prepare all materials in advance, set a goal, and you're good to go!

What is a UX workshop?

A UX Workshop is a collaborative session with stakeholders to achieve a certain goal.

What to bring to a UX Workshop?

For an offline workshop, you'll likely need a whiteboard, sharpies and lots of stickers. For an online one, you just need a tool like FigJam.

Don't forget to share this post:

Want to improve your App?

We can help you resolve Usability, Retention Rate and Conversion issues:

Related Stories

B2B SaaS: How to Grow Your B2B SaaS Business in 2024

Discover how to boost your B2B SaaS growth with proven strategies and AI-powered UX design. Learn essential metrics, lead generation tactics, and how to beat competitors. Start scaling today!

Top 8 AI Accessibility Tools for Inclusive Design 

Discover top AI tools transforming inclusive design. Learn how to create accessible products with AI-powered solutions.

What is B2B SaaS marketing?

Discover the secrets to successful B2B SaaS marketing. Our guide covers key considerations, common pitfalls, and best practices to help you drive growth and achieve your business goals.

Exclusive UX Articles & Strategies

for Startups, UX Designers & Entrepreneurs

The power of workshops in the UX process

Michal Mazur

Today's guest post comes from Michal Mazur, UX Lead at Pomegranate Media. Enjoy!

User experience design is an inherently collaborative process—teams around the world are built in a cross-functional manner, as agile project management techniques are now used by over 90% of agencies. Because of the collaborative nature of UX, workshops can be an ideal way to save time, optimise communication, and generate great results as a team. The main difference between workshops and regular meetings is that you assume stuff is going to get done, not just discussed. The main value here is creating a team dynamic that will allow to you get stakeholder buy-in and avoid all of the traditional conflicts and misunderstandings. Workshops are often important milestones in projects which kick-off certain stages or become the decision-making points. Apart from making sure that meetings are actionable, workshopping provides a range of advantages to how you progress through your projects. In-house teams are often constructed of designers, researchers,  product managers, developers, data analysts - all working together on solving problems. When you’re working with client teams, even more specialisations are coming into the equation. Most often they are marketers, executives, salespeople, CEOs, founders—so you need to design the workshops accordingly to your group.

Advantages of involving cross-functional team members in the UX process

Breaking down silos.

The beautiful thing about making the UX design process collaborative is breaking down those invisible walls (or actual walls) between teams. Instead of handing over work or wasting time on explanations of how something works, you do the work together and keep everybody engaged and aligned in shared empathy towards the users.

Getting different perspectives

Breaking down silos has an impact not only on your workflow but also directly on the quality of what you deliver. Exploring some of the concepts and problems together provides you with synergy and the level of critical thinking only achievable when you involve people of varied expertise. A developer is never going to have the same perspective as a designer or marketer. All inputs are equally important, and taking them into account will enable you to explore the potential solutions beyond what the design team could come up with. “Every person in the workshop is there for a reason. They each have a piece of knowledge, influence, insight, compassion, or experience that will make the ideas richer and the solutions more complete. Each person needs to be aware of their responsibility to voice their ideas, and every voice must be heard and considered.” - Paula Wellings, Adaptive Path

Getting stakeholder buy-in

The design process cannot work as a black box, where you input data and something comes out at the end. It’s often hard to walk stakeholders through the whole process because they are typically business people, who may not feel engaged by qualitative, emotional concepts. But, when instead of sending deliverables via email, you involve them in the process and create things together, they will feel a part of the team and be more willing to give you the buy-in you sometimes so desperately need.

Typical types of UX workshops

During a typical UX project, there are many points and stages where using workshops can be beneficial. Here are a few suggestions for workshops that, from Pomegranate’s experience, have proven to be extremely useful.

Business requirements elicitation

At the start of any project, it’s extremely important to discuss the business implications of any activities. Often innovation will be driven by business objectives and every UX designer should have a good understanding of these objectives when designing or assessing a solution. What you want to understand in such a workshop includes:

• Business ambitions
• Constraints
• Client team structure (if applicable)

Mapping experiences

In order to see the big picture of your experience, you will need an experience map, which will help you understand the sequence of all touchpoints the company has with their customers, what the pain points are, and tasks along the way. You can either map the current experience or brainstorm new solutions to implement.

Collaborative user research review

User research is often neglected in digital projects because, in traditional business, ethnographic research was not widely used. This type of workshop allows your whole team (and stakeholders) to emotionally immerse in the world of the users and understand how important research is. Collaborative analysis means that you all spend a day or so in a room together, going through the observations you found in user research. You may even watch user testing or interview videos together. Key observations are then highlighted, clustered and interpreted together. This sort of workshop is extremely useful to build a shared level of empathy towards the end customer.

Information architecture

Information architecture should ideally be the outcome of concentrated user research; however, companies often have complex business information that needs to be shown on the website. The ideal IA workshop should involve a user researcher, information architect, the client (or internal stakeholder) and a subject matter expert as well. You can conduct a set of card sorting activities (either paper-based or using digital tools such as OptimalSort) and focused brainstorming to come up with a set of IA structures you can later test with your audience.

Design studio

Design studio workshops are co-creation sessions that involve rapid cycles of sketching ideas, presenting them, and team critique. To speed up the design process, you often need to generate a number of possible solutions in order to see the breadth of options. This sort of session is definitely fit for that use—and it’s a lot of fun seeing your CEO drawing sketches with coloured Sharpies! Todd Zaki Warfel popularised this method in the digital industry, but it’s been used for years in industrial design and architecture.

As you can see, there are many ways to introduce workshops to a design process and, even though constructing them requires effort, it’s definitely worth it! At Pomegranate, we have invested a considerable amount of time to build our workshop methodology, but even the most solid of frameworks require modification for specific projects, clients, and stakeholders. The key to designing successful workshops is planning, understanding your participants, and being flexible.

In this Article

Get started now

About the author(s)

Michal is the UX Lead at Pomegranate Media, a London-based experience design agency. He's a strong advocate of user-centered methods and practical approaches to building user experiences.

Related Blog Posts

How to build a business case for user feedback

Continuous discovery: all your questions answered

5 tips for retailers preparing for the 2024 holiday shopping season

Human understanding. Human experiences.

Get the latest news on events, research, and product launches

Oh no! We're unable to display this form.

Please check that you’re not running an adblocker and if you are please whitelist usertesting.com.

If you’re still having problems please drop us an email .

By submitting the form, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .

UX Research and usability testing workshop

--> 30 May 2023, 13:00–18:00 (UK) --> Remote via live video --> Beginners–Intermediate ~15 students--> --> £159–£258

Many designers like to jump into UI design before understanding actual business and user problems — and then we end up with «UX on crutches». 

There's a better way to create useful (and usable) products and services with facts-based design, where you could validate your design ideas with end-users, rather than solely relying on gut feel.

This practical workshop run  by a professional designer with 15+ years of experience, remotely via live video (not recordings)  with practical exercises and lots of Q&A.

One-to-one mentoring is available additionally to the workshop: we'll review your portfolio, provide career advice, salary insights, and prepare you for that interview. 

Who runs it

What our students say

We are rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot 👉🏼 read all the reviews

As a graphic designer I wanted to gain more of an insight into the world of UX/UI design and I was definitely given the knowledge and tools to be able to apply them into my day to day role.

I took this course as a content designer wanting to learn more about UI and UX. Most other courses don't offer certificates but this one did. So it's great to have actual evidence to place on my CV, LinkedIn and online portfolio.

This was a fantastic week of learning. Each tutor was incredibly helpful. Would highly recommend to anyone wanting to start a career in UX and or UI.

I did the UX writing course and it was exactly what I needed. I'm looking forward to finishing the UX/UI cycle with the school of ux and upping this to a 5-star review.

What we'll cover

In this workshop you will learn how to carry out user research, map user journeys, run usability and A/B testing, track conversions and more. Show more Show less

• carrying out user research and reporting findings to understand users, their needs and challenges using surveys and interviews
• mapping user journeys and experience maps to understand how users navigate through the system, find out about their feelings any pain-points
• usability testing remotely & in person to validate assumptions and test product directly with users before spending time and financial resources on coding
• A/B testing to compare two or more design variations and pick the best performing one (instead of arguing with fellow teammates)
• looking into analytics to measure performance of your design: setting goals and tracking conversions in order to turn visitors into customers

Ticket options

What's included, our ux & ui design course is cpd-certified.

The content of our most popular 3-day to 5-day course on User Experience & User Interface design is accredited by the CPD Certification Service (certificate no. A022883) as conforming to continuing professional development principles.

We are a proud member no.13566 of The CPD Certification Service providing recognised independent Career Professional Development accreditation compatible with global CPD principles – an initiative to increase standards of CPD provision to professionals in relevant market sectors.

Our 4000+ students come from different backgrounds and countries

Complete beginners, graphic / UX / UI designers, developers, PMs, BAs, marketers. From big companies and startups to independent freelancers  👉🏼 read student reviews

How we compare to other institutions

Choosing between UX design courses at The School of UX and General Assembly, Udemy or university degrees? Any education is great. It’s up to you to pick the right one for you:

Other workshops

• choosing a selection results in a full page refresh
• press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection

Cookies on GOV.UK

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Beta Contact the Service Manual team if you have feedback, questions or suggestions.

Researching in small group workshops

Give feedback about this page

Running interactive workshops with small groups can be an effective method for user research.

They can help you learn more about the things that actual or likely users do, how they do them, how they think and make decisions, and how they feel about their experiences.

When to do research in small group workshops

Doing research in small group workshops is most useful in the discovery phase when you want to:

• learn how people, such as colleagues or family members, work together to make a decision or to get something done
• get a more detailed understanding of people who’ve had a similar experience

You can also do workshops with stakeholders as a good first step to get an overview of a new area and build trust in preparation for more detailed research.

Working in small groups can help participants, as they can:

• feel more comfortable as part of a group
• learn about and build on others’ contributions

However, working in groups means that:

• you have to get everyone in the same room at the same time
• strong characters can dominate the discussion
• participants may not feel comfortable speaking openly in front of others - especially in groups with different levels of seniority

Bear in mind that you don’t get twice as many findings by inviting twice as many people to a session.

If there’s nothing to gain from having several participants together, you should run individual research sessions using methods such as in-depth interviews , contextual observation or experience mapping .

Research in small group workshops is not the same as focus groups. Focus groups are good for learning about opinions, attitudes and likely reactions. In user research we want to learn about what works for users, not what’s popular .

Steps to follow

Plan your small group workshops carefully so you make the most of having the participants together. You’ll need to be flexible as you never know exactly what will happen when you bring people together.

Design the workshop

Start by agreeing with your team the questions, issues or topics you want to learn more about. This will help you create the best workshop structure and activities.

Small group workshops are best with between 3 and 8 participants. Larger groups are more difficult to manage and give less time for detailed, individual contributions. If you need to run larger workshops, you’ll also need more facilitators.

An effective workshop can run from 1 to 3 hours. For longer workshops, factor in regular breaks. Book additional time before and after for set up and clear up.

A good default structure is to divide the workshop into 3 main parts.

Start by letting the participants explore the subject and open up their thinking.

Continue with activities that help the participants focus in more detail on particular topics, decisions, tasks or experiences.

Finish with participants comparing, consolidating and reflecting on the ideas and issues that have emerged.

To open the workshop use activities like:

• carousel - to gather thoughts from all participants
• 1-2-4-All - to quickly explore a question or topic

To explore topics in more detail use activities like:

• empathy mapping - to learn about a users’ actions, thoughts and feelings in a given situation
• experience mapping - to learn more about specific steps in a common experience
• force field analysis - to understand reasons for and against change
• card sorting - to understand how people think about words and related concepts
• question sorting - asking people to group and order questions to understand how people think about the information they’re providing
• 2 by 2 grids - asking people to place concepts on a matrix to understand things like categories, sizes, priorities or the impact and effort of actions
• typical day or week mapping - asking people to map out a typical day or week to understand living or working patterns

To finish a workshop you can use activities like:

• KJ-Technique - to group and prioritise topics
• What, So What, Now What - to encourage the whole group to reflect on what has happened in the session and what it means
• five-fingered consensus - to quickly gauge consensus

With many of these activities you can choose whether to split the group or have the whole group work together. For example, if the group are all colleagues from the same team, you might have them work together to create a joint experience map. Whereas if the group are individual members of the public, you might ask them each to create an empathy map, then bring the group together to compare the results.

Make sure that the workshop will produce the research data you need. Ideally, this will simply be the outputs of the various activities. But you may also want to have a colleague take notes or record the session in other ways.

Once you’re happy with the structure and the activities, create a workshop plan. This should include:

• your introduction script - this tells the participants who you are, explains the workshop and reminds them about things like recording
• descriptions of each workshop activity, along with instructions and expected timings
• a planning checklist to make sure you’ll have everything you need - such as source material, sticky notes, pens, templates, cards, printouts and worksheets

You can use your workshop plan to:

• try out the activities and instructions with some colleagues
• stay on track during the workshop
• make sure participants are given the activities in a consistent way
• maintain a record of what you do in this round of research

Prepare for the workshop

You should recruit participants who will help you build a full picture of what you’re trying to understand.

Choose an appropriate room with the right amount of floor and wall space, tables and chairs, and other equipment you need for the workshop activities. Check that you’re allowed to put worksheets and sticky notes on the walls.

Make sure the room is accessible for the participants and anyone who will be supporting them.

Arrange to have at least 2 people to facilitate the session - you may need 3 or more for larger groups with more complex activities. You may also want to invite other colleagues to observe.

Make sure all the facilitators understand the structure of the session and the parts they are responsible for - such as taking photos of outputs. Think about potential problems and agree how you might deal with them - for example, cutting an activity short if you are running over time.

Run the workshop

Before the workshop:

• prepare and print all the materials you need for the workshop activities (use your planning checklist)
• set participants’ expectations so they are ready for the workshop when they arrive - this is especially important when researching people who work together

At the start of the workshop:

• get all the participants’ informed consent
• give everyone a few moments to relax and get comfortable
• run through your introduction script to explain what’s going to happen and set any ground rules
• show everyone the workshop agenda - and keep it visible throughout

During the activities:

• show clear instructions for each activity on a single slide or poster - without this people quickly forget what they’re supposed to be doing
• regularly check how the participants are doing, and provide any support and guidance they need
• make sure everyone has the chance to contribute - use techniques like talking chips
• don’t put people on the spot - give people the time they need to think
• be flexible - some things may go quicker and work better than you expect, while others can take longer or be less effective
• use breaks to help maintain energy levels
• be sure to end on time

Reserve some time at the end of the activities to:

• ask follow-up questions about any contributions you didn’t clearly understand
• check if the participants have any final thoughts about the things they’ve discussed

At the end of the workshop:

• spend 5 to 10 minutes asking participants about the session - what went well and what could be improved
• thank everyone for their time and what they’ve helped you learn
• explain what will happen with your research

When the participants have left:

• make sure any personal data you’ve collected (on paper or in recordings) is stored securely
• pack away your equipment (use your planning checklist)

Use the results

After the session, go through the notes and outputs with your team to generate findings they can use.

If the workshop produced visual outputs such as experience maps, empathy maps or grids, share them with others to prompt discussion and ideas. For example, post them on your team wall space, or email copies to anyone based remotely.

Further reading

Find about more in these examples and case studies:

• getting the best from workshops
• how we ran collaborative user research for a collaborative standard
• building a phone for older people (video)

You can find more techniques to use in small workshops:

• Gamestorming - lots of resources on different workshop exercises and when to use them.
• Liberating structures - lots of resources on different workshop exercises and when to use them.

You can also download a poster to encourage inclusive meetings , created by the GDS Introverts Network.

Guidance first published

Is this page useful?

• Yes this page is useful
• No this page is not useful

Help us improve GOV.UK

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.

To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab) .

Discover the UX research tools that set the world's best companies apart

Boost engagement and positively impact your bottom line. Optimal helps you align UX with your strategic goals to achieve real results.

Optimal empowers you to embrace a user-centric, design thinking approach to creating exceptional digital products and experiences.

Get powerful user insights to inform your design process.

Our suite of research tools is designed to help you uncover user insights quickly, so you can make informed decisions from the start, saving valuable time and resources.

Quickly improve your designs based on real user feedback

Our first-click testing, tree testing, and prototype testing tools fit right into your design workflow, so you can get real user feedback and make improvements without missing a beat.

Monitor and optimize the ongoing user experience

We'll help you keep a pulse on your product's performance, so you can quickly identify and fix any issues that come up.

Gain powerful user insights to inform your design process

Our suite of research tool is designed to help you uncover user insights quickly, so you can make informed decisions from the start, and save valuable time and resources.

Solve your toughest business challenges with UX confidence

Pie tree visualizations helped the team understand the critical bottlenecks with the current version of the website..

Find out how Intercom redeveloped the Inside Intercom blog with a renewed focus on users.

I like how simple the platform is - there are a lot of test types that are offered and lots of ways to customize them to your needs. I found the first-click super valuable to my work and would recommend it!

I love how easy it is to set up a test in the Optimal Workshop, and the presentation of test results. I used all the test types available: card sorting, tree testing, and chalkmark, and also reframer to organize my qualitative research notes and observations. All easy to use and efficient. I like that they have an option to buy OW for a month only, so if your research needs are not constant, you don't have to pay for a tool all year long, only when you need it and use it.

The analysis tools are really powerful and the functionalities for card sorting are flexible. I wasn't aware the first time I tried to use it that it supported images in cards and add tooltip descriptions but those options are available which makes it pretty much a complete tool for remote card sorts.

I used the Treejack testing tool by Optimal Workshop to get user feedback during a website redesign to ensure the information architecture was intuitive. It was a great tool with a very easy to use interface. The way the feedback data is organized is very helpful and allows you to see aggregate data as well as how users journeyed through the tasks. It provided great insights into how users were thinking.

If you are a UX designer and want to do usability testing, evaluate design and frame information architecture then you may take this tool and get your work done very easily.

I LOVE almost everything about Optimal Workshop. I think what I like best is the price and pricing structure. It makes it really easy for my organization to pay for what we need when we need it and not watch money go down the drain during some less used times. I also love how easy it is to set up tests. I was fairly new to UX research when I started using the tool and was able to pick up on the tool and the tests very quickly.

Optimal Workshop's qualitative analysis software and intuitive user experience make this a powerful tool in my arsenal as a User Researcher. They have a beautiful and delightful user experience - you can tell they did user research and testing of their product. OW provides a variety of analysis software for every qualitative study that makes interpreting and synthesizing your data a dream.

We are a user research agency and have used Optimal Workshop tools for a number of client projects over the last 10+ years. Whenever we need to do information architecture research, we try to use one or more of their tools. Most often, we start by using Optimal Sort for card sorting and follow it up with one or more rounds of tree testing with Treejack. Ideally but less often, we follow up that up with navigation design testing with Chalkmark.

I really love all of OW tools. I use Reframer the most for all of our user interviews. I love that they keep adding new analysis tools for their tree testing and card sort platforms. For simple surveys their survey tool is great. Another wonderful thing about OW is the information available. So many great resources, best practices and tips for their tools and how to best leverage them.

More than just a platform

Optimal has cultivated a dynamic network of UX professionals, all driven by a shared passion for advancing the field of user experience.

Connect with UX researchers from our global community

Access a wealth of UX knowledge through our blog and Academy. Our experienced researchers share their insights and strategies to help you master user research and design better products.

Level up your UX with expert insights and proven strategies

Our blog is your go-to resource for expert advice, proven strategies, and real-world case studies that will help you tackle your toughest UX challenges.

Transform your UX approach with insights from industry pioneers

Join our live sessions to learn from industry trailblazers who have successfully navigated complex UX challenges and achieved remarkable results.

Industry-leading security for your sensitive information

Our enterprise packages included administrative controls and we are SOC 2 compliant demonstration our unwavering commitment to the highest standards of data security and privacy.

Flexible, scalable, and accessible UX research for all teams

Our flexible and accessible platform is designed to support companies at every stage of their UX journey, from early-stage startups to enterprise organizations.

Seeing is believing

Dive into our platform, explore our tools, and discover how easy it can be to conduct effective UX research.

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

•   Facebook
•   Twitter
•   Linkedin
•   Digg
•   Reddit
•   Pinterest
•   Email

Latest Earthquakes |    Chat Share Social Media  

Agenda - 6th Federal UxS Users Workshop

Detailed Description

Full drafta agenda for the 6th Federal UxS Workshop from September 10-12, 2024 held at the Southwester Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.

How and Why to Include Users in UX Workshops

June 11, 2023 2023-06-11

• Email article
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Twitter

Deciding whom to include in a UX workshop is one of the first critical decisions a workshop coordinator or facilitator needs to make. The attendee list can make or break a workshop before it even begins.

One guideline for compiling a participant list for a successful UX workshop is to maintain focus on the user’s voice . Sometimes, this means including user advocates such as UX researchers. Sometimes, however, it is advantageous to invite real users to the workshop. Doing so can make you or your stakeholders feel vulnerable, but the perks of having the user’s voice in the room can be immense.

The benefits of having users present in a workshop vary by type of workshop. 

In This Article:

5 types of ux workshops, discovery workshops, empathy workshops, design workshops, prioritization workshops, critique workshops, logistics of including users, avoiding user-workshop pitfalls, when including users is not possible.

Discovery workshops are held to build consensus around goals and vision at the outset of a project. Project champions and stakeholders convene to align on business requirements and share existing knowledge.

Including Users in a Discovery Workshop

In a discovery workshop, users share their own perspectives on how a potential project might benefit them.

For example, imagine that user interviews or usability testing uncovered a previously unknown need, and that the company has decided to design and implement a new product or feature to fulfill that need. The team could easily reach back out to one or more of the previous research participants and invite them to attend a portion of the workshop, where they could share their feelings about their unmet need. Workshop participants could then ask questions and receive answers in real time. Not only would this process help them to gain clarity and consensus around direction for the project, but it would also cement a real user in their minds, an image that will almost certainly persist throughout the duration of the initiative.

Discovery-Workshop Agenda: Example

• Participants review and agree upon project goals.
• UX researchers present findings of previously conducted user research.
• The user arrives.
• UX researchers conduct live interview with the user; other participants take How might we notes.
• Participants ask questions to the user.
• The user departs.
• Participants cluster and prioritize the How might we notes.

As the name suggests, empathy workshops exist to build empathy for users. They are frequently held at the initiation of a project or following a user research milestone, to share out and socialize research findings with the larger team.

Including Users in an Empathy Workshop

While sharing the findings of recently conducted research can be an effective means of growing empathy for users, nothing compares with the opportunity to meet users face-to-face. Consider inviting a few users to attend a research findings presentation. Give them the opportunity to offer their own perspectives on findings that either do or do not resonate with them personally. Invite stakeholders to ask followup questions, so they can gain further insights and empathy.

Additionally, an empathy workshop is often a time for constructing artifacts like personas , empathy maps , and journey maps . Representative users can be valuable contributors to these processes as well. Put users on a team with stakeholders and ask them to confirm whether the narratives that emerge are realistic.

Empathy-Workshop Agenda: Example

• Participants and users arrive.
• Audience is divided into small groups, with one user and 2-3 other participants per group.
• Each group focuses on the persona corresponding to the group’s user member.
• Each group generates an empathy map for its persona; users participate as full, collaborative group members and are encouraged to speak from their own experience.
• Users depart.
• Remaining participants debrief the process and the empathy maps, making any necessary changes.
• Participants decide on the steps needed to finalize and socialize the empathy maps.

A design workshop enables a group of stakeholders — often both designers and nondesigners — to rapidly generate a wide range of ideas in response to a challenge or prompt. Rather than creating a single polished design, the goal of a design workshop is to broaden the group’s perspective and help members think creatively about the range of directions the team could go. This is why the contributions of both nondesigners (including users) and designers can be equally valuable.

Including Users in a Design Workshop

Teams are often reluctant to invite users to participate in a design workshop. After all, didn’t Jakob Nielsen famously say “don’t listen to users?” While this is true, it deserves caveats. When a user, in an interview or usability test, suggests the addition of a particular feature, we should take that request with a very large grain of salt. Users are not designers and they are not experts in devising features that will meet user needs. However, neither should we completely ignore the suggestion. That feature request indicates a hidden insight, a user need that might have otherwise remained undetected.

For example, if a user suggests adding tooltips to a form, it is an indication that certain form elements are confusing, even though tooltips may not necessarily be the appropriate solution for that problem.

By the same token, users’ contributions to a design workshop can be highly valuable, even if the specific ideas they generate may or may not end up being ready for prime time. Observe carefully the aspects of the design that users focus on when ideating and iterating, as they will likely uncover some unmet needs. At the same time, be on the lookout for design ideas that may be worthy of consideration. Just as nondesigner stakeholders often come up with the most valuable ideas, so, too, can users.

Design-Workshop Agenda: Example

• Participants and the user arrive.
• All review project goals, previous work, and research.
• All engage in design-studio activities such as Crazy Eights, sketching, and storyboarding to generate design ideas.
• All present and discuss their sketches.
• A prioritization/critique exercise is used to decide which design to move forward with.

A prioritization workshop allows the group to efficiently winnow a large group of ideas down to the most valuable ones. This can be accomplished through dot voting or impact–effort matrices, among other methods . Prioritization workshops are often used in combination with other types of workshops, such as design workshops.

Including Users in a Prioritization Workshop

Prioritization workshops are supposed to leverage the diverse and varied backgrounds and expertise of the workshop participants.

For example, imagine that a team is plotting ideas on an impact–effort matrix, aiming to assess the impact that each design idea would have on the user experience, as well as the effort needed to implement it. Impact on user experience would best be assessed by researchers, customer-support representatives, or users whereas effort could be estimated by developers.

It is worth noting that, if an organization has multiple audiences corresponding to several personas, one particular user will shed light only on the experience of their user group. Therefore, either invite to workshops representatives of all user groups or, if that is not possible, supplement the input you receive from users with other data sources that document the needs of all personas.

Prioritization-Workshop Agenda: Example

• Various items to be prioritized are presented to the group.
• A developer has approximately 1 minute to offer an estimate of the effort required to implement the item.
• The user has approximately 1 minute offer an estimate of the impact the item will have on their experience.
• The group decides where to plot the item on the matrix.
• The user departs after all items are plotted.
• The group discusses which items to move forward with.

Critique workshops allow teams to evaluate and iterate upon a set of solutions to a challenge. Like all workshop types, critique workshops benefit from a diverse group of participants who can provide varied perspectives. When a team is not sufficiently diverse, exercises such as the Six Thinking Hats enable team members to role-play perspectives that might not otherwise be present in the room.

Including Users in a Critique Workshop

While it is sometimes appropriate to invite a user to critique a concept in a critique workshop, an alternative, more common arrangement is to ask the user to provide their perspective about that concept, perhaps by using it directly, so that the team can later use this information in the actual critique.

As with all the other examples listed above, the ideas, opinions, and contributions of the user should not be treated as gospel, nor should they be weighted more highly than those of other experts in the room.

Critique-Workshop Agenda: Example

• The design to be critiqued is presented to the participants.
• The user is interviewed about the user needs that the design is intended to fulfill.
• The participants focus on the user-experience part of the design critique ; this process may involve asking the user to complete tasks on a prototype while thinking aloud and providing feedback.
• The design critique continues, with a focus on other elements of the design, such as relation to business goals and feasibility.

Recruiting Users for UX Workshops

Inviting a user to participate in a UX workshop involves a much larger commitment and risk than recruiting for a user-research session. If someone turns out to be a poor participant or a bad match to the recruiting requirements, a study session can be relatively easily replaced by a new one with an additional user.

In contrast, for workshops, you want to make sure that the users who participate will offer valuable contributions and be representative for their user group, so you’re not wasting your team’s time. For this reason, we recommend that you choose people who have previously participated in your team’s research studies — for example, someone who already is known as an articulate person, likely to clearly express their feedback.

Like research participants, users participating in workshops will be providing a major value to your organization and, therefore, should be compensated accordingly. Consider the duration of the session in addition to any travel or other logistical requirements when determining a fair incentive amount.

Meals, Breaks, and Downtime

Please be a good and gracious host, and provide your users with meals, breaks, and downtime. If the workshop is longer than 1 hour, provide the user (and all other participants) with breaks and access to restrooms and refreshments. Additionally, build time into the workshop schedule for team members and users to get to know each other, rather than immediately directing them into intensive workshop activities. These interactions help all participants build rapport and feel more comfortable working together.

Many organizations are wary of including users in a UX workshop, for reasons both legitimate and overblown. Below are 3 pitfalls to be aware of.

Following the User Blindly

Some argue that workshop participants will forget Jakob Nielsen’s first rule of usability, to not listen to users, and will simply implement whatever ideas the user suggests.

This is a legitimate risk, particularly for groups unaccustomed to working directly with users. In addition to a well-intentioned desire to centralize user needs, stakeholders may also greenlight users’ suggestions in the moment, out of a simple anxiety to not appear rude or dismissive to their valued and invited guests.

There are two recommended approaches to overcoming this risk:

• Educate workshop participants in advance. Prior to the workshop, share a presentation with workshop participants about the benefits and limitations of user contributions in workshops.
• Schedule a frank discussion of users’ ideas after the users have departed the workshop. Often, it is best to invite users to only a portion of a workshop. For example, invite users to help ideate solutions to a design problem, but ask them to leave before critiquing those ideas. Users should not be subjected to hearing the team criticize their output, nor should the team be expected to walk on eggshells while discussing the user’s feedback.

Disappointing the User

Some people fear that users will expect that all their ideas automatically be implemented and will be upset if they are not. This argument is often used as an excuse for not soliciting feedback — whether from external users or internal employees. Frankly, I have little sympathy for it. Users, both internal and external, are almost certainly well aware of the myriad factors that go into releasing new features and fixes. In the rare case that a user may misunderstand this point, it can be very easily and succinctly clarified, both in early communication with users and during the workshop itself. For example, “Today we’re going to be brainstorming lots of different solutions for a particular challenge. This exercise is just one small step in a long and complicated process. Simply because an idea is proposed today does not mean it will be implemented. However, all ideas will be valuable and important contributions to that process.”

Introducing Bias

As with any research or design activity, we must always guard against introducing bias in the workshop process.

Establishing a comfortable working relationship between users and other workshop participants can be a tricky balance to strike. While allowing time for participants and users to get to know each other can encourage sharing and put the users at ease, too much informality and joviality could bias users’ contributions. Users may become empathetic toward the team and, as a result, provide primarily favorable feedback and hold back any criticism. This risk can and should be mitigated by clearly explaining to users (both verbally and in writing) that you welcome and benefit from all forms of genuine feedback, positive and critical. Reinforce this message throughout the workshop and ensure that any questions and prompts to the user are not leading (e.g., ask “What thoughts do you have about this design?” rather than “What do like about this design?”).

Similarly, guard against bias during the recruitment and selection of users for the workshop by ensuring there is a balance of perspectives and user types. For example, avoid relying on only customer-advisory boards, fan groups, or friends and relatives of employees.

It is not always possible or recommended to include users in a UX workshop. Even in such cases, it is critical to focus on the user throughout these workshops. The best way to do this is to utilize user proxies .

A user proxy is someone with deep knowledge of users and who can speak to their needs and concerns. The most frequently utilized user proxy is a user researcher. This is generally a good choice, as a researcher has likely spent countless hours observing users and can generally advocate for their needs and perspectives. That said, there may be other equally valuable user proxies scattered throughout the organization. Customer-support representatives and sales representatives often spend their entire days communicating or building relationships with current or prospective users, and their knowledge of user needs may run deeper than anyone else’s in the organization.

A successful UX workshop will have a persistent focus on the user. One way to ensure that is by inviting users to participate directly. While users’ contributions to the workshop should be taken with a grain of salt and always balanced by other perspective, they will allow the team to build empathy and provide visibility to users’ needs and pain points.

Related Courses

Design tradeoffs and ux decision-making.

Enhance your judgment and resolve tough design challenges

Generating Big Ideas with Design Thinking

Unearth user pain points to drive breakthrough design concepts

Interaction

Journey Mapping to Understand Customer Needs

Capture and communicate UX insights across complex interactions

Related Topics

• Design Process Design Process
• Research Methods

Learn More:

Make Dot Voting Better

Kate Kaplan · 3 min

Dot Voting: 3 Common Problems

Kate Kaplan · 4 min

Dot Voting: How Many Dots?

Related Articles:

Dot Coding: An Activity to Elicit Perspectives in UX Workshops

Kate Kaplan · 7 min

Day-0 Calls: Avoid UX-Workshop Disasters by Aligning on the Basics in Advance

Maddie Brown · 7 min

The Diverge-and-Converge Technique for UX Workshops

Therese Fessenden · 6 min

UX Workshops vs. Meetings: What's the Difference?

Kate Kaplan · 8 min

Facilitating UX Workshops: Study Guide

Kate Kaplan · 5 min

5 Facilitation Principles for Both UX Workshops and User Tests

Kara Pernice · 5 min