20 Ideas to Try Out in Your Workshops
What are memorable moments - and why should every workshop have them?
A good workshop is an immersive learning journey, packed with rich experiences and insights.
But let’s be real – participants can’t remember everything that they experience on that learning journey.
So what will they remember?
Moments of some stronger emotion!
Emotions are the crucial element to make memories stick.
Maybe they’ll remember what surprised them or intrigued them. Or a conversation that they enjoyed more than others. Or maybe even what scared them!
Whichever flavor of the emotions that stand out might be – that is what will create memorable moments for them.
But it shouldn’t be that these moments happen by chance – because then also their learning will happen by chance!
It is up to you as a trainer to highlight the most important takeaways by creating powerful, emotion-driven moments.
It is up to you to ensure that the most important learning points are marked and anchored by a memorable moment.
Building such defining moments ensures participants leave not just with ideas and vague memories, but with something that is truly sticky and leads to action
The 4 Elements that Make a Moment Memorable
Recently, I read one of my new favorite books: The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath.
It gave me a wonderful inspiration and ideas about the meaningful moments that we, as trainers, create in our workshops.
So I wanted to share with you a couple of main ideas from the book – as well as a small brainstorm on how we could actually apply these in workshops.
(I would still recommend grabbing the book – it’s a really enjoyable and insightful read).
Let’s start with the insights from the book: here are 4 elements that make a moment truly powerful.
Not all of them need to exist within the moment to make it a powerful moment – but at least one of them needs to be there, and more is better.
1. Elevation
For a moment to be powerful, it needs to break away from the routine and rise above the ordinary.
It needs to be surprising, joyful, or exciting and leave a lasting impression.
You will often achieve this in a moment if you include sensory experiences or elements of the unexpected.
2. Insight
Powerful moments are “aha!” moments — it means that they include a learning, an insight, a new perspective or a shift in the way we see the world.
This sense of insight or a shift in perspective makes a moment deeply memorable.
One of the ways of creating this is through a carefully designed reflection sequence, or through exposure to an experience that is quite new & different from your previous experiences.
3. Pride
Powerful moments often involve a sense of pride. It might mean we celebrate effort, growth, or achievement.
Pride makes us feel expansive and uplifted, but it also connects us more strongly with others with whom we share that moment.
One of the ways of creating it is by achieving an important goal (or a milestone), while another approach can be facing our fears and doing something that requires courage from us.
4. Connection
While powerful moments can also happen on our own, most often they are strengthened by a sense of connection with others.
Making connections happens through shared experiences that bring people closer—through vulnerability, collaboration, or shared purpose.
Now… how do we move from theory to practice?
How can we bring more of these into our workshops?
( These ideas become really fun when you sit down with a small bunch of trainers to discuss them and exchange tangible, concrete ideas on how to bring these 4 to life in our workshops.
That is exactly what I am doing with other trainers in Trainers Conversations community and in Advanced Facilitation Training. Check out the links if you would like to join one of these conversations. )
Let’s Play with how we could apply this in our workshops, shall we?
Maybe you want to take a moment before reading my next ideas to brainstorm for yourself:
How would you apply these ideas in a workshop?
1. How to create a sense of ELEVATION in a workshop?
Rise above the ordinary.
Here is how you can do that in your workshop:
- Start with a story or activity that surprises & engages
- Add positive pressure and raise the stakes to pull in heightened focus and so success is more rewarding
- Add fun twists during workshops, like an unexpected reward or a creative challenge (anyway you should use novelty and surprises strategically, as they are the best hook for attention, as we learn in Optimal emotions for learning online course)
- Break the script – sprinkle unexpected small surprises within your workshops (but make sure that they are elevating the learning, and not disrupting it)
- Boost sensory appeal with movement, visuals, and engaging the senses.
Don’t get stuck on these five ideas but get creative to think of more tips on your own!
There could be million more tips on how to apply this – explore them on your own or in places like Trainers Conversations.
2. How to include a moment of INSIGHT in a workshop?
Insight is all about sparking a sudden realization.
Here are 5 quick ideas to incorporate that in workshops:
- Ask thought-provoking questions to challenge participants’ assumptions. I know, a classic that hopefully all of us trainers use already 🙂 But do take a moment to reflect: Where could we use it even more?
- Include reflection exercises that help participants connect the material to their experiences – sprinkle mini reflection moments where you normally wouldn’t leave space for it.
- Share stories, metaphors or analogies that make complex ideas click by making them visual, simple and symbolic
- Seek to build your whole workshop as a pathway for self-discovery (Not sure how to do that? Join me at Train the Trainer course to learn the foundations – or on Optimal Emotions for Learning online course if you are an experienced trainer already.)
- Connect the dots through intriguing questions, stories, or examples, instead of providing answers and theories
How do I apply this to a specific courses I work with?
Join me at Optimal Emotions for Learning and hear/see my real-life examples!
3. How to invite PRIDE into your workshop?
Celebrate milestones and achievements, or personal strengths & abilities.
Here are 5 ideas how you can do it:
- Highlight participants’ progress throughout the workshop – and especially at the end – and incorporate a lot of positive feedback in the workshop. Facilitate the exchange of positive feedback given from one participant to another – but make sure to keep it authentic!
- Create opportunities for participants to showcase their ideas or skills. Challenge them – but set them up for success in that challenge, and regardless of the outcome, celebrate their learning.
- Celebrate milestones—especially the small, frequent ones.
- Invite people to see their own progress and potential – being it through targeted questions that you ask, or by inviting them into the lens of searching for progress that they can celebrate.
- Build an intentional emotional journey to support your participants’ learning journey, and seek to include pride in that journey (Unsure how to best do this? Check out Optimal Emotions for Learning)
4. How to build a sense of CONNECTION in your workshop?
Deepen bonds through shared experience or struggle.
- Be intentional about building connections between the participants at the beginning (no, not just another get2know activity – but being really intentional and conscious of each step towards deeper connection)
- Include moments for sharing personal stories or experiences (Be mindful to build vulnerability gradually – pushing too deep too fast can easily backfire! You are guessing – another of many topics that we explore on Optimal emotions for learning)
- Collaborate through meaningful challenges
- Create synchronised moments eg. through laughter or movement
- End with a group reflection or gratitude exercise that highlights the shared journey
That’s 20 ideas - how will you take them forward?
I hope these 20 ideas will help you sprinkle more memorable moments in your workshops.
Remember: Use Memorable Moments as a Strategic Tool for Learning
The most important thing: remember to be strategic about it! Use memorable moments not just to elevate the workshop, but to truly highlight and underline the most crucial insights and learnings from your workshop.
(If you are looking to learn how to design your workshops in a more strategic, intentional and impactful way – Train the Trainer course might be the right learning experience for you.)
These are just the first quick ideas – we could explore this topic so much deeper and play with it in countless creative ways!
Planning intentionally for powerful moments can be an exciting part of training design — it opens up endless possibilities to craft workshops that deeply impact our participants.
Designing impactful emotional journeys to support learning are one of the best ways to make your workshops more impactful, memorable, and engaging.
And it is one of the steps that trainers way too often neglect – or are unsure how to intentionally build them.
That is why on Trainers Toolbox I designed an online course focused exactly on this:
learning what the role of emotion in learning is,
and exploring how to create impactful emotional journeys for your participants.
Signups are freshly open – and here is where you can find all the details:
”Optimal Emotions for Learning” online course in 3 modules.
If you feel that deep impact & engagement is something you would love to strengthen in your workshops, this invitation is for you!
Discover more and signup:
Or start exploring it on your own with the free ebook:
P.S. Powerful Moments is also one of the 10 topics we explore during the Advanced Facilitation Training.
It’s a live, 2-day in-person training designed for trainers and facilitators who want to push their skills further.
Signups are currently open for diverse dates and locations – find them here.
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