Workshop Leader Checklist

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Leading a workshop isn’t easy. Just ask anyone who has ever done it.

It’s even more difficult to be an effective workshop leader. Unfortunately, we’ve all had the experience of sitting through sessions conducted by inadequate presenters.

Of course, there are no magic answers as to what makes one workshop facilitator more successful than his/her colleagues. If you do have responsibility for conducting workshops, the Workshop Leader Checklist provided below should be useful. Here’s what to do.

First, read each item on the Checklist. Then rate yourself according to what you see as your personal strengths and weak points. Use a rating scale of 10 (Excellent) to 1 (Needs Improvement) for each of the points you feel is relevant.
Then, after you conduct your next workshop, distribute the Checklist to session participants. Have them take a few moments to evaluate your performance.
Finally, compare your self-evaluation with the feedback received from others. Note points of agreement and disagreement.

If your organization puts on workshops frequently, use the Check list to rate the leaders’ performance and gain objective feedback.

Workshop Leader Checklist
		Rating
	During the presentation, how well did the session leader:
1.	Maintain the schedule?
2.	Stay on the topic at hand?
3.	Invite participation from session attendees?
4.	Point out when it was time to end a discussion, summarize what was covered, and move on to the next point?
5.	Keep discussions on a positive, constructive note?
6.	Begin discussions with a thought-provoking question that led session attendees to express their own ideas (i.e., avoid specific ‘‘yes-no’’ questions)?
7.	Remain silent after a question was asked until participants had an opportunity to respond (i.e., avoid clarifying or answering his/her own questions too early)?
8.	Encourage responses from ‘‘silent’’ participants?
9.	Clarify comments and answers by emphasizing key words and ideas?
10.	Avoid unnecessary cliches, jargon, and buzzwords?
11.	Maintain eye contact with participants in all sections of the room?
12.	Use pauses to let an important point sink in or to encourage audience reaction?
13.	Avoid distracting body language (e.g., constantly folding and unfolding arms or shifting weight from one foot to another)?
14.	Not make excuses for something done poorly or omitted? (Excuses call unnecessary attention to imperfections!)
15.	Talk to the audience and not to the screen, flipchart, floor, etc.?
16.	Maintain good humor and a sense that the session should be fun as well as informative?
17.	Explain why a specific topic or learning activity is beneficial for participants to know or complete?
18.	Give precise, clear instructions before having participants complete a specific learning activity?
19.	Check that participants understand what they are to do before beginning a specific learning activity?
20.	Make the transfer from information presented in the training session to the participants’ real-world environment?
21.	Provide constructive feedback (i.e., descriptive rather than evaluative; focusing on the specific, not the general)?