Workshops are only as effective as their design.
A poorly planned accessibility workshop doesn’t just waste time. It alienates your team, reinforces bad habits and leaves accessibility as an afterthought. When done right, these sessions can transform how your team thinks about and implements accessible products.
Here are the five common pitfalls to avoid when running effective accessibility workshops. At the end, I'll share a bonus tip I've learned the hard way.
1. Lack of clear objectives
Avoid workshops that don’t have a specific goal or outcome. Without clear objectives, participants will feel the session is unfocused or unproductive. No different than a meeting.
2. Overloading with technical jargon
Avoid overwhelming participants with too much technical language and complex accessibility concepts. This will alienate non-technical stakeholders and reduce engagement. My first interaction with accessibility was through a dense slide deck, filled with acronyms like WCAG and ARIA. My brain checked out almost instantly.
3. Not tailoring to the audience
Avoid using a one-size-fits-all approach. Different teams and different people (developers, designers, content creators) need tailored content to address their specific roles in accessibility.
4. No hands-on activities
Avoid making the workshop purely theoretical. Without practical exercises or real-world examples, participants will struggle to apply what they’ve learned.
5. Underestimating time for discussion
And poor time management in general. Avoid packing the agenda too tightly. Leave room for questions, discussions and problem-solving. These are often where the most valuable insights come out.
Bonus
The first workshop I ran, I made the (now) ridiculous assumption that everyone had very little knowledge of disability. I had a tightly packed agenda (see pitfall number 5) and no time to waste. So I jumped straight into explaining what various disabilities there are. When I got to dyslexia and started reciting my spiel, I was stopped by one of the participants. They had direct experience with dyslexia and how it affected their life. And here I was just talking about it. Just lots of knowledge but no experience.
So here's my bonus tip for you.
Don't assume you know more than everyone around you, even if you are facilitating the workshop. In reality, no one expects you to know everything, so why try to sound like you do?
Nowadays, I start workshops with questions, rather than answers. And I avoid relying solely on theoretical explanations when lived experiences will trump anything I can muster.