Last week, I was comparing workshops with regular meetings, and said that the main drawback of workshops is their demanding nature in terms of time and resources.
For an overview of the time and resources you'd need to organise a web accessibility workshop, I usually consider the following:
- What your team looks like (i.e. its size and composition)
- Prep time
- Any external resources needed
- Follow-up activities
My typical workshops range from as little as two hours to as long as three full days. It depends a bit on the format (in-person or virtual) and the objective we want to achieve at the end of the workshop.
Let's break down the others.
In terms of team size and composition, I consider the number of participants. The magic number is between 4 and 10 people. Anything over 10 becomes a bit harder to manage, but not impossible. I like to include everyone on the product team. Everyone responsible for product. That's developers, designers, project owners, testers and content writers.
Before the workshop, it takes me around one week to prepare. That means talking to the product team, uncovering the needs and objective and putting together the right exercises for the workshop. All the logistics and planning would fit in one to two weeks.
I like to consider if we have everyone we need in the workshop. This might mean we need to get some external resources involved. If there are any subject matter experts that could contribute to the workshop, I like to get them involved at least for some of the exercises.
And then after the workshop, I deliver all the materials we created during the workshop in a format that everyone can understand and easily follow.
All in all, a custom workshop for a team of 4-7 people takes about two weeks to prep, deliver and follow up with. The team's involvement is limited to the workshop and only some prep work.
That's nothing when you consider what you can achieve in as little as two hours.
Next week, I'll talk about the shortest workshop I've ever prepared: 45 minutes.