18 To 1

It’s coming to the end of the workshop. But what do you do?

Well, what not to do/say is, “Oh, look. It’s 5 O’clock. Sorry we didn’t get chance to cover everything, but if you can just fill in your evaluation form and we’ll finish here”. It’s a close, but it’s not a great close.

Ideally, we want learners to review key points, select what was most valuable to them, action plan how they will use those ideas and of course have some fun while doing this – after all, however learners feel leaving their workshop is how they will remember it.

Here’s a flexible close with different output endings that can be used in both face-to-face workshops as well as webinars.

18:1 Close

Ask learners to:

Form teams of 4-6.
List, on paper, 18 key ideas/pieces of content from the workshop (allow around 3 minutes).
Select their top 3 from their list (allow around 2-3 minutes).
Select their key idea (allow 1 minute).
Create a slogan that encapsulates that key idea and then to perform the slogan where all team members are involved ie create an ‘active slogan’ (allow 15 minutes).
Perform their active slogan for the rest of the group.

Encourage teams to give a round of applause as each slogan is performed.

Now ask learners to to select their personal 3 key ideas and create their action plan making a note of how and where they will apply each key idea.

Alternative endings (in teams)

Create a colourful poster that captures the essence of their key idea.
Create a Twitter message (140 characters or less) that sums up their key idea but doesn’t mention what it is.
Teams read out their Tweet and other teams have to try and work out what their key idea is.
Teams generate 3 ways they will use that idea in their everyday work and then share these with the rest of the group.
Teams create a representation of the key idea with pipe cleaners etc, take a photograph of their representation using their smartphones and send it to themselves as a reminder to apply the idea in their work.

Using this at the end of a webinar

Prepare a slide that you will show on the webinar whiteboard with 1 to 9 down the left side of the side and 10-18 down the middle.
Ask participants (learners) to list their key ideas directly on the whiteboard. If text overlaps simply ask them to move it (or you can move it).
Complete all 18 items.
Ask each participant to put a marker, tick (depending upon your platform) next to the 3 key point for them.
Circle the top 3
Remove all marks other than the 3 circles you have added.
Ask participants to now vote just for their key one from the list of 3.
Using the idea with the most votes, ask everyone to use chat and say how and/or where they could use this idea in their everyday work.

What learners have done

Reviewed key points (listing 18)
Evaluated ideas by have selecting their key 3 and then their key idea
Built a stronger connection to the key idea by creating a slogan, colourful poster etc
Created a list of action points to apply back in the workplace

Call to Action

Rather than you being the focus of a close, pass this over to your learners and give them time to identify key ideas they can use. Make it fun and adjust the ending according to the workshop content