How I Plan Workshops in 2027

Going into 2027, AI is part of how I plan workshops at several points. It helps me prepare the first client meeting, widens my search for methods and is my sparring partner on the arc of the session. This post walks through my process from the first meeting to the workshop day: the questions I ask, how a design takes shape, the methods I reach for and what I prepare last.

The work this covers is broad. I run strategy workshops, transformation programs, AI leadership trainings, strategy implementation projects, and organisational redesign projects that bring several stakeholders together in workshops. The clients are large organisations: enterprise companies, the German Mittelstand, banks and financial institutions, and pharma.

Before the first client meeting

When a request comes in, the first thing I work out is which questions need to be asked in the first meeting with the client. That preparation is essential, and I do it with AI. I set a baseline of information about the organisation, then run very quick research into the approaches that could suit the request. Most of the time I already have something in mind, and the research enriches it.

The questions I always ask

In the first meeting I ask the same questions every time. The first three are about the people and the present:

• Who is involved?
• Who is affected?
• What makes up the status quo?

The next three are about change and about our work together:

• What has prevented a major change in the past? Sometimes I am bold enough to add: "Why can't you tackle this project internally, yourselves?"
• What do you expect from our collaboration?
• One year after the project is done, what will be different?

The last one is a backcasting question. It puts the client in the future they want and lets the conversation work back from there to today.

From notes to a design

I take neat notes in the first meeting. Sometimes I ask whether we can record the session, and then I use the transcript to read through the nuances of the briefing.

Then I always settle the question of size: one workshop or a bigger program. For a program, the follow-up question is always the same. We can start with a kickoff workshop and see where it leads, or I can present a sounder program architecture up front and validate it in the kickoff. Sometimes it makes sense to run the kickoff workshop first and design the program concept, workshop by workshop, afterwards.

The design of the workshop itself starts with what we call the Anlass in German: the reason we hold the workshop and the goal it serves. After that, it is very much about the roles in the room and the kind of tension that can build up between them.

Validate the facts before the day

There is also the information side. Things said in a workshop can be wrong or right, so I always ask myself what can be validated beforehand. We walk in with a more effect-based approach. I ask the client to make sure the stakeholders' perspectives are backed by numbers and facts, which the stakeholders can and should bring into the workshop. Sometimes it makes sense to share them before the day.

In the session itself, the job is to stay on track. I try to use methods that look into the future.

Where Workshop Weaver comes in

Workshop Weaver is our own tool, and I use it to create the arc of the session. I have read a lot of books on systemic organisational theory and management theory. Still, my clients do not pay me for the time it would take to find the perfect method. Left to myself, I would fall back on my standards. Workshop Weaver lets me find methods that might suit the situation better, some of them new to me, and that lets me grow far more than sticking to the standard techniques would.

The second use is sparring. Sometimes I talk a design through with a colleague. Sometimes it is easier to discuss it with Workshop Weaver, because we don't get paid time to talk everything through in detail. Workshop Weaver allows us to deliver on time and on budget, and this is really what I like.

The methods I reach for

I keep coming back to three types of methods, each for its own reason.

Methods that map the conditions

I like mapping out the conditions, so that everyone can agree on what the situation is, how things influence each other and where the levers are. I like this in different types and forms. A causal loop diagram is one such method.

Methods that create buy-in

Some workshops end up with all the responsibility lying on the facilitator, which is the worst situation. The facilitator should be the person who enables everyone to take accountability, even without saying so. Giving each participant a role is essential to me: across the whole workshop day or days, within each method, and even before the workshop starts. That role can be preparation. It can be co-facilitation, for example when the group splits up into smaller groups.

Systemic interventions

The third type is the intervention: systemic methods such as a fishbowl, where you get closer to everyone's emotional state and people don't hold back too much. Everything gets onto the table. Then we can collect it, structure it and integrate the perspectives again.

The last days before the workshop

What I check in the last days depends on whether the workshop is digital or physical. The most important thing to prepare is the first 10 minutes. The story and the energy you bring into those minutes carry you through the day and keep everyone committed to it.

The names of the people and their roles matter as well. If you talk to a big group of nobodies and don't know who is who, it is harder to commit yourself to the session. Then the basics. Of course I check the timings, the buffers and the material that has to be brought into the room.

What AI has changed, and how I work going into 2027

Material is the obvious change, because AI makes it easy to produce. With AI, it is important to build up the context so that you can always revisit the agenda, and tools like Workshop Weaver help me do that. When there is a rebrief, from the client or from someone internally, I go back to the session and find the context where I left off. I rebrief Workshop Weaver, and we adapt the session quickly and without major effort.

Communication is the other area, both before the workshop and after it. I think we can use AI to make sure everyone has all the information at the right time without overcommunicating. How you do that is up to you. There is no good reason to miss the chance to say clearly what we want to achieve and, afterwards, what we have achieved. AI helps quite a lot with both. For the days after a session, the post on the post-workshop void goes into more detail.

The mistake I stopped making

The planning mistake is about structure. You need to keep asking yourself who the expert in the room is, and who informs whom, so that the group reaches a higher understanding. Higher understanding builds up into decision-making.

If you don't think this through clearly, the information builds up in a mess, and the decisions that follow are messy too. It is something to think through very carefully.

Your next step

Take the six questions into your next first meeting with a client: who is involved, who is affected, what makes up the status quo, what has prevented change so far, what they expect from working with you, and what will be different one year after the project. Write the answers down in neat notes, or record the conversation if the client agrees. Then start the design from the Anlass, name the roles and the tensions in the room, and only after that choose your methods. The workshop planning guide covers the full process from the brief to the follow-up.