What's up brand builder Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this
video you're going to learn eight brand strategy workshop facilitation techniques
that you need for workshop success so you can show up like a pro
and leave with the seeds that you need for strategy development
now if you're new to the channel and you want to build brands that go beyond the visuals using
strategy psychology and creative thinking and you're in the right place hit that subscribe
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brand strategy workshops are not new they've been around in one form or another for many many years
but on the back of increased awareness about what real branding is or branding beyond the
logo and the evolving professionals to meet that demand the strategy workshop has become
an increasingly important tool for branding specialists strategists and their clients
so in this video i want to run through eight brand strategy workshop facilitation techniques and
skills that you need to workshop like a pro number one know your participants now running a workshop
is a game of extracting ideas and perspectives from different people positions and personalities
some personalities like to talk while others like to shy away some people hold senior authoritative
roles while others are on the first rung of the latter but regardless of personality or position
perspectives are really really important so you need to know who you're dealing with and how to
massage all of the perspectives out of each person within the room number two align expectations a
brand strategy workshop means different things to different people it's important that you set
your stall out from the very beginning to make sure that everybody's on the same page about why
they're there and what they're actually trying to achieve you might find that one person believes
that you'll be getting into the weeds about marketing strategy while other people are hoping
to dive into the website user experience but it's important that you're really really crystal clear
on what the workshop covers and what it doesn't so there's no confusion from anybody within the room
number three prepare like a pro now a strategy workshop is an environment where tools exercises
and people all come together and with this mix of variables it's very easy for things to go wrong
or for you to overlook something so it's really important that you consider as many obstacles
or challenges as possible and do what you can to avoid them from travel issues to tech issues and
everywhere in between number four follow through like a pro so regardless of how much you prepare
things can happen that are just out of your control now of course the better prepared you
are the easier it will be to navigate any kind of obstacles but sometimes it might just seem that
the powers are working against you so as a rule of thumb make do with what you have and push through
to make your workshop happen if possible so don't let things get you down don't let
things get on top of you work with what you have and follow through like a pro
number five map the agenda so before you get down to work make sure you communicate
the structure and the timeline of the workshop so everybody knows what to expect if you're planning
an intense two-hour session without a break when a handful of your participants were hoping for a
coffee after an hour the second hour won't be as productive as you hope because they're thinking
about their caffeine so when everyone knows the agenda and everyone knows what to expect then
everything is going to run a lot smoother number six lighten the mood now generally speaking people
tend to be reserved when they're in a new environment especially when their contribution is
required but because this is a requirement part of your role is to oil the wheels and make that
contribution feel as easy and relaxed as possible so take the time to make your participants
feel welcome and at ease and warm them in to whatever exercises you're running them through
number seven don't dictate facilitate so your role in the strategy workshop is not to tell people how
things are or how they should be your core role is as a facilitator and although as a strategist
you may be tempted to go in guns blazing with advice it will hamper your workshop if you do that
ask questions guide the workshop facilitate and keep that advice monster in the cage so you can
get what you need from the workshop and number eight questions and exercises determine success
so the end goal of the workshop is to extract the perspectives and ideas from the brand leadership
team there are other goals of course such as providing clarity and understanding but
without a doubt these perspectives and ideas are the core reason for delivering the workshop in
the first place so your core focus should be on extracting that information the better structured
your exercises and questions are the more likely you are to leave with the information that you
need to develop that brand strategy now look there are only a handful of techniques here but there's
some of the most important when it comes to facilitating a successful strategy workshop
so take the time to find a workshop structure that works for you own your exercises and
questions and turn up like a pro facilitator to extract what you need for brand strategy success
if you want to learn more about how to structure your workshop and questions then this video will
help you out until next time brand like a master and i'll see you in the next video