A list of random tips for Event Storming facilitators

Published on Monday, October 08, 2018

Learning to facilitate an Event Storming workshop requires trial & error. Effective and useful Event Storming workshops have a mix of people with questions and answers. As such aspiring facilitators need to learn facilitation with a mixed group of participants, most of whom might not be so patient with the learning cycle of the facilitator to be. This list of training wheels will help you get started and prevents common pitfalls.

• Keep distance between the stickies;
• Turn stickies diagonal to visit at a later time in the workshop;
• Use the “Hotspot” sticky for postponing things until after the workshops;
• Observe body language of participants and nudge them to participate;
• Be critical of the use of jargon and stop those that force jargon in conversations;
• Bring plenty of fruit and water;
• From 9:30 until 12:30 is by far the best time to hold the workshop;
• Balance the participants. People with questions versus people with answers. Introvert versus extrovert. Technical versus non-technical;
• Write to be read, discard and do-over whenever a sticky is incomplete or illegible;
• Discard irrelevant stickies. Be thoughtful but emphasize that we want a model collectively understood and on the desired level of detail;
• Do not go all-in with all the elements right at the start. Gradually introduce new stickies and keep the legend up to date and visible;
• Be critical of technical keywords;
• Do not write on the canvas. Mark-up the sticky notes instead;
• C-level executives and other leadership members are welcome if they obey to the rules of the game and participate with marker and stickies;
• Use and abuse the mission statement as an alibi for hosting the workshop;
• Invite people in person rather than via email;
• Call it a workshop rather than a meeting;
• Mention a dreaded 4 hour meeting — that nearly every organization has — to defend the time participants have to free up;
• The goal of the workshop is shared understanding. However, always define follow up steps with the group. See to it that follow up happens;
• One person, one marker & lots of stickies;
• Find a good space. Take a 15 minute walk through the building. Hallways might be your best shot. Get rid of tables;
• Make it fun. So many “meeting” bore participants to death. Let them enjoy this one;
• Ensure the group reaches the end. Reaching the finish line is more important than being perfect;
• Reverse the narrative and force participants to read out loud: Event Y because event X preceded it;
• Facilitate enough modeling space at all times. Add more when in doubt;
• About 150 stickies should be on the canvas for an 8-12 people big picture workshop on an important process;
• It is all about this group.