Workshop Planning
Analogue Tools card, MethodKit for Workshop Planning
Card 3 of 60 · MethodKit for Workshop Planning
  • ThemeMaterials & tools
  • CardCard 3 of 60
  • Questions5 to explore
  • StepGather your materials
Materials & tools

Analogue Tools

Canvases, work sheets & cards

Analogue tools are the working surface of the workshop, and they need to be chosen for what participants will actually do, not just what looks complete in the bag.

Canvases, worksheets, and card decks are the physical artefacts your participants touch, fill in, sort, arrange, and take home. The right analogue tool makes an abstract activity concrete; the wrong one creates friction at exactly the moment you need the group to be working.

A canvas that is too complex slows people down before the thinking starts. A worksheet that is too sparse gives them nothing to anchor to. Cards are powerful for sorting, ranking, and choosing but require space and a clear instruction. Match the tool to the task and the group, not to what you happen to have in the room.

Easy to missPrint more copies than you have participants: sheets get ruined, people start over, and pairs sometimes want their own copy, so always have a buffer.

How experienced facilitators handle it

The same building block, handled by people who have run a lot of workshops. Patterns and illustrations to react to, not rules to follow.

Design the tool for the activity

Experienced facilitators design or choose canvases that match the specific thinking step, not a generic template applied to every workshop.

Test usability in advance

They print and fill in their own worksheet before the session to catch unclear prompts, tiny text, or insufficient writing space.

Carry originals for reprinting

They keep a digital copy accessible so the venue can print extras if something runs short or gets damaged.

Questions to plan around

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

  1. Which activities require a physical tool and what specifically should that tool do for the participant?

  2. Have you filled it in yourself to check that the instructions and space are clear?

  3. How many copies do you need, with a buffer for errors or pairs who want individual copies?

  4. Are any canvases or card decks meant to be taken home, and are they formatted for that?

  5. If you are using a printed card deck, do you have a way to keep sets together (rubber bands, envelopes, bags)?

Watch for

  • A worksheet that looks elegant on screen often has too-small fields, too-light contrast, or unclear prompt language when it is actually printed and handed to someone.
  • Running out of copies mid-activity is more disruptive than it sounds: it breaks the group's rhythm and forces improvisation exactly when you want them focused on the work.
  • Cards that are loose and unsorted before the activity starts waste the first few minutes of every table conversation.