ThemePurpose & people
CardCard 27 of 60
Questions5 to explore
StepStart with why

Participant Needs

What are the participants' needs?

The participants are not a uniform group, and what they need from the day is not all the same.

Participant needs covers what people require in order to engage fully: access needs, language needs, dietary requirements, prior knowledge, emotional state going in, and what they are hoping to get out of the day. Some of these are practical (someone needs wheelchair access, someone keeps halal, someone reads poorly under time pressure). Others are about the design itself: do people need background before they can contribute, or will they come in with strong opinions already formed?

Needs are different from expectations. Expectations are what people think will happen; needs are what has to be in place for them to participate. A participant with a hearing impairment who does not get the accommodation they need cannot engage no matter how good the design is. A participant who has been told to attend but does not understand why has a need for context before they can contribute meaningfully.

The best time to learn about participant needs is before the design is finished, not after. A short pre-workshop survey or a conversation with the organizer about who is coming often surfaces things that change what you plan, not just how you arrange the coffee.

Easy to missSend a short pre-workshop question to participants (or ask the organizer) about access needs and what they are hoping to take away, and read the answers before you finalize the design.

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.

Ask before you assume

Experienced facilitators do not assume a group is uniform. They ask the organizer or a few participants what they need before building the programme, and adjust for what they hear.

Separate practical from emotional

They distinguish between logistical needs (accessibility, dietary, language) and design needs (people who need context before they can contribute, people who are anxious about the topic) and plan for both.

Build in choice

Where possible, they design activities with a little slack so participants can engage at the level they are ready for, rather than a format that requires the same thing from everyone at the same time.

Protect the pre-work questions

When a pre-workshop survey is possible, they protect one question for needs: what would help you participate fully? It is the question most likely to surface something you had not thought of.

Questions to plan around

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

Do any participants have access needs (physical, sensory, dietary, linguistic) that affect how you design or run the day?
What prior knowledge or context do participants have, and what do they need in order to contribute from the start?
Is there anyone coming in an emotionally difficult position relative to the topic, and how does the design need to account for that?
Have you found out what participants actually want to get from the day, rather than what the organizer wants for them?
Are there needs that will show up in the room that the design currently does not accommodate?

Watch for

Practical access needs are the easiest to miss if you do not ask for them explicitly. Waiting for participants to raise them often means they do not, and then you find out at the door.
Needs and wants are different things. Someone may want a relaxed open-ended session but need clarity and structure in order to actually participate well.
Assuming a group is relatively uniform in knowledge and capacity is common and often wrong, especially in cross-functional or cross-sector groups where expertise gaps are large.