7 Workshop Methods That Bring Spaces to Life – and What They Need to Thrive

Collaboration Min.

Workshops are the backbone of modern collaboration. They bring people together, promote creative solutions and make complex processes tangible. However, not every method works in the same way - and not every institution is suited to every method.

Here are 7 tried-and-tested workshop methods - including room and furnishing tips for maximum impact.

1. Six-hat method - Structured change of perspective

  • Goal: Looking at complex topics from different angles
  • Principle: Six symbolic “hats” represent attitudes (e.g. facts, emotion, criticism, creativity)
  • Room requirement: Circular seating arrangement for equal rights, mobile visualization elements (colour coding possible), clear moderation zone

2. World café - Discussions in rotation

  • Goal: Promoting diversity of ideas and collective intelligence
  • Principle: Small groups discuss at tables; participants change groups in several rounds
  • Room requirement: Several small groups of tables, enough space to walk around, quiet atmosphere

3. Design thinking - User-centered innovation in 6 phases

  • Goal: Solving problems creatively and iteratively - with a strong practical focus
  • Principle: Empathy, problem definition, brainstorming, prototyping, testing
  • Room requirement: Plenty of freedom of movement, zones for quiet work, group work and prototyping

4. Lego® Serious Play® - Thinking with your hands

  • Goal: Making complex topics tangible in a playful way
  • Principle: Participants build Lego models to visualize thoughts, strategies or visions
  • Room requirement: Relaxed, inspiring environment with small group tables and plenty of storage space

5. Open Space – Self-organized theme rooms

  • Goal: Independent topic identification and processing
  • Principle: Participants contribute their own questions and work in open sessions
  • Room requirement: Central “agenda wall”, several smaller group rooms or separable zones

6. Fishbowl – Discussing in the inner circle

  • Goal: Enable open discussion with active participation
  • Principle: Inner circle discusses, outer circle listens - with the option of changing seats
  • Room requirement: Two concentric seating circles, good acoustics, clear visual axis

7. Summary Matrix – Structuring findings

  • Goal: Record and structure results and derive next steps
  • Principle: Content is systematically visualized on a matrix (e.g. time vs. responsibility)
  • Room requirement: Large writable surfaces, standing work areas, visual overview

Conclusion: method needs furniture

The method determines the dynamic - the equipment makes it possible. Whether collaborative, creative, analytical or playful: every workshop method has its own requirements in terms of space, flexibility and equipment.

With Confair Next, we offer a modular furniture solution that responds precisely to these requirements: mobile, space-creating, multifunctional - for real co-design instead of rigid structures.

Tip for planners: When designing workshop spaces, think in terms of scenarios - not just square meters. The best rooms are stages for methodical diversity.

Download now for free: Office on Stage Magazine

You can find further insights, inspiration and practical planning examples for future-proof working environments in our Office on Stage magazine. Find out how human needs, new forms of work, technological developments and spatial concepts can be intelligently combined - so that agile collaboration becomes the corporate standard.

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