Usability Summary

This article explores two concepts that we tend to hear about and experience in the education and work fields. These concepts are workshops and meetings. Usually, workshops and meetings are used in professional settings to get an established topic to a final definitive target. In the article, we learn that “meetings are for sharing information and workshops are for solving a problem or reaching an actionable goal” (Kaplan, Nielsen Norman Group, 2020). It is common that workshops are unsuccessful when the goal is not clear from the beginning and this causes problems within the workshops between the individuals because no one is on the same page. In a workshop, ideas and thoughts are brought together to ultimately create one larger idea related to their mission at hand. The purpose of a workshop is to solve problems within it through actions in the controlled environment. On the other hand,  meetings are more information-based and allow for things to be discussed amongst a group. A “you speak, I listen” environment is often used to convey information more effectively in meetings. Often meetings can be very brief, whereas a workshop is lengthier. The structure of the two is also a little bit different. A workshop often time includes the process of brainstorming, stretching, writing and overall action-based demonstrations to complete a more involved way of solving the problem. Whereas a meeting is more round-table like and discussions are had and often there is a facilitator who is giving a good portion of the information regarding the topic of the meeting.

Kaplan, Kate. “UX Workshops vs. Meetings: What’s the Difference?” Nielsen Norman Group, 16 Feb. 2020, www.nngroup.com/articles/workshops-vs-meetings/.