„At the end of the day” - Closing methods for workshops and seminars

By Monika Setzwein October 4, 2024

What is remembered and “taken away” at the end of a workshop or seminar also depends on how the event is methodically concluded. Feedback formats are usually used, e.g. as a flashlight or evaluation sheet. This provides the seminar leader in particular with important information on how the form and content were received by the participants and what can be improved in the future. At the end of internal working sessions, the main aim is usually to record the results. Ideally, next steps, deadlines and responsible persons are defined in an action plan.

But how do you get people to personally reflect on and evaluate what they have worked on and learned? Flashbulbs and other feedback formats are rather unsuitable for this. In this article, I would therefore like to present three methods that do just that:

a reflection on the content,
the creation of a personal reference
and thus a deepening of the insights and learning effects.

1. Summary Matrix

I came across this method at “Business Events Denmark”. It is easy to implement and can be individually adapted. Depending on the size of the seminar, the participants are divided into groups of 2-5 people. I recommend the smallest possible groups with a maximum of 3 people. Each group needs a flipchart or moderation board and pens. The matrix consists of four fields:

Give the groups about 15-20 minutes to reflect on the seminar or workshop and fill in the table together. The notes are then briefly presented in plenary and discussed if necessary. The summary matrix can also be left to each individual to work silently on the writing pad without sharing the results afterwards. Although the advantages of discussion are lost, the reflection is perhaps more honest and personal.

2. Letter to my future self

This method involves individual work in which the participants retreat to quiet places and write a letter to their future self in a few months’ time. They will need writing paper, pens and envelopes. The letter writers should be given a few questions to guide them, e.g.

What have I decided to do today?
What do I want to have changed by month XY?
What will I have implemented from the seminar by month XY?
How would I like to have developed by month XY?
What do I want to have tried out by month XY?

The questions can and should be tailored to the respective topic of the seminar or workshop.

Rubbish garbage can and rucksack

If you like it vivid, this is the right approach. At the end of the event, move a large garbage can into the room and hang up a rucksack, e.g. on a flipchart. Now ask the participants to write down on moderation cards what they would like to “throw in the garbage can”, i.e. what they want to leave behind that was not helpful or perhaps even a hindrance. These cards go into the garbage can. Then everyone writes down what they would like to take home with them from the seminar. These cards go into the backpack. You can ask the participants to read out their cards before they are disposed of or saved for the next step, or the cards can be thrown in anonymously and then hung up together in the plenary.

If you want to do without real garbage cans and rucksacks, simply prepare two moderation walls with corresponding drawings or symbols. The labeled moderation cards are then pinned to the corresponding board and commented on by the participants themselves.