Workshops can be Expertise Demos
And how to create one
I've started to write a book on this stuff. You can help here.
Just the other day I introduced the idea of Expertise Demonstration, as our equivalent to the Technology Demonstration.
Today I will tell you how to create one for your consulting or agency business.
Workshops as Expertise Demonstrations
It's the whole “Show, don't tell” principle.
Let's do a test:
If I ask you to design a workshop, how do you go about it?
And what if I ask you to design an experience that acts as a demonstration of your expertise?
What would you make differently?
My current model of this is that there's a specific way of designing Workshops that act as Expertise Demonstrations. Just like technical demonstrations help sell new products.
How to design an Expertise Demo?
1. “begin with the end in mind”1.
The workshop we are about to design must serve the needs of at least two groups of people: the Expert and the Client.2
Clients want to have their problems solved
Experts want to sell, help and be seen as competent (sometimes these get all mixed up, but they are all different intentions).
This is conceptually easy, but requires intentionality.
2. Define what's out
We draw a boundary around our expertise and what we will do for clients in that workshop. Most people will try to cram too much stuff here. Don't.
In practical terms, this boundary defines both the duration of the workshop session and also the scope of it.
A personal example:
12 years ago I did “innovation workshops”. Sounded cool but were too broad.
By defining precisely what you'll do and how long you'll have for that, you create that self-contained experience that is focused on addressing both your needs and those of your client.
Which is akin to creating a stage for our Expertise.
3. Craft the experience
I know this will feel overly simplified. But basically, you need to sequence a series of activities that will lead to the desired outcome. If you do it right, people won't feel the passing of time. Do it wrong and it will come across as janky.
This deserves a full post, of course. In the meanwhile I'll be happy to answer any questions you have. And btw:
I've started to write a book on this stuff. You can help here.
4. Seed the post-workshop stage
Clients are busy and rarely have the opportunity to explore how they think about something. You'll find that some of them are ecstatic with just the process of going through a workshop session.
This feeling of exhilaration does not last forever.
If at the end of your session there's nothing you can print, the half-life of excitement will be merciless. Your client will lose interest after a couple of weeks. And that will feel confusing to you.
Tangible outcomes of your workshop act as mementos. These little reminders of your workshop can re-ignite the fire of a client weeks or months after having participated in a workshop of yours. Make sure there's some takeway thing. Printed or physical is even better.
What I like about the idea of “Expertise Demonstration"
It's not focused on any specific technique, only on the desired effect.
And when you think of your workshop as an Expertise Demo, you instinctively understand what dimensions and aspects of it you should optimize for.
It is all about making clients feel your Expertise and how it can help them. And make them feel that as quickly as possible, so they can move into other offerings of yours.
You don't even have to have any client-facing communication that uses the name Expertise Demo. You just need to think of it as a kind of workshop you run.
A personal example:
More and more, the best thing I do to demonstrate application of my own Expertise is when I help clients uncover their implicit processes.
We do it online, with a structured whiteboard. And they always immediately understand how I work and how that's useful to them.
What do you think about the idea of Expertise Demo?
The idea came to me as I looked for examples of industries that sell stuff you cannot touch. Software is eating the world (supposedly), so it was an obvious inspiration.
It relates to wedge offers, gateway offers, zero CAC offers and the like.
In other news:
I've created a silly section on my website to help people figure out how pronounce my name. I'm not offended when people ask, I just want to be helpful. Here
Spoke to Tom Kerwin about his Multiverse Mapping tool. Conversation went way over scheduled time, which is a sign it was great. I recommend you take a look at it, if you've ever been frustrated with technology projects. We also spoke about how to market a method, which is something I like to nerd on.
I'm also very excited for my latest paper productivity stack. Let's see how it holds on a longer time-frame.
I've posted these things on LinkedIn
I've started to write a book on this stuff. You can help here.
“Reverse Planning” is the official name for this.
Oddly enough, Experts are very good at creating workshops that serve the needs of a third entity (the Domain of Expertise or the Method). This is because of the almost religious reverence of Knowledge (capital K) and a constant drive towards rigor and correctedness. These are good things if in the right amount, but it always breaks my heart a little to see brilliant experts that are held down by this.