You’ve likely been part of a creative session that was a bit of a disappointment, and it probably had nothing to do with the participants: It’s all about the planning. Preparing for your creative session gives you the confidence to know you’ve got the context, activities, and skills to steer your session toward exceptional outcomes. Templates can help make your planning a breeze. In this article, we’ll walk you through three templates that will help you understand the why and how behind your sessions so everyone involved gets the most out of your time together.

This blog post’s content is taken from the Planning & Designing Effective Sessions training course. Register for the course to access video demonstrations and hands-on activities.

Answering key questions

A creative session is only as effective as the preparation that goes into it. That means the planning phase is critical, which is why the planning template is so valuable.

Sponsor vs. facilitator

A sponsor makes the final decision from the creative session. The facilitator acts as a neutral third party to own the experience. The same person can be both a sponsor and a facilitator, but they should make it clear when acting in each role.

Use the planning canvas 

Select New, then From template, and type “Planning canvas” into the search bar.

Start by determining outcomes. Ask yourselves questions like: What’s the purpose of the session? What does success look like? What problems am I trying to solve? Add the answers to these questions as stickies in the planning board.

Determine who should attend. There are multiple types of participants in a planning session:

• Implementers: These participants are responsible for implementing the solutions decision-makers put in place. They have the power to affect the success of a solution. 
• Experts: These participants have technical and theoretical knowledge and experience related to the problem being solved.
• Newcomers: These people aren’t shackled by the status quo because they have outside perspectives.

Consider logistics as well. How long is needed to achieve the purpose and outcomes of a session? Determine what location works best for the most participants and what time would be most convenient for them. You may want to establish meeting norms, such as whether cameras should be on or who’s responsible for snacks.

Structuring the session

The design phase of creative facilitation determines what’s actually going to occur during a session.

Use the agenda template

Select New, then From template, and type “Agenda template” into the search bar.

Refer to the outcomes you’ve already determined as you fill out the agenda. Keep the design framework in mind.

Briefing 

Share the goals and objectives for the session at the very beginning of the session. Look at the “Admin setup and closure” blocks to determine which you’ll include in your agenda. You may also want to start with an icebreaker.

Diverging

Here, your participants ask questions and ideate. Review which of the diverge activities you’d like to include.

Filtering

Help your group organize their ideas. Participants can react using gifs and emojis on the board. 

Converging

Now, it’s time to start making decisions. Identify the next steps and maintain neutrality. You may conduct a voting session, use a cost/value matrix, or try a Visual Activity to reach a consensus.

Aligning 

Ensure you have actionable next steps. Revisit the “Admin set up and closure” section to include items to your agenda. You may wish to add timelines and Lucid cards to transform ideas into action items. You can even add tasks to Jira, events to a Google calendar, and tasks to Asana.

Pro tip: Activities usually take 25-50% longer than you plan for, so build in plenty of buffer time. Allow for 10 minutes of break for every hour of the session.

Preparing for participants

Now, it’s time to bring your plan to life and create the board where you’ll host your session. 

Use the frame structure template

Select New, then From template, and type “Frame structure” into the search bar.

Transfer relevant information from your agenda and planning documents to this template. Use the frames within the template to help guide you. Build out content from left to right and top to bottom so participants better follow your flow of information.

Lock objects to prevent people from moving things accidentally. You can create a path for your frames by selecting Path, then Create path from the left menu.

Set up your meeting invite and include relevant details. Clarity in the invite is vital for helping participants understand expectations. Include which team members are invited, what they’ll be doing, when, and how it will happen (include the link to your Lucidspark board). Add any other resources you think may be helpful.

This is just a preview of what’s in the training course! Sign up, and you’ll gain access to everything from live demonstrations to practice activities.