Week #5: preparing and executing a workshop

This week has been somewhat different from the previous ones. We plan and execute a workshop to co-design our game with members of our focus group. I started by drafting a broad definition for the goals of the studio with the help of Rafael, we then selected two activities that work well remotely Six Thinking Hats and Zen Voting, only to notice that those were the activities the professor expected all along. I then proceeded to organize the workshop in a solo manner, by making a rough schedule of our event, which eventually led me to discover that Six Thinking Hats was somewhat more complicated than anticipated. I carried the news to the group, and we brainstormed together on the best ways to go forward. After finding a solution, I created a Google Slide Sheet, where we would do the workshop collaboratively. In it, I added some soft decoration, notes to lead the discussion, post-its for people to use, a hat to color, which ended up being a smiley face and DKP for people to use during Zen Voting. Andreia also suggested that apart from the activities, we should do a questionnaire to gather more information from a broader public, and I drafted it with her, Rafael, than implemented the form. Apart from preparing the materials for the workshop and writing the parts of its report, I also had to find the proper software for the meeting. Using Zoom was not an option due to a 40 minute limit meeting time on free accounts as well as the means to record the session. We ended up using discord and OBS for recording, but due to technical issues on my side, we had to record sound using a bot, managed by Rafael.

The workshop went well and according to plan. As expected, the meeting was long, which resulted in some loss of focus towards the end of the activity. We still managed to get interesting insights, and I am happy because I agree with most of them. Overall, the group seemed to have very consensual opinions. Maybe the activity was not carried out correctly, but the group did try to carry it as precisely as possible. We even gave the participants some material to read before the event; everyone did so.

During the meeting, I was the Blue Hat, I enjoyed the role, but I would not want to do it again, as the task is very demanding and carries too much responsibility.

Yours sincerely ;)
Francisco Barros.