Key Takeaways
1. Kick-off with clarity and flexibility.
- The opening must establish trust and alignment. Clearly state the workshop's main goal and walk through a simplified, high-level agenda, highlighting key activities and expected outcomes
- Use removable post-it notes for timings on a visual agenda in on-site sessions that rarely stick to the exact schedule.
2. Use the warm-up to reveal mindsets.
- The warm-up exercise uses an autonomy spectrum to engage participants in a critical discussion about how much control they desire an AI system to have.
- This exercise is about revealing pre-existing mindsets regarding AI autonomy. As the facilitator, you must keep explanations brief to maintain energy and prevent the session from veering into lengthy ethical debates.
3. Ensure a shared, non-technical understanding of agents.
- Since the target audience is non-technical, it is critical to dedicate time to establishing a shared, foundational understanding of what an AI Agent is and what makes it different from simple automation (e.g., rule-based systems).
- Use the Sense/Reason/Act/Learn structure and relatable analogies to explain agent capabilities. Participants should leave the introduction confident that they know what they are about to design.
4. Practice professional time management
- While discussion is essential, the facilitator must keep the pacing to ensure that all agenda items are covered. The rule of gently limiting lengthy contributions. o A key part of facilitation is learning to gently transition from deep discussions to the next structured activity.