1. Warmup
Evan started the workshop with a group challenge: Build the tallest tower with the following supplies:
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4 pieces of paper
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1 inch of tape
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6 inches of string
Here's the twist: the winner got free ice cream! 🍦
Takeaways:
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People are very motivated when ice cream is on the line!
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2. Understanding the Social Relational Window
Sam introduced a few foundational concepts, then each participant identified a situation in their own lives where they wanted to foster stronger participation.
Then Sam introduced the Social Relational Window (SRW) and participants worked in pairs to analyze 4 scenarios and place each in a quadrant of the Window.
Takeaways:
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Setting high expectations, matched with ample support fosters strong participation.
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People interpret scenarios differently. That's ok! The value is in the discussion, which fosters alignment and reveals what to change.
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3. Shifting to Stronger Participation
Based on where teams placed each scenario, they brainstormed higher expectations or new types of support to shift each scenario to a more collaborative and participatory space.
Finally, they reflected back on the situation they identified in their own lives. They place their own situation in the appropriate quadrant and brainstormed ways to shift their situation to a more collaborative and participatory space. We concluded with people sharing their reflections in small groups.
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5. HCD Lab
Community Time
In the final 15 minutes, the workshop shifted to strengthening the HCD Lab's momentum as a community. Participants were invited to share ideas for possible HCD Lab events and to sign up to support any events they were interested in.
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Ice Cream Social
Almost half of the workshop participants stuck around to get to know one another at Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, which was only a block away.
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This is a newer lens for thinking of participation! ...This is an interesting way of categorizing differently and think about how setting the environment for participation impacts the outcome.
Talking about the personal collabrative project was really eye-opening! It's helpful to hear thoughts from someone outside of my work bubble. Truly brought some new ideas!
I am going to use this framework to facilitate conversations at my work about increasing survey participation.