How to design a 90-minute workshop

The five blocks

Open (10-15 min): a check-in that gets every mouth moving in round one — an icebreaker with a job, not small talk. Cycle one (25-30 min): the first activity, chosen for clarity over depth: everyone must have the experience before the first debrief. Break (10 min): non-negotiable; attention is a battery, and the break is the charger. Cycle two (25-30 min): the deeper activity or the same one with a harder constraint. Close (10-15 min): the debrief that carries the lesson, plus an exit ticket so the room's honest read is collected, not hoped for.

The time math that keeps you honest

Every activity folder on this site lists its minutes honestly — 10, 15, 20, 30. Add the debrief (10 minutes minimum) and the transition (2 each side) before you commit: a 20-minute activity is a 35-minute block. Two blocks plus open, break and close is already 90. The workshop that runs three activities is the workshop that debriefs none.

Pick activities by the argument, not the fun

Choose from what the team actually argues about. Communication problems: Blind Portrait or Paper Tower. Trust or onboarding: Minefield. Chronic half-splits: The Orange. Stalled retrospectives: Start · Stop · Continue. Risk meetings where nobody speaks: Worst Idea First.

The energy curve

Attention peaks around minute 20-40 and again after the break. Put the hard content in those windows and the talking at the edges. If the room goes flat mid-cycle, do not push: run the two-minute version of the Silent Lineup — standing up and solving something wordless resets faster than any pep talk.

Close with evidence, not vibes

The last five minutes belong to the exit ticket: four rows, one score, two sentences — Workshop Feedback Form ships the printable version and the online one. Say the line while pointing at the box: "drop it on your way out — it decides what I run next." Then the debrief of this session feeds the design of the next, which is the whole loop.

The five steps

1. Open with a check-in that has a job 10-15 min: everyone speaks in round one — an icebreaker, not small talk.
2. Run cycle one for clarity 25-30 min: an activity everyone can finish, then a short debrief.
3. Take the break seriously 10 min — attention is a battery; the break is the charger.
4. Run cycle two deeper 25-30 min: the harder activity or the harder constraint.
5. Close with debrief plus exit ticket 10-15 min: the lesson lands on paper, the room's read gets collected.

Questions people ask

Go deeper

• 15-minute-or-less activities
• How to run a debrief
• The exit ticket, printable
• QRCard-AI — commitments on the room's big screen (optional)