ThemeDesign the session
CardCard 62 of 63
Questions5 to explore
StepClose and follow up

Deliverables

Tangible things that would come out of the workshop

Being clear about what the session will produce makes a remote workshop feel worth the time, both for the people in it and the people who asked for it.

Deliverables are the tangible things that come out of the workshop: a decision, a prioritised list, a filled template, a set of user stories, a shared document, a plan. They are distinct from outcomes, which describe what is true at the end. Deliverables are the specific artifacts that prove the outcomes were reached.

Defining deliverables before the session shapes every design decision: which activities are necessary, what tools will hold the output, who owns each deliverable after the session ends. Without them, even a well-facilitated session can leave people unsure what was produced and unable to act on it.

After the session, deliverables also serve as the record of what the group built together. In a remote context where you cannot hold up the post-its or point at the board, a well-documented deliverable is often the only thing participants take away.

Online, specificallyOnline deliverables need a digital home from the first minute: a shared doc, board, or template that accumulates during the session, because at the end of a video call there is no physical output to photograph or carry out of the room.

In a remote session

The same building block as it plays out online: how experienced facilitators tend to handle it when the room is a screen. Illustrations to react to, not rules to follow.

Name the deliverables upfront

Good facilitators share the expected deliverables in the pre-read and at the start of the session, so participants know what they are building toward and can contribute with that end in mind.

Build the deliverable during the session

They design activities so the deliverable is being built in real time into a shared digital space, rather than synthesised afterwards. Participants can see the output growing, which holds engagement.

Assign ownership before the close

In the closing segment they name who owns each deliverable after the session: who will clean it up, share it, or act on it. This step stops outputs from sitting in a shared folder untouched.

Send a summary within 24 hours

They send a short follow-up within a day of the session with a link to the deliverables and a summary of decisions and next steps. Remote participants especially need this because they have no physical artifacts to remind them of what was produced.

Questions to plan around

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

What specifically will exist at the end of this session that did not exist before?
Where will each deliverable be stored during and after the session, and is that space set up in advance?
Do participants know what deliverables are expected so they can contribute to producing them?
Who owns each deliverable after the session ends, and when will it be shared?
How will you communicate the deliverables to stakeholders who were not in the session?

What trips people up online

Sessions that produce notes but no agreed deliverables leave everyone uncertain what they actually decided; the conversation is remembered, the output is not.
Building deliverables in the facilitator's private notes and promising to share them later is risky online; participants have nothing to anchor their memory of the session to until the notes arrive, and engagement with them after the fact is usually low.
Deliverables that are not assigned an owner before the session ends often do not get shared or acted on; the closing segment is the moment to name responsibility, not leave it assumed.