In short:
It forces you to be clear on the end result
It clarifies expectations
It makes me feel like a tailor
It solves exactly the challenge without anything else
It makes workshops easier
A custom workshop canvas forces you to be clear on the end result
Imagining a canvas that will be used in a workshop is like designing the end result of the workshop.
So making a custom canvas for a workshop forces you to ask yourself : is there here all what we need to get out of that session? Is something missing?
A custom workshop canvas clarifies expectations
What’s nice with a custom canvas or even a canvas you’ve borrowed is that you can go to the workshop organizer or the client and say:
This is what you’ll get at the end of the workshop. Good for you?
A canvas really ensures that people have the right expectation about the results that workshop will bring.
A custom workshop canvas makes me feel like a tailor
Creating a custom canvases to use in a workshop is pretty nice because you’re really making something super personalized for the organization you are working with.
You can brand it so that it looks like the rest of the organization material. And maybe even more important you can choose the wording so that it fits the culture of the company.
Working with bankers you might want to use more technical terms. Working with volunteers you might want to use a more down to earth language.
A custom workshop canvas solves exactly the challenge without anything else
When you are building your own workshop canvas you’re building a tool that contains just what you need for that workshop.
When you use a canvas made by someone else there might stuff in it that doesn’t apply to the challenge you were tasked to solve.
A custom workshop canvas makes workshops easier
As I’ve explained in other articles, having a canvas that is printed and that people use throughout the workshop makes it both simpler for me as the facilitator and for the workshop participants.
On the canvas all the key information is visible at all times:
what’s the activity
How long people have to do it
How they should do it
Etc.