5 Online tools you should use for UX remote workshops

It is not always an easy task to keep on hosting UX workshops remotely. Fortunately, thanks to the technology we can benefit today, it has become easier to carry out this mission since many digital and online tools are at our disposal. Discover 5 of them, how they work and the tips & tricks from our UX team to make a better use of them.

1. Mural

MURAL is a digital workspace for visual collaboration. This great tool enables innovative teams to think and collaborate visually to solve important problems. Its ease of use in creating diagrams (which are popular in design thinking and agile methodologies) as well as tools to facilitate more impactful meetings and workshops make it an essential partner to conduct workshops remotely.

💡 Tips & tricks

• Before starting the workshop, you can lock (right click + “lock”) elements on your board therefore participants are not able to move or delete them.
  
• You can upload your own templates that participants will be able to fill in in teams during the live session.
  
• Make sure you create rooms with smaller groups, this allows each participant to complete the requested task.

Similar tools: Miro, Sprintbase

2. Klaxoon

Klaxoon is a multi-tool that can be used as a workspace and meeting room. User-friendly and collaborative, this tool allows you to do several things: brainstormings, surveys, project management, vote… You can use it for all your digital projects from anywhere and on any device. Try it!

💡 Tips & Tricks

• The tool offers you a lot of choice of templates to not start from scratch, it’s time saving! Preparations before a workshop can take a lot of time. Therefore, Klaxoon offers you a big choice of templates to not start from scratch!
  
• For the brainstorming, you can use a board where all your participants pin their ideas or proposition. It’s the perfect collaboration tool!
  
• We always want a feedback after a workshop. You can create in the same tool in two minutes. Send the QR code to your participants and that’s it!

3. Office 365

The Microsoft suite offers a lot of nice tools to ensure remote workshops.

From the group you create on Teams (the conversation/meeting app), you give access to each member to the different tools the suite offers. You can create files that everyone will be able to work on (Word, Power Point, One Note…)

One Note allows you to work on shared note at the same time. The difference with Word lies in the fact that you can draw in the doc, just like you were using a white board. This option makes it an awesome tool for brainstorming workshops. We know how remote brainstorms can be tedious sometimes, but One Note allows you to do it smoothly on remote.

💡 Tips & tricks

• One Note allows you to digitalize your handwritten documents, flipcharts. Which means that you can easily brainstorm on sheet of papers then just share them online in one click.
  
• Working with Office 365 eases your files backup since everything can be stocked in a very secure cloud.
  
• Office 365 is available on different devices (smartphone, tablets).

4. Figma

Figma helps teams create, test, and ship better designs from start to finish. This tool offers a collaborative design platform where you can co-design alongside co-workers. An easy way to move your remote design work forward. Thanks to the transparency on the projects, everyone gets and stays aligned. You can use it for different steps of your UX process such as design, wireframing, prototyping or design systems.

Working remotely on UX projects is smooth thanks to this platform which is a good partner to keep on working on team.

💡 Tips and tricks

• Speaking of, we are hosting a webinar about that tool this Thursday the 16th of April. Register here

5. BUFFL

This platform is not really related to workshops but remains even though useful for the steps following your UX workshops. Indeed, this tool allows you to get instant customer validation regarding the digital project you are working on. Combining innovation and validation expertise, it is a good way to discover if you answer your user’s expectation.

A real must have whether you need a fast validation from potential users without spending time in finding them. Get the voice of your end users at the ready of your project!

Additional tips

Before starting your workshop

• Don’t hesitate to start with an Ice Breaker. Either you know each other or not, this allows you to energize the group before you dive into the topic.

Ice Breaker – 2 Truths – 1 Lie

• Defining the goal, the planning and the aim of the meeting. As you can’t read the body language of people, you can’t see whether they understand what you are talking about or not. So, defining this at the beginning gets everyone on the same page.

During your workshop

• Ensuring each one is focused is not an easy thing when it comes to host remote workshops. Often, people are still working on other stuffs. Don’t hesitate to make the workshop as interactive as you can to keep all your participants attention.

After your workshop

• Don’t hesitate to summarize the content at the end of your workshop and close it by a question/answer session if needed. It is also important to give an overview on the next steps (if there are some) and send a report by email with the done work.

We hope you are going through this lockdown smoothly and that your business is not too affected. At World of Digits, our team of experts can help you organize remote UX workshops and support you in any of your digital projects.

Don’t hesitate to contact us!