Choosing a programme format — keynote, panel, workshop or something else?

Keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, fishbowl, world café — the range of event formats is vast. Which format suits which objective, which audience and which moment in the day?

Keynote: when it works

A keynote works when the speaker knows or has experienced something the audience does not, and when that something is genuinely relevant to hear. A keynote does not work when the speaker delivers a familiar story to an audience that already knows it, or when a speaker is booked simply to fill an overcrowded agenda.

Duration: 30–45 minutes is the sweet spot. Longer than 60 minutes without a Q&A is too long for most business audiences.

Panel: the power of multiple perspectives

A good panel has three to five speakers, one strong moderator and a proposition or case study that genuinely sparks debate. A poor panel has five speakers who each take three minutes in turn without responding to one another.

The moderator is the key. Without a moderator who steers, challenges and connects, a panel is nothing more than a succession of short keynotes.

Workshop: when participants do the work themselves

A workshop works when participants need to practise or create something. Not as an explanatory format, but as a hands-on format. A 90-minute workshop in which participants produce a concrete outcome — a plan, a document, a decision — has the highest transfer value of any format.

Drawback: scalable to a maximum of around 30 participants per workshop. For larger groups: run parallel workshops with a debrief in a plenary session.

World Café: for broad input

World Café is a format in which participants discuss a question in small groups at round tables, then move on to a new table, and so on. Each round brings a fresh mix of people together.

Works well for: gathering input from large groups, bringing together diverse perspectives, and allowing connections to form between people who would not otherwise speak to one another. Works poorly for: transferring expert knowledge or working through complex decision-making.

Fishbowl: deep conversation, audience as witness

Fishbowl: four to six people sit in a circle (the 'fish bowl') and hold a conversation. The remaining participants observe. Occasionally, someone from the audience may take an empty seat and join in.

Works well for: sensitive topics that cannot easily be discussed in a large plenary session, experts engaging in dialogue with one another, or a demonstration of how a conversation about a complex subject can be conducted.