Designing digital experiences doesn’t require running separate workshops for every discipline. With the right approach, a single, well-structured stakeholder workshop can align brand vision, surface usability needs, and uncover core functional requirements—all while making the process easier for everyone involved.
This method is built for cross-functional teams, especially when not everyone is fluent in design thinking or technical terminology. It focuses on simplifying the process, avoiding fatigue, and delivering a more complete foundation for UI/UX design and digital execution.
How to Organize the Stakeholder Workshops
1. Keep Everyone in the Room
Rather than splitting workshops by discipline—branding, UX, content, development—bring a small cross-section of the organization together. A group of up to 10-12 participants works well and allows for a range of perspectives while still keeping the session manageable.
Include a mix of:
- Leadership (for strategic direction)
- Marketing (for messaging and audience insights)
- IT or digital operations (for technical realities)
- Administrative or client-facing staff (for day-to-day touchpoints)
This blend gives you a clear window into how the organization functions and where its digital pain points are, without having to run multiple sessions.
2. Start With the Brand Vision
Every successful digital transformation starts with clarity of purpose. Open with simple, non-technical prompts that help define how the organization sees itself and wants to evolve:
- What should people say when they describe your brand?
- How has your audience changed in recent years?
- What does success look like after this transformation?
This part of the conversation sets the tone for the rest of the workshop. It ensures that every design decision, UI consideration, or content direction aligns with the organization’s larger goals.
3. Translate Everyday Experiences Into UX Insights
Instead of asking participants to think in technical or UX terms, guide them with relatable, everyday language:
- What are the most common questions you get from clients?
- What frustrates you about the current site or system?
- What’s something you wish people could do more easily online?
These questions surface real user needs, internal friction points, and missed opportunities—without requiring anyone to understand the difference between wireframes and workflows.
What you hear in this section often forms the foundation of key user journeys and interface improvements.
4. Use Storytelling to Gather Functional Requirements
Ask participants to walk through recent real-life scenarios:
- A successful interaction with a client
- A moment where the current site or tool failed
- A common back-and-forth that could be automated or simplified
These stories naturally expose what the new system needs to do—and why. You’ll gather requirements not in the form of feature requests, but in the context of real usage. This leads to smarter, more empathetic digital solutions.
5. Surface Visual Direction Through Metaphor
Rather than showing visual references or mood boards too early, ask participants to describe brand personality and perception using metaphor or tone:
- If your brand were a person, how would they speak?
- What does “trustworthy” or “innovative” look like to your users?
- Which elements of your current design feel outdated—and why?
This keeps the conversation accessible while still giving the design team meaningful creative direction. Later, these insights help shape visual hierarchy, typography, iconography, and tone of voice.
6. Let Content Strategy Emerge Organically
You don’t need a separate session for content planning. Questions around user needs and internal frustrations often reveal where content is missing or underperforming:
- What information do users often have trouble finding?
- Are there messages we’re not communicating clearly enough?
- What resources or tools should be more visible or accessible?
These answers can guide how content is prioritized and structured—long before any wireframes or sitemaps are created.
7. Synthesize Later, Not During
The goal of the session is not to categorize everything in real-time. Record the conversation, take diligent notes, and focus on facilitating a natural flow. After the session, distill what you’ve gathered into:
- Brand positioning statements
- Navigation priorities
- Key user journeys
- Functional specs
- Visual design goals
- Content gaps
One workshop can produce the foundation for an entire design and development roadmap—if you ask the right questions and listen well.
Final Thoughts: Design by Conversation
This method works not because it simplifies the project, but because it simplifies the path to clarity. It respects everyone’s time, eliminates redundancy, and allows design teams to extract the full scope of insight in a collaborative and human way.
When workshops feel like conversations instead of checklists, you get richer input. When participants aren’t burdened with technical language, they share more freely. And when all the key voices are in the room, you avoid misalignment later in the process.
This isn’t just an efficient way to run stakeholder workshops—it’s a better way to design.