Whether you're running a training session, brainstorming meeting or educational seminar, Mentimeter can help you gather real-time input and boost participation. This article will walk you through how to effectively plan and run a workshop using Mentimeter.
Before the workshop
Before getting started, make sure you have a clear idea of the objective of your workshop (e.g., idea generation, knowledge sharing, decision-making) and the key takeaways you want participants to leave with. Keep these in mind as you plan your workshop.
Also consider your audience: how many participants will there be, what are their roles, and how familiar are they with the topic being discussed?
Designing your Menti
An effective Mentimeter-powered workshop is a dynamic and interactive experience. The key is to structure your presentation in segments that match the natural flow of a great workshop, but make sure to include interactive elements at every stage to keep participants engaged.
1. Start with an ice-breaker
Ice breakers help participants feel comfortable and ready to engage. The goal here is to loosen people up, get a few laughs, and show them how to use Mentimeter right away.
Slide Types to Use:
Word Cloud: “What one word describes how you’re feeling today?” or “What’s your favorite hobby?”
Multiple Choice: Fun quizzes or light polls like “Tea or Coffee?”, “Introvert or Extrovert?”, “Morning person or night owl?”
Open Ended: Try something open like “What’s something interesting you’ve learned recently?”
2. Set expectations and goals
Let participants know what the workshop is about and what you aim to accomplish. This sets the stage and helps you gauge where your audience is as a starting point.
Slide Types to Use:
Content Slide (Text slide or Image slide): Present your agenda and objectives.
Multiple Choice or Scales: Ask participants, “How familiar are you with this topic?” or “What do you hope to get out of this session?”
3. Gather participant input and perspectives
This is the discovery phase—understand the room, capture insights, and establish a baseline for discussion. This helps tailor your facilitation and gets voices in the room early.
Slide Types to Use:
Open Ended: “What are your biggest challenges with X?” or “What questions do you hope we’ll answer today?”
Scales: “On a scale of 1–10, how confident are you about X?”
Ranking: “Rank the following in terms of importance to you…”
4. Brainstorming and co-creation
This is where the collaborative magic happens. You want to generate ideas, provoke discussion and prioritize options.
Slide Types to Use:
Word Cloud: For quick idea bursts. “What are some possible solutions?” or “What words come to mind when you hear X?”
Open Ended: For more nuanced contributions. “What would you do differently?”
Ranking, 100 Points or voting on Open Ended: Let participants prioritize or vote on the best ideas.
Be sure to adapt and facilitate the discussion based on what participants contribute. Use the hide results option if you want to avoid groupthink during input.
5. Group reflection or pulse check
As the workshop starts to wind down, check how participants are feeling.
Slide Types to Use:
Scales: “How useful has this session been so far?”
Multiple Choice: “Do you feel ready to apply this?” or “Would you attend another workshop like this?”
6. Gather feedback and wrap up
Capture feedback to helps with continuous improvement and give participants a chance to voice lingering questions.
Slide Types to Use:
Open Ended: “What was your biggest takeaway?” or “Any suggestions for improvement?”
Scales or Multiple Choice: Rate the workshop, facilitator or relevance of the material.
Q&A Slide: Open the floor for any final questions or thoughts.
Here are some example workshop flows to help you get some ideas:
Workshop section | Slide type(s) used | Purpose |
Ice Breaker | Word Cloud, Multiple Choice | Build comfort and engagement |
Expectations & Goals | Content Slide, Scales | Set context and understand expectations |
Input & Insight Gathering | Open Ended, Ranking, Scales | Discover needs, spark discussion |
Brainstorming | Word Cloud, Open Ended, Ranking | Generate and prioritize ideas |
Pulse Check | Scales, Multiple Choice | Adjust based on audience feedback |
Wrap-Up & Feedback | Open Ended, Scales, Q&A | Evaluate and close the loop |
Designing your workshop with these phases in mind will keep participants engaged, make your sessions more interactive and lead to more meaningful outcomes.
Some other considerations:
Q&A: You can allow your participants to submit questions anonymously throughout the session with the Q&A feature.
Test your presentation: Run through your Menti in presenter mode to check the flow and timing. You can also use Preview mode to see exactly what your participants will see in their devices.
Share access: Make sure your participants know how to join the Menti. They can join at menti.com, scan the QR code, or you can send them a direct link in advance.
After the workshop
Analyze and download results: You can review and analyze your results in the Results page of your presentation, where you can also export the data to Excel or PDF.
Share the results: Use the exports or the presentation link with participants so they can review the slides and work with them later.
Ask for feedback: Use Mentimeter to run a quick post-session survey to understand what can be improved for next time.
Need more inspiration? Check out our workshop template library for ready-to-use presentations, or try the Menti AI Builder to quickly create a first draft based on your prompts.