Workshop Facilitation Guideline
Please take the time to read this webpage carefully and in full.
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for submitting your expression of interest for a workshop at ERF2027, taking place on 2-4 March in Birmingham, UK.
ERF workshops are one of the most important parts of the Forum. They bring together researchers, industry representatives, policymakers, investors and end users to exchange ideas, identify challenges, build collaborations and shape future priorities for the European robotics community.
This document explains the process for developing and delivering an ERF2027 workshop, outlines key deadlines, and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of workshop organisers and the Programme Committee.
ERF2027 received more than 160 Expressions of Interest for workshop sessions, over 30% growth compared to previous years. To create a focused, high-quality programme, many of these ideas have been combined into a smaller number of workshops. As a result, most workshops involve multiple stakeholders representing different original submissions. Effective collaboration between all of you is therefore essential.
Each workshop has one nominated Main Organiser selected by the Programme Committee. The Main Organiser acts as the primary point of contact for the workshop and is responsible for facilitating organisation, ensuring decisions are made on time, maintaining momentum, and submitting all required information by the published deadlines. While responsibilities may be shared across the organising team, accountability for delivery rests with the Main Organiser.
Workshop Main Organisers are expected to establish their workshop teams where applicable, if required agree on roles and responsibilities at an early stage, and nominate any additional leads required for agenda development, speaker engagement, marketing and communication / publicity, moderation, reporting or logistics.
If you have been nominated as the Main Organiser but already foresee challenges in meeting the timeline below, please inform us as soon as possible to avoid any disappointments.
The Programme Committee will provide guidance, review submissions and support organisers throughout the process. However, responsibility for developing the workshop content, coordinating contributors, securing speakers and meeting deadlines remains with the workshop organisers.
Please note that workshop slots are provisionally allocated. Failure to engage with co-organisers, respond to requests, meet deadlines or provide the required information may result in a change of Main Organiser or removal of the workshop from the ERF2027 programme.
The objective of this process is to ensure that every workshop is well prepared, high quality, highly interactive, relevant to the ERF community and delivers clear value to participants. We therefore ask all organisers to familiarise themselves with the guidance in this document and to take an active role in developing their workshop from the outset.
If you have been nominated as the Main Organiser but already foresee challenges in meeting the timeline below, please inform us as soon as possible to avoid any disappointments.
Key Milestones and Deadlines
🗓️ 30 August 2026 – Workshop Title and High-Level Description
By this date, the main workshop organiser must submit:
- The proposed preliminary workshop title.
- A short high-level preliminary description of the workshop.
(Maximum of 40 words) – One Sentence Summary field.
A detailed agenda, speakers and session structure are not required at this stage if they are not yet confirmed.
🗓️ 20 September 2026 – Detailed Workshop Description
By this date, the main workshop organiser must update the submission with:
- The agreed workshop title.
- A full workshop description.
- A workshop agenda.
- Invited and/or confirmed speakers.
Workshop descriptions will undergo quality review for clarity, interactivity, outcomes, completeness, consistency, and inclusion.
🗓️ 1 December 2026 – Final Programme Submission
By this date, the main workshop organiser must submit the final version of the workshop, incorporating any feedback from the Programme Committee. This must include:
- Final workshop title and description.
- Final agenda.
- All confirmed speakers.
Social Media & Promotional Material:
- Main organiser’s photo, name, position, and organisation.
- Short promotional text for euRobotics social media channels.
All speakers must be confirmed and registered by this deadline.
Full timeline
How to organise a good workshop?
A good workshop is not about clever slides or talking at people. It is about bringing a group together to discuss, explore and work collectively towards a shared goal.
At the ERF, you have a unique opportunity to engage with one of the most diverse communities in Robotics and AI. In the same room you may have researchers, technology developers, real end users, business leaders, policy makers, investors, funding organisations and many others. Each participant brings different experiences, perspectives and expertise.
Use that opportunity to create value for the community and forum delegates. Focus on facilitating meaningful interactions, encouraging discussion and drawing on the knowledge in the room rather than presenting yourself, your organisation or your colleagues. The most successful workshops are those where participants learn from one another, identify shared challenges, build new connections and leave with ideas, insights or actions that would not have emerged through a series of presentations alone.
As a workshop organiser, your role is not simply to share information. It is to create the conditions for productive conversations, diverse viewpoints and collaborative problem-solving that help advance the European robotics community. The knowledge in the room is often far greater than that of any individual speaker; your job is to unlock it.
🫧 Be clear about what is your goal
Before anything else, decide what the workshop is for.
- What do you want people to leave with: ideas, decisions, plans, or shared understanding?
- Write this in one simple sentence and keep coming back to it.
Workshops work best when there is a clear focus, rather than a vague “let’s discuss X”.
📂 Pick a clear topic and angle
Do not choose a broad topic alone. Add an angle or question.
- Instead of “Let’s talk about humanoid robots”
- Try “What is stopping humanoid robots being used on the shop floor, and how do we fix it?”
A clear angle helps people prepare their thoughts and makes discussion easier from the start.
🎨 Design for participation, not presentations
Long presentations switch people off. Lots of presentations mean you won’t run to time (trust us, we know it). A good workshop gets everyone involved early.
- Ask simple questions and let people talk in pairs or small groups.
- Write key points on a board or shared document.
- Use short activities that invite everyone to contribute, not just the confident speakers.
- Avoid too many or too long presentations.
Simple structures and clear rules help people participate more evenly and avoid chaos.
🎤 Act as a host, not a lecturer
Your role is closer to hosting a dinner party than giving a lecture.
- Welcome people and explain how the session will run.
- Encourage quieter participants and manage those who talk too much.
- Don’t be afraid to stop people from talking if they overrun.
- Keep the discussion on track, but do not dominate it.
How you behave sets the tone. If you are open and relaxed, others will be too.
👥 Give the group some structure
Total freedom often leads to confusion. Too much control kills energy. Aim for the middle.
- Break time into clear sections.
- Tell people how long activities will last.
- Explain what is expected of them before each activity.
Simple structures create just enough order to let good ideas emerge naturally.
💡Use the experience already in the room
Do not assume who is an expert and who is not.
- Ask people to share examples from their own work.
- Invite different perspectives, including disagreement.
- Try and foreground voices from people who are not well represented in discussions – avoid “pale, male and stale” discussion groups!
- Treat the group as the main source of value, not yourself.
- Ensure your organizers, moderators, and speakers represent diverse genders, sectors, and career stages. Avoid single-demographic panels
- Actively invite early-career researchers, students, and junior developers to present, moderate, or lead breakout groups to bring fresh energy and new perspectives
Workshops are powerful because they bring together people with different experiences.
🔜 Close properly and follow up
End the workshop with purpose.
- Summarise what was discussed.
- Agree on the next steps, even small ones.
- Share notes or outcomes afterwards.
This helps the conversation continue beyond the room and makes the time feel worthwhile.
Workshop Description Guideline
🏷️ Workshop Title
(Maximum: 100 characters including spaces)
Guidance:
- Keep the title concise and descriptive.
- Clearly communicate the workshop topic and intended focus.
- Avoid unexplained acronyms.
- Avoid titles that simply state a technology area without a challenge, opportunity or question.
- Write your workshop description using clear, jargon-free, and gender-neutral language.
Good examples:
- Robotics for Sustainable Construction: From Pilot to Deployment
- AI and Robotics for Agri-Food Production
- Scaling Service Robotics: Challenges, Standards and Adoption
📝 One Sentence Summary
(Maximum: 40 words)
Example 1 – Challenge-focused
This workshop will explore the key barriers to deploying humanoid robots in industrial environments and identify practical actions needed by technology developers, end users and policymakers to accelerate adoption.
Example 2 – Outcome-focused
Bringing together industry, research and policy stakeholders to develop a shared roadmap for scaling robotics adoption across Europe’s manufacturing sector.
Example 3 – Question-led
What is limiting the adoption of Physical AI in real-world robotics applications, and what technical, commercial and regulatory actions are needed to unlock deployment at scale?
Workshop Description (Maximum: 200 words)
Guidance
ERF workshops are intended to be highly interactive and outcome-focused. A successful workshop is not a series of presentations; it is a structured discussion that brings participants together to explore a challenge, exchange perspectives and generate useful outcomes.
Please describe your workshop by addressing the following points:
🎯 Workshop Goal
What do you want participants to leave with?
Examples:
- New knowledge and insights
- Recommendations
- A shared understanding of a challenge
- New collaborations
- Future actions or priorities
Try to summarise your goal in one or two sentences.
📄 Topic and Angle
What specific challenge, opportunity or question will the workshop address?
Avoid broad statements such as:
“This workshop will discuss robotics in manufacturing.”
Instead, clearly define the focus:
“What is preventing wider adoption of robotic systems in SMEs, and how can those barriers be overcome?”
👥 Intended Audience
Who should attend and contribute to this workshop?
Examples:
- Researchers
- Industry
- End users
- Policymakers
- Investors
- Start-ups
What perspectives do you hope to bring together?
🤝 Participation and Interaction
How will participants actively contribute?
Describe:
- Discussion formats
- Round tables
- Breakout groups
- Polls and surveys
- Interactive exercises
- Collaborative activities
Please explain how you will encourage participation from attendees rather than relying primarily on presentations.
🏁 Expected Outcomes
What tangible outputs, recommendations or follow-up actions will result from the workshop?
Examples include:
- Community recommendations
- Best-practice guidance
- Research priorities
- Position statements
- Roadmaps
- Future collaborations
- Workshop reports
🚫 Please avoid
- Literature reviews.
- Detailed project descriptions.
- Long technical background sections.
- Marketing or promotional language.
- Long speaker biographies.
- Detailed agenda information (provided separately).
A reviewer should be able to understand, within approximately one minute of reading:
- Why the workshop exists.
- Why somebody should attend.
- How participants will contribute.
- What outcomes will be produced.
📃 Example of a Good Workshop Description
Robotics and AI technologies continue to advance rapidly, yet many promising solutions fail to achieve widespread adoption or scale beyond pilot deployments. This workshop will explore a specific challenge facing the robotics community: how to accelerate successful deployment by addressing the technical, organisational, business and policy barriers that continue to limit adoption across sectors.
The workshop aims to create a shared understanding of the most significant obstacles to deployment while identifying practical actions that industry, researchers, policymakers and end users can take to overcome them. Participants will leave with new insights, a clearer view of community priorities and a set of recommendations for future action.
The session is intended for researchers, industrial users, technology developers, start-ups, investors and policymakers. Bringing these perspectives together is essential to understanding the different factors that influence adoption and impact.
Active participation will be at the centre of the workshop. Following short introductory inputs to frame the discussion, participants will contribute through facilitated breakout discussions, interactive exercises and collaborative prioritisation activities. Discussions will focus on identifying key challenges, sharing experiences and developing practical recommendations.
The workshop will produce a concise set of community recommendations, highlight priority areas for future collaboration and identify actions that can help increase the real-world impact and adoption of robotics technologies.
Workshop Agenda
Example (always start with minute 0, as the actual WS timing will be defined later)
| Time | Activity | Speaker / Moderator / Lead |
| 0 – 5 min | Introduction | John Smith |
| 5 – 15 min | Framing Presentation – “Humanoids impact on teleoperators wellbeing” | John Smith Jr |
| 15 – 20 min | Roundtable Discussions briefing | John Smith |
| 20 – 60 min | Roundtable Discussions | All Participants |
| 60 – 75 min | Group Presentations | Table Leads |
| 75 – 80 min | Conclusions and next steps | John Smith |
Interactive resources and room configuration
To support interactive workshop facilitation, we can provide a range of resources to help make your workshop a success:
- Roundtable room configuration, including paper flipcharts for group discussions and collaborative activities.
- Mentimeter, enabling real-time audience engagement through Q&A, surveys, polls and live visualisation of responses.
- The conference app (Swapcard, as used at ERF2026 in Norway), which supports session-specific Q&A, audience interaction and post-session feedback collection.
Accessibility best practices for presenters and participants:
- Enable automated live subtitles on your slides (built into PowerPoint or Google Slides) to assist hearing-impaired attendees and non-native English speakers.
- Use high-contrast colour schemes and large fonts on slides to support attendees with visual impairments.
- Keep pathways clear for wheelchair users or those with limited mobility
The majority of the workshops by default will be placed in theater style rooms.
To request a specific room configuration or any of these interactive resources, please notify the PC in your Workshop Description Document.
Request for local speakers
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How long are the workshops?
The workshop slots are 80 minutes only.
If I am organising an ERF workshop, am I entitled to a free registration to attend the Forum?
No. Workshop organisers are expected to register for the forum in the same way as other participants.
If an invited speaker would otherwise be unable to attend, can they be granted a free registration?
Only euRobotics Topic Group coordinators (TGs) may apply for up to two complimentary registrations per TG total for invited workshop speakers who would otherwise be unable to attend ERF. These registrations are intended to support the participation of speakers whose contribution is important to the success of the workshop. All requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and approval is not guaranteed. To request a complimentary speaker registration for a TG led workshop, please submit an application via: https://forms.gle/xJ2QKq8sqbyAV4vm8
Are all submitted Expressions of Interest and ideas expected to be consolidated into a single workshop?
No. The aim is not to force all Expressions of Interest into a single workshop, but to encourage organisers with similar topics and intended outcomes to work collaboratively under the lead of the nominated main organiser to develop a joint workshop where appropriate.
Is it possible for a workshop speaker to participate remotely?
No. All workshops and speakers are expected to participate in person. Remote participation is not supported.
If, after initial discussions, the group concludes that the grouped Expressions of Interest cover two clearly distinct fields, is it possible to organise two separate workshops and obtain an additional slot?
This may be possible but is reviewed on a case‑by‑case basis. An additional workshop slot might be allocated if there is strong justification. In such cases, please contact the Programme Committee member who initially reached out to you.
When will I be notified whether my workshop proposal has been accepted?
At this stage, when you and your group have been contacted by a programme committee member to create a workshop, your ERF workshop slot is provisionally allocated. Provided that all requirements and responses to feedback are met and deadlines are respected, your workshop will be included in the final programme. The Programme Committee reserves the right to withdraw the slot if the required information is not submitted or deadlines are missed.
The nominated workshop organiser didn’t reach out to anyone in our workshop group and one of the deadlines is soon. What should I do?
Please escalate this to the Programme Committee member that contacted your group or to karol.janik@the-mtc.org (General Chair) and/or reinhard.lafrenz@eu-robotics.net (euRobotics Secretary-General). The Programme Committee reserves the right to change nominated workshop organiser or withdraw workshop from the programme if the nominated main organiser is unresponsive, required information is not submitted or deadlines are missed.
For any questions related to the programme development process or general workshop organisation (rather than a specific workshop proposal), please submit them using the following form: forms.gle/fjDJ4m8doKbtJyAD8