Liberating Structures Design Workshop - 1 Day

Liberating Structures offer a radically different approach to collaboration. Created by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless, this collection of 33 microstructures helps groups of any size tap into the insights and contributions of everyone, using just a few simple rules.

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to combine Liberating Structures to design your sessions. Each structure has value on its own, but when you start linking them together with intent, you can guide a group through more meaningful reflection, better decisions, and inclusive participation. We’ll explore how to create purposeful ‘strings’ that match your goals, and you’ll leave with designs you can apply right away.

The workshop is packed with practical insights, design practice, and opportunities to learn from others. You’ll learn how to:

• Design your meetings, workshops, or gatherings using Liberating Structures.
• Combine Liberating Structures into powerful strings that help you achieve your purpose.
• Apply the five design elements that shape every LS: make an invitation, arrange space, configure groups, distribute participation, and allocate time and steps.
• Craft invitations that spark thinking, avoid bias, and tap into the group’s intelligence. A well-designed invitation can make or break the entire structure, so learning how to create them is essential.
• Spot common traps and learn key dos and don’ts to make your LS designs more effective and engaging.
• Draw inspiration from other practitioners—their successes, lessons, and unexpected outcomes using LS in practice.
• Combine Liberating Structures within larger formats, such as Purpose-to-Practice, Shift & Share, and Open Space.

By the end of the day, you’ll have designed multiple strings yourself, gathered ideas from others, and walked away with my top 10 favorite strings to use.

This workshop is for anyone who already knows the basics of Liberating Structures and has tried a few in practice. You don’t need to be an expert—just familiar enough to build on. No experience with combining LS into strings? Perfect. That’s exactly what you’ll learn here.

• Experience a high-energy day, no boring PowerPoint, no passive learning.
• Get a digital bundle of all workshop materials: posters, exercises, and more.
• Learn alongside a diverse group (our last group had 35 participants from six countries!)
• Get hands-on experience using Liberating Structures in person and take away tips for applying them online.
• Six weeks after the workshop, we’ll host an online meetup to share how your LS strings worked in practice. What did you try? What happened? Let’s learn from each other’s experiences.

The workshop takes place at the Volkshotel in Amsterdam—a great spot, and a solid choice if you’re looking for accommodation. We start at 9:00 sharp (doors open at 8:30) and wrap up around 16:30, never later than 17:00. Afterward, we’ll stick around for some snacks and drinks, so if you’ve got time to hang out, we’d love that. If you have any dietary restrictions, just let us know in advance so we can inform the Volkshotel.

Yes! While booking through Eventbrite is the easiest way—you’ll get a valid invoice automatically—we’re happy to send a manual invoice if needed. Just contact us with:

• Your company name and address
• A purchase order (if applicable)
• Your VAT number (for EU-based companies)

VAT cannot be reverse-charged. Tickets for public events are exempt from VAT reversal. We pay the VAT on your behalf, but you can reclaim it through your local tax authority using your invoice as proof.

As The Liberators, we aim to liberate teams from ineffective work practices by empowering them to shape their future. To achieve this, we create products to unleash the superpowers of (Agile) teams worldwide. We share a wide variety of content and support a community that learns and grows together.

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