How to close a workshop people still talk about weeks later
The Celebrate activity that turns a good ending into a memory nobody forgets.
Most workshops end the same way. A quick recap, a thank you, and everyone reaches for their phone.
The work was good. The energy was real. And then it just stops.
That's the part I think most facilitators underestimate. How you close a session decides what people carry out of the room. Not the agenda. Not the outputs. The last five minutes.
Every single person I've shared this activity with was skeptical the first time. Then they tried it. And they all came back saying the same thing: participants were still talking about it weeks later.
It doesn't just close the session on a high note. It creates a memory.
I've run it hundreds of times. Corporate clients, NGOs, startups. It has never failed. And it needs nothing more than flipchart paper and a few markers.
This one is mine. The Gratitude Poncho is Vol. 05.
This edition's activity
Mehdi En-NaiziHow it works
Hand each participant a sheet of flipchart paper. Don't tell them what's coming. Just give instructions and let them follow. Fold the paper in half, then in half again. Do it yourself at the same time so they can copy you. Watching them try to guess what's happening is half the fun.
Cut the corner at the centre of the folded paper, big enough to fit a head through. No scissors needed if you don't have any. Unfold it and you have a poncho.
Invite everyone to put it on. Expect laughter. Then ask them to grab a marker and start walking around.
Each participant writes something they appreciate about a colleague, on that colleague's back, anonymously. Give an example out loud: “I really enjoy working with Mark because he's always smiling.” Encourage lots of colours.
When they're done, ask everyone to sit back down and remove their poncho at the same time. Then give them two silent minutes to read what their team wrote about them.
When to use it
- →Closing a team retreat or offsite
- →Teams that already know each other well
- →Any session where you want the ending to stick
Watch the tutorial
I walk through the full activity in this video · Watch on YouTube →
Founder of Facilitators' Corner, father of two, and a facilitation enthusiast. Over the past five years, Mehdi has designed and led hundreds of workshops for companies, NGOs, and startups, covering everything from problem-solving to business strategy and team retreats. He writes a weekly newsletter for facilitators, hosts the Another Day, Another Workshop podcast, and built The Workshop Deck to help facilitators design better sessions in less time.
Most closing activities fail for the same reason: they summarise instead of celebrate. You recap the outputs, thank everyone for their time, and the session fades out. Useful, forgettable.
The Gratitude Poncho does something different. It turns the ending into an experience. And the mechanic is what makes it work. Because the words are written on your back, you can't see them while they're being written. You spend ten minutes giving appreciation without receiving any. Then everyone takes the poncho off at the same time and reads it all at once.
That delay is the whole activity. It's what turns a nice gesture into a moment.
I've seen genuine smiles. I've seen tears. I've had clients tell me months later that people still have their poncho pinned up at their desk. That's not something a recap slide can do.
One thing to be careful about: this works best with teams who already know each other. It's not the right fit for a group that came together yesterday to solve a big challenge. If one or two people are new, that's fine. Just suggest they write the first impression that came to mind when they met.
Workshop Deck App
From activity to full workshop
The Gratitude Poncho is a Celebrate activity, the final phase of the 6C framework. But a workshop is six phases, and each one needs to land.
Designing a workshop means wrestling with three questions: where do I start, does the flow make sense, will it actually deliver?
The Workshop Deck guides you through all six phases of the 6C framework so your agenda has real structure from opening to close. And if the Gratitude Poncho isn't the right fit for your next workshop, there are more Celebrate activities inside the app waiting for you, alongside battle-tested activities for every other phase, all proven by hundreds of facilitators in the room.
This is Vol. 05. More expert facilitators are coming, each one bringing the activity they trust most when the stakes are high. Small library. High trust. Zero overwhelm.
Hope you enjoy this one.
Mehdi
P.S. This is Vol. 05 of Signature Activities. Every edition: one expert, one activity, zero filler.
P.P.S. Already inside the app? The Gratitude Poncho is live. Open it, try it in your next session.