Experience audit - an approach to intentionally design your next group offer so your participants feel seen, understood and receive the experience they came for (and come back again!)
How does it make you feel? is not a question that belongs only to a therapeutic space, but any space you create for others.
Think of the last course or workshop you joined. What really made it memorable?
Be honest with yourself - just the information you learnt or the entire experience - how you felt before the Zoom window asked you to check your camera and mic, during the session and what changed in you afterwards? Did the organiser and the group make you feel seen? Capable? Sparked curiosity?
As organisers, coaches etc we put so much time and energy into designing workshops, training sessions, or other events with the best intentions in mind. You can prepare the prettiest slides, provide the best course platform endorsed by the biggest names in the industry or scout the most breathtaking retreat location and still leave your participants feeling tense, unseen or lost.
If we don’t include the emotional component in our experience design process, we’re risking that people won’t join our spaces again, and we don’t know why, since everything seemed right. That’s because, as a society, we treat emotions of safety and belonging as an afterthought and not a legitimate design decision.
And that neglect leads us to a pretty simple cause-and-effect reaction:
a participant doesn’t feel safe in a space → they don’t participate in it fully → they don’t get the effect they came for → they don’t come back
We are human beings, not human doings (despite capitalist narratives claiming otherwise), and our participants enter our spaces not just with their 5-year plans and ironed shirts but also with their feelings and emotions, which they might not always be aware of or able to articulate.
Sign up below to receive the workshop recording:
When you sign up to my email list, you’ll receive a recording of a 35 min workshop explaining my approach, which I call an experience audit - that I use when I plan a new group session or an IRL event to ensure that people who join my space get the experience they haven’t felt before.
Hi! I'm Agata - Polish-born, Berlin-based consultant, strategist and writer.
When I'm not in front of my screen, bringing more human-centred design to the tech & online space, I'm resting by the lake with a good book in my hand (The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is my latest recommendation - it really is as good as everyone says!).
I’ve spent a good chunk of my career acting as a thought partner and advisor to leaders & senior executives navigating transitions in innovative, mid-sized companies, who, like me, removed the phrase 'it's always been done this way...' from their vocabulary; co-designing and improving their systems, processes and ways of working so their teams can collaborate smoothly and spend less time on unnecessary admin.
What I share in this workshop is a method that I’ve honed over the last 10 years as both a consultant and a trainer, curriculum creator and facilitator; as well as in my private life - organising book clubs and other group gatherings to create a space where participants feel safe, seen, and cared for — then make decisions about slides, snacks, and the physical location from there.
I write longer articles on reimagining better spaces & cultural commentary on my Substack - here's one of my favourite posts. This one too!
You can also listen to my podcast - the culture of unrushing - this episode pairs well with this workshop.
© 2026 Agata Serocka
