Matthias, the founder of Facilitape has been using tape for over ten years to transform boring workshop rooms into creative oases.

Since last year, he has been teaching this art to other trainers. One of them is Franziska Semer, who attended his workshop in Hamburg last year. Tape has been an integral part of her formats ever since and she has written a wonderful article about Facilitape. It summarises Facilitape perfectly from a fresh user perspective:

WORKSHOP OR ART? HOW TO FACILITATE EFFECTIVE FACILITATION

Is tape only for sticking things to walls? Definitely not – it can do so much more. It can create an open atmosphere that encourages curiosity, it can provide structure, it can become a co-facilitator. And above all, it can turn a boring room into a real work of art that puts that extra gust of wind in the sails of a great workshop. Even if you might be wondering whether we’ve finally lost our minds – let us explain what Facilitape is all about and show you how it brings workshops to life.

ART MEETS WORKSHOP: HOW FACILITAPE WORKS AS A TOOL

Facilitape is as simple as it is ingenious: you use tape in different colors and widths to actively integrate the space into your workshop. Whether it’s a small seminar room, boring conference room or open-plan office space – the tape becomes your co-facilitator and helps you to structure your workshop.
Because the room design has a significant influence on the success of a workshop. Rooms…

  • offer opportunities for visualisation.
  • create freedom to think and learn.
  • influence the atmosphere of the entire workshop.

Facilitape is therefore a tool that not only makes your method bundle more colourful, but also allows you to actively integrate the room into the workshop. For example, with greetings, check-in stations or as a replacement for the paper canvas.

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Your workshop benefits through facilitape:

  • Long-term motivation: The results of the workshop can be left hanging or photographed after the event so that the team can look at them for long-term motivation.
  • Accessible medium: The inhibitions for participants are particularly low when using tape. It hardly requires any explanation, and everyone can give free rein to their creativity.
  • Visualisation of results: Work results have a significantly higher chance of being internalised and successfully implemented by the team if they are presented visually. Colorful tape can be used to visualise a wide variety of manoeuvres.
  • Unleashing: Very few participants have ever seen colorful tape in workshops or meetings. The colorful room design as well as the interactive application options encourage curiosity and openness.
  • Creates structure: You can use tape to give your workshop a common thread – or a red adhesive strip. You can connect the individual manoeuvres of the workshop spatially using tape and visualise the individual intermediate ports with different colours.
  • Participants are more present: Accessible tools and methods that encourage curiosity and creativity often ensure that participants are more present in the workshop and contribute more actively.
  • Methods become tangible for participants: Tape visually depicts individual intermediate ports or tasks, making the structure of the day and the planned manoeuvres physically tangible. This increases understanding and acceptance among the team.

WHO IS ACTUALLY THE MASTERMIND BEHIND FACILITAPE?

Matthias Lenssen is the creative mind behind Facilitape. With his principle “Visual Facilitation meets Tape Art”, he brings the colorful tool into the workshop and working world.
With his playful tool, he recently won the Golden Owl of the European Training Award 2024 in the category “Tools for Training and Co.”.

In his own workshops, he shows teams and facilitators the magic of taping and thus offers creative design options for events.one of his most important challenges: the question of the sustainability of tape. No manufacturer of sustainable tape has yet been found, but by reusing recurring elements, material waste can at least be reduced.

APPLICATION EXAMPLES: HOW FACILITAPE CAN BE USED IN THE WORKSHOP

Colorful tape in the seminar room looks cool and creates a wow moment, but how can you actively use it for workshop design? We’ve put together some ideas that will amaze teams while creating a creative workspace.

COLORCODING

Tape is available in different colors and widths. You can use the colors in particular to give your workshop more structure. For example, start with a pink welcome, which leads to the green first manoeuvre that takes place in the morning. In the afternoon, move on to the yellow second manoeuvre until the check-out is designed with blue tape. Instead of individual manoeuvres, you can also divide the crew into different groups by color.

ROOM DESIGN

Everyone is now familiar with flipcharts, large canvases and whiteboards. Instead of recording results on a boring white background, you can tape colorful areas on the wall where results can be recorded on Post-Its®. You have much more than just the tables in the room at your disposal – transform walls, windows and doors into components of your workshop and turn the room into a co-facilitator*.

STORYTELLING

Would you like to organise your workshop as a joint journey that the team masters together? The colorful tape is an important aid here too. Simply visualise the individual components of the journey and make each manoeuvre even more tangible. If your team wants to work out their ideas for the future and a shared vision, for example, they can be together on a sailing ship.

Now the team members can answer various questions and note their answers in the components of their voyage:

  • Wind in the sail: What is currently going well?
  • Anchor: What is holding us back?
  • Iceberg: What obstacles and risks are we facing?
  • Lighthouse: What does our destination harbour look like?

Instead of using dry questions to develop a vision and design the route to get there, the crew embarks on its very own journey on the high seas, overcoming obstacles and finding out how to pull together to get to the harbour of destination.

GIMMICKS FOR CREATIVE FUN

The colorful tape is not only intended for working and learning, but also for having fun. For example, set up a selfie spot so that participants can familiarise themselves with the tape and create their own first points of contact.

4 TIPS ON THE USE OF FACILAPE

Have you caught tape fever and would like to start your next workshop with a bag full of colorful rolls of tape? Then we have 4 tips for you here that will give your workshop a boost and make it a real experience for your participants:

  • Prepare the room: The biggest challenge with Facilitape is probably the increased time required to prepare the room. If you already know in advance that tape will be used, ask if you can get to the room a day or at least a few hours before the workshop to prepare it in peace.
  • Prepare motifs: So that you can get started straight away during the preparation time, it is best to think about which motifs you would like to tape at home. For example, you can work with a printed template that you have created in a suitable font or sketches of your desired motifs make. This saves time and takes the pressure off you to be creative right away.
  • Consider the walls: With Facilitape, the space of your workshop becomes a co-facilitator. On the one hand, this gives you freedom and countless design options, but on the other hand it also brings with it an important point to consider: the walls. Make sure that you use tape that can be easily removed from surfaces, and it is best to test the tape in an inconspicuous place beforehand.
  • Take advantage of the variety of tape available: tape comes in a wide range of colors and widths. Equip your bag with a selection of different tapes in advance and use their variety to turn your room into a colorful, creative and inspiring experience.

CURIOSITY, OPENNESS, COLOR – FACILITAPE CREATES COLORFUL AND CREATIVE LEARNING SPACES FOR TEAMS OF ALL KINDS

Creative food for thought, thoughtful provocation or supportive inspiration – tape can do so much more than just stick things on walls. It ensures that your workshop space becomes a co-facilitator* and helps you to create an open atmosphere, highlight topics and give your workshop structure with red tape. Instead of boring white flipcharts in loveless seminar rooms, you can use colorful tape to create a workshop that will be a real experience for your participants. This way, not only the workshop itself, but also its results and the shared journey to the destination harbour will remain in positive memory.

With kind thanks to:
Franziska Semer, from whom we have taken the original blog post: https://www.empulse.rocks/facilitape/
Photos: Franziska Semer and Fabian Siefert