Allow me to begin by bringing up the definition of the two. A lecture is known to be an educational talk to an audience (usually students) while a workshop is considered a meeting where a group of people engage in intensive discussion and activity on a particular subject or project. Just from reading the definitions there seems to be a huge contrast between the two. I will be further boosting this point through my first-hand experience between the two. 

Let us begin by looking at lectures. Being a student for the past two and a half years in a polytechnic, I have gone through many lectures. And the basic process for all of these lectures is: You walk in, take a seat and listen. The lecturer will stop talking once in a while and ask: “Any questions?” Besides the occasional question about some grey areas in the theory, the class is usually silent or having their own chit-chat. Small notes may be taken but all with the objective of preparing for the upcoming exam. The general focus of lectures is to go through the theory and we still have to go home to read it a few times before it is imprinted in our heads. All other forms of application or discussions are usually left to the tutorials. This entire ‘activity’ can be seen as very structured and straight-forward.

Workshops on the other hand are rather different. I have attended a few workshops from several companies before and I must say that I am impressed with the manner that HRmatters21 has conducted their workshop. The first few hours of the workshop were “cold” so to speak as everyone did not know each other and were not bold enough to actually ask any questions. However, everything changed during the first break. The participants got into a group and started their own topics, discussing some problems that they encounter during the course of their work. This can be seen as breaking the ice and they became friendly by the time they returned to the classroom the second time. This time, during the course of the content being covered by Mr Gabriel, questions were being shot out like machine gun and encompassed not only the topic that we were covering but also future topics. I was very surprised at the enthusiasm that can be felt from these working adults. It is almost like they reverted to being overtly curious children. The questions themselves were intriguing. Most of them are based off real scenarios encountered by the participants and the many different combinations of situations gave rise to much confusion. Mr Gabriel handled this situation well, by being accommodating and answering as many questions as time allowed. He not only answered the questions but when possible, told us about his past experience with similar cases in the form of stories. This made it really comprehensive and with the stories, created an impact in our minds. Mr Gabriel also handled the participants really well. When the theory became very dry and people started to lose interest, he immediate jumped to a fun fact or story so as to keep everyone’s mind active. Besides the theory that was promised to the participants, Mr Gabriel also had created a value-added aspect by inviting a lawyer, who was his friend, to attend the workshop as well. The lawyer participated actively in discussions, giving advice and tips as and when he could. With all these factors in mind, the workshop was really enjoyable and educational at the same time.

So based on these 2 experiences, I hope that you are convinced that there is a huge distinction between workshops and lectures. Please do not misunderstand – I am not trying to say that lectures are not important; I acknowledge the important role of building our foundations that lectures play. I would just like to suggest going for both lectures and workshops so as to create a thorough understanding of the topic and you will truly know how to apply in the working world.

By Darren Kang