Focus Groups · Workshops · Co-Design
Focus Groups & Workshops That Generate Real Insight
Professional facilitation for focus groups, co design workshops, and stakeholder sessions. We bring people together to explore problems, generate ideas, test concepts, and build consensus. Remote or in-person across the UK.
Why focus groups and workshops work
Some questions need more than individual interviews. You need to see how ideas develop in discussion, watch groups build on each other's thinking, and observe where consensus forms or fractures.
Well-facilitated focus groups and workshops generate depth that surveys miss and speed that individual interviews can't match. They're perfect for exploring shared experiences, testing reactions, co designing solutions, and building stakeholder alignment.
What we facilitate
From traditional focus groups to collaborative co design workshops, we tailor facilitation to your research goals and participant needs.
Traditional Focus Groups
6-8 participants discussing a topic in depth. Perfect for exploring attitudes, testing concepts, understanding shared experiences, and gauging reactions to ideas.
Co-Design Workshops
Collaborative sessions where users, stakeholders, and teams work together to design solutions. Journey mapping, service blueprinting, prototyping, and ideation.
Ideation & Brainstorming Sessions
Structured creative sessions to generate new ideas, solve problems, and explore possibilities. Divergent thinking followed by convergent prioritisation.
Stakeholder Engagement Workshops
Bring together diverse stakeholders to build alignment, gather perspectives, and create shared understanding. Essential for complex projects with multiple interests.
Concept Testing Groups
Test product concepts, messaging, designs, or features with target users. See immediate reactions, understand appeal, and identify concerns before you invest further.
Journey Mapping Workshops
Collaborative sessions to map customer or patient journeys. Identify pain points, moments that matter, and opportunities to improve experience.
Patient & Public Involvement Groups
PPIE focus groups for healthcare projects. Ethical facilitation with patients, carers, and public contributors to inform service design and research.
Prioritisation Workshops
Help teams or stakeholders prioritise features, requirements, or initiatives. Structured exercises to build consensus on what matters most.
When to use focus groups and workshops
Choose the right method for your research question and project stage
Use focus groups when you need to:
Explore shared attitudes and experiences. How do people feel about a topic? What do they have in common? Where do opinions diverge?
Test reactions to concepts. Show prototypes, designs, messaging, or ideas and gauge immediate responses. See what resonates and what doesn't.
Understand group dynamics. How do certain populations talk about issues? What language do they use? How do they influence each other?
Generate hypotheses quickly. Surface themes and patterns that you can test with larger quantitative research or validate through individual interviews.
Use workshops when you need to:
Co-create solutions. Design services, products, or processes with the people who'll use them. Build ownership and better outcomes through collaboration.
Build stakeholder alignment. Get diverse groups on the same page. Create shared understanding and commitment to a direction.
Map complex systems. Understand journeys, processes, or ecosystems that require multiple perspectives to see the whole picture.
Generate and prioritise ideas. Move from problem to solutions in a structured way. Leave with concrete next steps everyone agrees on.
Our facilitation approach
Skilled facilitation that creates psychological safety, manages dynamics, and generates actionable insight
Structured but flexible
Clear agenda and exercises, but we adapt in the moment. If the group needs more time on something important, we adjust. If an activity isn't working, we pivot.
Everyone's voice heard
We manage dominant personalities, draw out quieter participants, and ensure diverse perspectives are captured. No one person monopolises the discussion.
Neutral facilitation
We don't lead people to answers you want. We create space for honest responses, even when they're critical or unexpected. Credible insight requires neutrality.
Accessible by design
Virtual and in-person options. Plain language materials. Visual exercises for different learning styles. British Sign Language interpretation available. Breaks when needed.
Psychological safety
Clear ground rules. Confidentiality agreements. No judgement. Space to disagree respectfully. Trauma-informed approaches for sensitive topics.
Capture and synthesis
We record (with consent), take detailed notes, photograph outputs, and synthesise themes. You get findings, not just raw transcripts.
Actionable outputs
Clear themes and recommendations. Video highlights. Photos of workshop outputs. Prioritised insights your team can act on immediately.
Recruitment or work with your list
We can recruit participants from scratch or facilitate sessions with people you've already identified. Flexible to your needs and timeline.
Remote or in-person facilitation
Both work well. We help you choose based on your participants, topic, and goals.
Remote focus groups and workshops
Fast and accessible. No travel time for participants. Recruit UK-wide. Lower cost per session. Perfect for working professionals, distributed teams, or busy stakeholders.
We use Zoom, Teams, or Miro depending on the activity. Interactive whiteboards for co design. Breakout rooms for small group work. Screen sharing for concept testing.
Best for: Geographically dispersed participants, quick turnarounds, discussion-based focus groups, digital product testing, stakeholder alignment across locations.
In-person sessions
Richer engagement. Better group energy. Easier to read body language. More collaborative for hands on co design with physical materials.
We go where your participants are. That might mean your office or a central venue - but it might equally mean a community centre, a library, a faith setting, a hospice, or a participant's own neighbourhood. Removing the expectation that people travel to research is often what makes the difference between a genuinely representative group and one that skews to the mobile, confident, and digitally engaged. Full-day intensives or shorter focus groups, wherever the work needs to happen.
Best for: Complex co design, stakeholder workshops requiring deep collaboration, sensitive topics needing trust, participants less comfortable with technology, physical product testing.
Who uses our facilitation services
From NHS trusts to tech startups, we facilitate sessions across sectors
Focus group and workshop pricing
Transparent pricing for professional facilitation
Single Session
Focus Group
One facilitated focus group or workshop session. Perfect for concept testing, stakeholder consultation, or exploring a specific topic.
- 1 session (90-120 minutes)
- 6-8 participants (or stakeholder group)
- Recruitment if needed
- Discussion guide development
- Professional facilitation
- Session recording and transcription
- Key findings summary
Multi-Session Programme
Research Series
3-4 focus groups or workshops to explore a topic across different segments or test multiple concepts. Comprehensive thematic analysis.
- 3-4 sessions
- 18-32 total participants
- Multi-segment recruitment
- Research design and planning
- All sessions facilitated
- Cross-session analysis
- Comprehensive findings report
- Stakeholder presentation
Full-Day Workshop
Co-Design Intensive
Intensive full-day co design workshop. Journey mapping, service blueprinting, ideation, and prototyping. Leave with concrete outputs and next steps.
- Full-day session (6-7 hours)
- 8-15 participants
- Workshop design and materials
- Expert facilitation
- All outputs documented
- Post-workshop synthesis
- Action plan and recommendations
All packages include: Participant incentives (where appropriate), facilitation materials, session recording (with consent), synthesis and analysis, and clear deliverables.
In-person additions: Add £1,400–£1,800 per day for in-person facilitation (venue hire, travel, materials). We'll advise based on your needs and location.
Bespoke workshops: Multi-day programmes, international facilitation, or specialist co design projects priced separately. Get in touch to discuss.
Common questions
What is the difference between a focus group and a workshop?
A focus group is a moderated discussion with a small group of participants, typically six to eight people, used to explore opinions, perceptions, and attitudes. A workshop is more collaborative and structured around tasks or outputs: co-design, journey mapping, or stakeholder alignment. Both involve facilitation and group dynamics, but workshops are generally more active and output-focused.
Do you run focus groups online as well as in person?
Yes. We run both remote focus groups via video call and in-person sessions at venues across the UK. Remote groups are often quicker to set up, easier to recruit for, and just as effective for most topics. In-person sessions work better when the topic benefits from physical materials or when a shared space matters to the research.
How many people typically take part in a focus group?
Traditional focus groups run with six to eight participants. Mini groups of four to five work well for sensitive topics or when depth matters more than breadth. Online focus groups often work better with slightly fewer participants, around four to six, to manage the dynamics of a video call.
How much does focus group facilitation cost?
Focus group projects start from £5,500, which typically covers one to two groups with recruitment, facilitation, analysis, and a findings report. Larger programmes with multiple groups across different audience segments are scoped individually. All participant incentives and recruitment costs are included.
How long does it take to set up and run a focus group?
A straightforward focus group with a standard audience profile can be completed within two to three weeks of briefing. More specialist or harder-to-reach recruitment takes four to six weeks. Remote groups typically move faster than in-person ones, as there are no venue logistics to arrange.
We fully recognise the effort your team invested in recruitment, moderation, and analysis, and we genuinely appreciate the quality of the discussions and reporting.
- Usability problems in an insulin device surfaced before manufacturing locked anything in, with human factors evidence supporting the regulatory submission.
- An NHS patient portal team got a prioritised, evidenced list of adoption barriers, and the highest-leverage fix wasn't the one they expected.
- Patient involvement changed a trial's primary endpoint before the protocol was finalised, cited by the ethics committee as a model for evidencing PPIE.
Trusted PPI and PPIE delivery partner to the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care.
Ready to talk it through?
If you want to talk through options, share a brief, or sanity check an approach, head to our contact page and we will come back to you within one working day.
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