While seminars and workshops are both ways for attendees to learn information, there are some differences between them. Some of these differences include the format, the primary purpose or goal, and the interaction between the instructor and students.
The primary difference between these events is the format in which each event is held. A seminar has a structure that is more like a lecture or classroom style of learning. In this respect, the lecturer, speaker or instructor gives a speech or shares information with the audience, similar to how a teacher lectures a classroom full of children. The difference between seminars and a workshop is that workshops also add hands-on activities into the mix.
For example, in a workshop, the lecturer may cover a topic of learning. Then to drive the point home, the organizer may group attendees together into small groups to participate in activities, role playing and other hands-on activities to apply what the attendees have learned during the lecture portion of the workshop.
The size of the classes or the total amount of attendees is another one of the differences between seminars and workshops. Seminars tend to have much larger audiences because it simply consists of an expert sharing information with the audience on a specific topic. Workshops on the other hand tend to have smaller audiences, or are broken up into smaller groups, because of the hands-on activities that are a part of learning in the workshop experience.
One of the other differences between seminars and workshops is the planning and implantation phase of each. Planning a seminar tends to be much less time and cost intensive than that of a workshop. This is because a workshop tends to require a lot more employees to pull the event off, such as managing the breakout groups for the hands-on activities after the lecture or speaker portion of the workshop.
Another major differences between workshops and seminars is that workshops may have several different activities that the attendees can choose. A seminar format may only have the main lecture and there is no further follow-up activities or ways for the attendees to apply the knowledge they have learned during the seminar.
The primary differences between seminars and workshops is the form of communication. Seminars tend to have a one-way street of communication, whereas communication in workshops run both ways between instructors and attendees.