90 minutes · Live online · Future Skills 101
Design for someone real, not everyone.
A hands-on session to build personas that actually shape decisions, grounded in real behaviour and evidence instead of a name and a stock photo.
Before you book
Two minutes on what the session actually covers and who it's for.
The problem
When you try to build something for everyone, you usually end up building something nobody quite wants. A vague audience produces vague decisions.
A name and a stock photo on a slide rarely change a single decision that follows it.
Without real evidence behind them, personas just restate what the team already believed.
Treating a whole market as one person hides the differences that actually matter.
If your personas live in a deck nobody opens twice, this is the session that shows you how to make them work.
The core idea
Personas built on evidence, not assumption.
Personas 101 gives you a practical method for building personas grounded in real behaviour, goals and friction, sharp enough to actually guide a decision.
How it works
The 90 minutes are the middle. What happens either side is what makes them stick.
No pre-work worksheet. Watch the two-minute intro above if you like, then just show up ready to think about who you're actually designing for.
Optional, before the sessionArne van Oosterom walks you through building a persona from real evidence, live, so you leave with something sharper than a name and a photo.
90 minutes, live onlineTake your certificate, then bring what you've learned back to your work, or go further with a private session for your whole team.
Optional · ongoingWhat you take away
This is an introduction and it's honest about that. Ninety minutes buys you a working persona, which is more than most courses manage in a day.
Where real persona detail actually comes from and why a guess dressed up as insight still doesn't hold up.
101Why what someone does matters more than their age or job title, most of the time.
101How to build a single persona specific enough to actually change a decision.
101How to use a persona in a real meeting, instead of filing it away after the workshop.
101Who it's for
What people notice
They notice that you:
And afterwards
Everyone who attends gets a Future Skills Certificate for Personas 101, shareable on LinkedIn and one tile in a collection that grows as you take more of the series.
If the session opens something up, coaching is there: one-to-one, or with your team, on a real audience you're designing for. Ask on the day, or get in touch.
Practical details
Want it for your whole team, in your own context? Get in touch.
Dates & booking
Pick a date below, or ask us to schedule one. Confirmation and a calendar invite arrive straight away.
No date is on the calendar for Personas 101 right now.
Want it for your own team? Every Future Skills 101 course is also available bespoke and in-house on a date that suits you. Get in touch to set it up.