A Complete Guide To Oliver Wight Public Workshops
11 Aug 2025
Blog
Public workshops are a great starting point for teams and individuals who want to improve their business planning capabilities. These open-enrolment, online sessions are designed to equip you with the knowledge, skills and tools to understand and implement Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and other core disciplines. Whether you're looking to build foundational understanding, upskill new team members, or explore how IBP could be applied in your business, these workshops provide accessible, expert-led learning with real-world relevance.
At Oliver Wight, we believe that educated people make educated decisions. That’s why our public workshops go beyond theory. Each session introduces practical, actionable techniques that help participants solve real business challenges – from improving forecast accuracy to aligning financial and operational plans. These are not passive webinars, but live, interactive learning experiences designed for people who want to make a difference in their organisations.
Browse our upcoming dates and book your public workshop today.
What Are Public Workshops?
Oliver Wight public workshops are structured training sessions delivered online by our most experienced consultants. Each course typically runs for one or two half-days and focuses on a specific area of business planning or supply chain management.
Topics include:
- Integrated Business Planning (IBP)
- Demand forecasting
- Product and portfolio management
- Scenario planning and decision making
You’ll join other professionals from different companies and industries, which creates an opportunity for cross-sector learning and rich discussion. Through presentations, discussions, real-world case studies and polls and quizzes, you’ll explore how the principles of IBP apply in a range of business contexts – and how they could be used to solve your own organisation’s challenges.
Who Should Attend?
These workshops are designed for anyone responsible for, or involved in, business planning, performance management, or decision-making. Participants typically include planners, supply chain managers, finance managers, operations leaders, and product or portfolio managers.
In many cases, organisations use public workshops to introduce IBP concepts to key people in the business – for example, when they’re considering whether IBP is the right approach, or preparing to begin a transformation programme.
Public workshops are also ideal for:
- Individuals taking on new roles in the planning process
- Teams that want to benchmark their current processes against best practice
- Leaders exploring how to make their business more agile, integrated, and performance-driven
As one Oliver Wight partner put it: “These workshops are often where people first discover the power of Integrated Business Planning. They come in curious about the terminology – and they leave with a real sense of what good looks like and how they could bring it to life in their organisation.”
Challenges We Help You Solve
Our workshops are designed to help you tackle the practical problems that hold businesses back. Common issues participants face include:
- Forecasts that vary across departments and don’t match financial targets
- Disconnected planning across sales, operations, supply chain and finance
- Inability to model scenarios and respond proactively to change
- Limited visibility of the long-term impact of current decisions
Through these sessions, we show how associated disciplines can be used to address these challenges. You’ll learn how to unify plans, align stakeholders, and make more confident, data-driven decisions – even in volatile markets.
What You’ll Learn
Each workshop provides both conceptual understanding and hands-on tools. You’ll explore the principles of IBP and how it supports alignment between functions. More specifically, sessions often include:
- The structure and governance of an IBP process, including demand, supply, and executive reviews
- The role of different functions – finance, supply chain, commercial – in creating an integrated plan
- How to manage performance using a single set of numbers
- The use of scenarios and modeling in planning
- Practical tools, frameworks, and templates for use in your day-to-day role
As one participant commented after a recent session: "I now see how IBP isn’t just a supply chain initiative – it’s a way of running the business. This gave me clarity on what’s missing in our current planning process and how we might go about fixing it."
How Workshops Are Delivered
All public workshops are delivered live, online, and led by senior Oliver Wight partners – consultants with decades of industry experience. They bring first-hand insight from working with organisations around the world on successful IBP transformations.
Sessions use a highly interactive format, including live Q&A, scenario walkthroughs, and polls. This means you’re not just learning theory – you’re actively applying it. You’ll also receive slides, templates and materials to help you take what you’ve learned and apply it in your business.
Each session is limited to a manageable group size to enable dialogue and peer learning. This is a chance to learn from others in similar roles and industries, and to understand how other organisations are thinking about planning, performance and transformation.
Why People Attend
Public workshops are often the first step on a longer change journey. They help individuals and teams build understanding, create alignment, and generate internal momentum for business improvement.
Whether you’re:
- Exploring IBP for the first time
- Looking to upskill your team
- Searching for practical ways to improve forecast accuracy or cross-functional planning
...our workshops offer an accessible, expert-led environment where you can build the confidence and capability to move forward.
As Oliver Wight Partner, Steve Rowntree explains, “The best thing about public workshops is the lightbulb moment. People realise that the challenges they face aren’t unique – and that there’s a proven, structured way to solve them. That’s powerful.”
FAQs
How do I find and register for a public workshop?
Upcoming workshops and dates are listed on our website and in our course brochure. Each listing includes topics covered, who should attend, and pricing. You can book online or contact our team for assistance.
Who delivers the workshops?
Every workshop is led by two Oliver Wight Associates (senior consultants with extensive industry experience). The facilitator will guide discussions, answer questions, and share real-world insights throughout the session.
Are these sessions interactive?
Absolutely. Workshops are not lectures. You will be actively engaged in exercises and discussions with peers. The aim is practical learning, with plenty of opportunity to work on real planning challenges and ask questions of the expert facilitators.
Can I arrange a workshop just for my organisation instead?
Yes. All public courses can be delivered as private on-site (or virtual) workshops for your team. Private sessions allow further customisation to your specific needs (see our private workshops guide).
