The Working Whiteboard is the collaborative workspace used throughout Quick Start™ to capture discovery, discussion, and emerging insight in real time.
It is where teaching turns into conversation, stories surface, patterns take shape, and raw inputs are gathered before they’re refined into decisions. Unlike the Digital Playbook, the whiteboard is intentionally fluid — built for exploration, not polish.
When used well, it becomes the connective thread across all six workshops, giving the Coach and Architect a shared place to think with the client, preserve context, and carry learning forward as clarity forms.
Starting Your Whiteboard
To start a client’s Working Whiteboard, the Architect will create a new board from the MiM™ brand template and name it for the Quick Start™ engagement.
The steps below walk you through how to create the board, place it in the correct client folder, and prepare it for use across all six workshops.
- Open the Brand Template in Canva
- Once opened, click the purple “Use this Brand Template” button
- Name your file: [Client Name] Quick Start™ Working Whiteboard
- Make sure you add the whiteboard to your client’s Canva folder (File > Move)
- If you have any client information you can fill in on the different areas, do so. Otherwise, your Prep sections of each workshop toolkit webpage will tell you how to prepare for the session.
Click the button below to create your whiteboard.
Using the Whiteboard
The Architect creates the Working Whiteboard, but both the Coach and Architect will use it throughout the engagement and should be comfortable operating it live.
Take time to familiarize yourself with the board before the first workshop so you can focus on the conversation — not the mechanics — once clients are in the room.
This seems like very elementary instructions but it’s probably the most crucial facilitation tip you could learn – how to zoom in and out and scroll seamlessly. If you can’t do this, the entire workshop will feel clunky for the client, and frustrating for you.
How you scroll in and out depends on what kind of computer, mouse, and keyboard setup you have.
- Mac
- Magic Mouse: Hold Command + scroll up/down
- Trackpad: Pinch fingers in or out
- Keyboard: Hold Ctrl and press + or –
- PC
- Mouse with wheel: Hold Ctrl + scroll up/down
- Keyboard: Hold Ctrl and press + or –
You can also drag the zoom bar at the bottom, but this is slower and a bit clunkier.
Facilitation Tip
- Zoom in on the board so only the active section fills the screen
- Avoid editing while zoomed far out — clients won’t see what’s changing
- Always zoom before typing or updating fields
Equally as important to being able to zoom in and out is the ability to pan and scroll around the board. Again, this depends on your computer setup.
- Magic Mouse / Trackpad: Scroll left/right or up/down
- Manual: Drag scroll bars on the sides or bottom
As with zooming, keep the client’s visual focus tight as you move through sections. Your screen should be filled by the piece of the board you’re working on at that moment.
Click any element to see if it’s locked. Most templates intentionally use partial locks to protect layout.
- Fully locked: You cannot move or edit anything
- Partially locked: You can edit text inside, but cannot move the element
If you need to unlock an element for any reason, simply click the lock button until it appears as an unlocked lock.
You may encounter tables in your whiteboard. They function like a table found anywhere in Canva. Here are a few tips for navigating them.
- Double click a table cell to type
- If you need to create a line break within a cell, hold Shift + press Enter. Text boxes will automatically expand as you add lines.
- To duplicate a table, you need to select the entire table or it will only copy the cell you selected. You can use Cmd/Ctrl C and Cmd/Ctrl V to copy and paste the table or use the Duplicate button in Canva.
You will need to create flow charts on the whiteboard, whether it’s for sales channels, sales processes, org charts, etc. so it’s important to learn the fastest way to create a flowchart.
- Click the arrow on any side of a box to add the next step; Canva automatically connects the boxes with an arrow.
- You can drag boxes to reorder
- Double-click inside a box to add text
You may wish to choose any number of elements on your whiteboard throughout your workshops. You are able to use literally any element available in Canva on a whiteboard. This includes:
- Text boxes to write outside of designated areas
- Sticky notes to quickly add context or notes to different areas
- Lines, connectors, arrows, shapes
- Drawing tools to draw on the board
It is your discretion as the facilitator to decide what you need to use during your session to visually lead the team through a concept or discussion.
For example, you may find a certain amount of disagreement among executives. They may have different answers for different sections so you may choose to use colored sticky notes on the whiteboard to signal where answers may differ with each team member getting their own color. The goal here is an engaging workshop, however you need to make that happen.
The Working Whiteboard is the primary tool you’ll use to facilitate every Quick Start™ workshop.
Setting it up correctly — and getting comfortable using it live — ensures sessions stay focused, fluid, and grounded in real insight rather than friction or distraction.
When the whiteboard works, the workshop works.