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Hey, Kent. This is Stuart Dickerson. I'm one of the planners of a conference hosted in Chattanooga called Scenic City Summit. Last year, we hosted our first day of workshops. It wasn't as successful as we had planned.

We wanna try this again for our next event that will be held on 06/05/2025. I know that you've held workshops at conferences, so I was wondering if you could give me any advice on this subject. My first question is, what are some of the ways to attract workshop instructors? Second question, what is the typical financial commitment between the instructor and the event? My third question, is there a target class size ideal for a workshop?

My fourth question, is there typically a written agreement with the instructor and the event? And any other guidance or words of wisdom you might have on this subject. I really appreciate your help. Thanks, Stuart.

And that was the call. Here's what Kent had to say.

Hey, Stuart. Thanks for the question, or the questions, I should say. Nice to hear from you. So, yeah, I I can appreciate when try something new and it doesn't go quite as you planned. And so, absolutely happy to, see what I can do to help here.

So as far as, finding ways to attract, instructors, I think yeah, what is most attractive to me? I don't know. Lots of the times, for me, it's just an opportunity to practice material. So the money is definitely, definitely something. I'll tell you what.

Having just a handful of people there, like less than seven, I'll cancel. So it is important for me to have more than just a handful of people there. And so if you can promise, that there will be, you know, 20 people or, 30 or whatever, depends on the instructor. Not all instructors feel comfortable taking on a a huge number of people, but at least promising that there will be a number of people there that can be helpful. And I I found that for conferences, you can typically expect no more than 10% of attendees will actually go to the workshops.

Of course, that depends a lot on a lot of factors, but, yeah, that that has been a pretty good rule for me. So, yeah, it's it's really helpful for an instructor to know that they're actually going to be delivering this half day or full day workshop thing and and that there will be people who really benefit from it. And getting some financial incentive there is really good as well. The the challenge there is you you like, you can't just promise a flat rate for instructors. This kinda gets into your other question because some instructors are going to be pulling their own weight with just, their notoriety that they have already.

And so they will be selling tickets just themselves, and others will not. And, and so if you just promise a flat rate, then you might end up losing money on on the workshop, which, typically, that's not a good thing for a conference. And so, typically, what I have done in the past is, it actually has kind of been different for everyone. But I generally, I will let the conference organizers, pick the ticket price, for the workshop because they know their local area better and all of that. It doesn't need to be, like, more than $20 or something like it.

It has to be enough that professionals will, take it seriously and think about it before they just sign up. One of the things that bothers me as a workshop instructor is when somebody shows up without being actually invested themselves. So maybe their boss paid for it and told them that they have to go, which, by the way, I actually prefer that their boss does pay for it. But I don't want somebody going because, they were told they have to go. And in in fact, to be honest, even, recipients of scholarships or diversity tickets often will not be engaged either.

So if you are going to do some sort of scholarship ticket or diversity ticket, make sure that it's going to somebody who's really wanting to get this educational experience, because it can be pretty irritating for them, to spend all of their time, at this workshop that they're not interested in, as well as the instructor for spending a bunch of time helping them when they weren't prepared, they're not engaged, it's really irritating. So, anyway, back to the financial commitment. I, generally, I say we'll do half and half after or or yeah. It like, it actually kinda depends. That I'll do half and half before the cost, or we'll organize something else.

I I'm afraid, like, you're just really gonna have to, talk directly to whoever it is that you're, doing the tickets or the workshops for. What I would recommend, like, it kinda depends on your situation, but what I generally recommend is consider the workshop, not as a mechanism for making money at the event, but as a mechanism for attracting, additional attendees. And so, you could say and this could help, attract workshop instructors too. You could say, you get everything after cost. And so, that way, you're, like, pretty sure that you can, manage the cost of the venue and of food and snacks and whatever.

And then the instructor can say, oh, okay. Well, the more tickets I can sell to this, the more money I'm gonna make from it, so I'm gonna put more effort into that. And now they're advertising your event, not just the workshop, but also, like, the event in general, and so you get more attendees. I I have organized a number of events, and that's typically how I've looked at the workshops. The target class size is gonna be different for everybody.

I have of the way that I do workshops and the experience that I have delivering workshops, I can handle a class size of, like, 80 people in person. I've done that before, and, everybody still feels like they're having a good time. That's the the real issue that you run into, whether it be in person or remote, is that, people feel like, well, this is no different than, like, watching recording, or a recorded workshop or something because I don't get asked questions. I don't you know, whatever. But the way that I run workshops, I and, like, the way that my workshops are formatted, I can actually handle a lot of people there together at once.

I don't know very many workshop instructors who are comfortable, with 80 people or or who can manage that and still make everybody feel like they're having a really great learning experience and getting questions answered. So, yeah, I would keep it down to 40, or 30, or maybe even, 20, and you'll be really happy if you can sell that many seats, to be honest. So depending on the size of your event. But, yeah, I would talk to the workshop instructor and ask them, how many people they're comfortable with. And if they say, oh, I can do, like, a 150, then they're probably, I don't know.

I you feel free to introduce me to them because that would be, remarkable. I wouldn't, yeah. And honestly, even going up to 60 or 80, that's pushing my limit too. So, you wanna make sure that you're sizing it appropriate to, the experience of the attendees and and make sure that the instructor is able to make sure everybody has a positive experience even when you have a lot of people there. Let's see.

Is there typically a written agreement? I have had events that had a written agreement, and I've had events that did not. I would really love to never work with anybody that I couldn't just have a handshake, sort of relationship with. And so far, I've I've felt pretty well handled in, in that regard. So, like, the the thing with the written agreement is if things don't go well, now you're, like, talking about litigation and stuff.

And I just really would not wanna deal with that at all. So, yeah, honestly, like, for myself, if I didn't get paid for a workshop and now my only recourse is litigation, I would just take it as a loss, and, I'd probably be public about it. And, yeah, and then just be like, well, yeah, they didn't pay me or whatever. I don't know. Kinda probably depend on the situation.

But I guess what I'm saying is, I prefer to like, if I was gonna do a week long engagement, and this is gonna be, over a $100,000, okay. In that situation, yeah, I might do a written agreement. But if this is like a $5,000 engagement, I'm fine just trusting you and that you're gonna do right by me, I'm gonna do right by you, and everything's gonna be fine. And if I if for some reason something goes wrong and or whatever, and you give me the shaft or something, then I'm gonna be annoyed. And it's gonna be a problem for me, but, I'll survive.

And I would rather not do the written agreement. So, anyway, with that said, most conferences do not, have me do a written agreement, and I am perfectly fine with that. If you wanna do a written agreement, I've done those as well, and, that works just fine. It's a little more irritating, but it's fine, and it does potentially protect you. I I don't know on your end how it protect like, I know that one of the conferences I do written agreement with, they just are worried that instructors are going to can't have to cancel last minute or something.

And and that does happen. Life happens. And you just kind of take that and remember it for the future and just don't invite them in the future if they handled that poorly or something. But, yeah, I don't know. It's kind a tricky thing.

Like, what are you gonna do? Oh, my mom died, and so I have to go to her funeral and mourn and stuff. Oh no, you've got this written agreement. You've got to be here. Are you really going to do that?

I don't know. Just think about in what situation would you try to enforce that written agreement? And if it's a situation where it's like, yeah, this person was terrible and they just didn't show up at all or whatever, they didn't deliver, what are you gonna do about that? And there could be situations where having a written agreement does protect you for something like that. But I think for, like, a single day workshop or something, it's probably just not worth it.

In that situation, you just have to contact the attendees and be like, we're really, really sorry this thing happened, and so the instructor's not gonna be here. And, we'll refund your money, or you can go to one of these other workshops. And, most of the time, that's fine. So, anyway, that yeah. Kind of a bummer thing to talk about, I guess, but, that is probably what I'd do.

If I was in your position, I just wouldn't even bother with a written agreement. Any other guidance, words, wisdom? Yeah. Let's see. I would make sure that the, the people delivering the workshop, give you a good idea of, their requirements, like prerequisite, knowledge that attendees need to have to be successful in the workshop.

It's really irritating for everybody involved when somebody shows up, not realizing that they need to know JavaScript for this JavaScript based workshop. I had that experience, and that was really irritating. And, like, also the the preparation that people need to take ahead of time, make sure the instructor gives you that information so you can hand that off to the attendees. Lots of times, you have to install things on your computer or something like that. Make sure that you've got, snacks and coffee and whatever for attendees throughout the day.

I would recommend against giving the instructor a very rigid schedule. Like, here's when the breaks are gonna be or whatever. Try to make it a little bit more loose because every class is gonna be different. And so even if it's an experienced instructor, they may not know exactly when they're going to be finished with this exercise or whatever. That said, often, you need to be a little bit more careful with lunch, especially if it's a, like, full day workshop.

The you've got, like, catering or something coming over, and you wanna eat that food when it's hot. So, definitely tell them when lunch is gonna be, and they'll just have to plan around that. But for, like, specific breaks and stuff, you can say, like, the food will be out by 10:30. And so anytime after 10:30, you like, people can come out and have snacks and whatever. But, yeah, try not to be super strict about that schedule.

And, yeah, I I can't think of anything else in particular around the, like, specifics for the event planner. No, yeah, I'd like as far as the venue is concerned, make sure everybody can see, make sure everybody's got power, make sure everybody like, they can see the front, make sure the projector is working. And if it's a big enough space that they need to be mic'd up, make sure that that is working nicely and they've got, like, an AV person on call or whatever if if things aren't going well. Make sure that people don't feel, like, super crowded. I, as an instructor, like to walk the tables and make sure, like, that I can get close to somebody, look at their computer and everything.

It can be helpful sometimes to have a TA be there. So, like, if somebody is experience experiencing logistical problems that aren't related to the learning experience, that, the TA can be there to help them debug and help them feel like they're not doing all this on their own, while the instructor can focus on, everybody else in instructing. I've had that a couple times. Don't typically, really need it, but, but that can be helpful. And as an instructor, if, if you offered me a TA, somebody who'd just be in there and and be able to walk around and help people, then I'd be, like, totally open to that.

Like, you're welcome to to let them in. And then that person, if everything's going well, they can learn from the workshop material, and that's cool. So, and and I wouldn't charge for that person or whatever. And so now they're they effectively get a free ticket just because they're willing to help people out if they get stuck and stuff. So that, yeah, that can be helpful.

Yeah. I think, hopefully, that's, that's enough to kinda help give you an idea of different things to try. I I hope that's helpful to you. I, And I hope that you're really successful, coming up on, June 5. So, folks listening, go take a look at, Scenic City Summit.

I love that. That, alliteration is fun. Yeah. June 5 next year in Chattanooga. It's gonna be great, I'm sure.

So alright. Thanks a lot. Appreciate you, Stuart, and good luck on your event.

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