How to Organize a Win-Win-Win WCS Workshop

A workshop weekend can serve to inspire your students, boost their improvement, and stimulate your community. Anyone can host one - it's not difficult, but it is complex and there are many potential pitfalls. Here's how to do avoid them and put on a productive, professional workshop that benefits the students, the guest teachers, and you! I've also got a crazy-useful resource to share with you inside!

What's the benefit of workshop weekend?

Benefits for Students:

A great workshop weekend can give students a well-needed boost in their improvement, mindset, and confidence. They get material they can chew on in private lessons and practice for months. The contained, immersive, shared learning experience bonds the community and fuels them to help and support each other.

BUT Students only truly win IF:

• The promotion is early enough and compelling enough to entice them to register.
• The event is well-managed, smooth-running, and considers the needs of the students.
• The quality of the instruction is high, appropriate, practical, and delivers results.
• Their teachers show up to maintain their education and are able to evolve and follow up in their regular curriculum.

Benefits for Guest Teachers:

Most guest teachers who offer weekend workshops find it to be hard but extremely rewarding work. There is an intrinsic satisfaction in seeing the immediate impact of their teaching efforts on the students. The paycheque is worth the effort, and the effort worth the paycheque.

BUT Guest Teachers only truly win IF:

• The workshop and private lessons sell out 
• The students want to learn, respect the teacher, and actively engage
• The organizer is ethical and follows through on their contract agreements

Benefits for Organizers:

While there is a financial benefit and potential to build a brand, your primary motivation should always be to serve the dancers in your community. You can create an upward spiral of momentum & growth, and enough revenue leftover to build.maintain your dance business or fund your dance addiction.

BUT, as an organizer, you only truly win IF:

• You honestly put the needs of the dancers first, ahead of money and ego.
• The workshop sells out and you can cover your expenses or even profit
• The students have fun, notice improvement, and share good reviews
• The teachers deliver the services and results you invested in

How can you make sure everyone wins?

We've seen it all - the good, the bad, and the facepalms. We want to help you avoid typical mistakes,

So we made you a few resources to equip you with the wisdom of all the workshop organizers who have gone before you. 

The "How to Organize a WCS Workshop" Workbook is a 30-page downloadable doc that walks you through details every step of the planning process that could mean the difference between a smooth sailing and a crash landing.

Includes the "why", the "how", the steps and the pitfalls of each of these topics:

PLUS these editable planning templates we know you'll need:

• 6-month Task Planner chart
• Promotion Planning Calendar
• Workshop Planning Checklist
• Staff Contract Template

This information was collected from not only our decades of teaching dance workshops around the world, but also organizing workshops in a variety of non-dance contexts. We have taken the wisdom that we have delivered to Organizers in person or via Skype like a private coaching session for years and put it into a workbook. 

Rather than the cost of a private lesson, or even the cost of an instructional video, we wanted to make this package of information super accessible, so it's only $7.

You're. Gonna. Want the. Workbook. Even experienced workshop promoters we have sent it to tell us that they discovered at least 5-10 things they never thought of that ended up making a huge difference. Plus, the templates alone will save you hours of work and prevent critical details from falling through the cracks.

But for now, let's just look at one of the templates included in the workbook so you can see the planning process at a glance and get the big picture of all that is involved.

For this, we made you a checklist. You can see it is extremely abbreviated to only task reminders. All the juicy how-to-and-why details are in the Workbook, along with an editable, printable version of this checklist.

Workshop Planning Checklist

(See workbook for details on how to do each step and pitfalls to avoid)

4-12 months in advance:

• Study other workshops
• Check annual workshop schedules of other local studios/promoters
• Strategize combining efforts with other organizations
• Ask for advice from people with experience
• Check for date conflicts & make a shortlist of dates
• Research venues before you announce the event.
• Consider floor texture, ventilation, seating, sound system, private lessons, nearby parking, hotels, restaurants
• Shop for potential teachers at events
• Do your research on them - reviews, credentials, attitude
• Shop for DJs at events
• Create budget, set break-even point and target profit margin.
• Book venue assuming a vague, tentative schedule
• Research sound equipment
• Prepare staff contracts & send out
• Receive contracts & bios/photos
• Ask teacher what format they prefer/recommend
• Decide on levels and specialty classes to offer, if any
• Announce event “save the date”
• Create website and/or Facebook event page
• Create modern & attractive flyers & personally bring them to local dances/clubs
• Decide on tiered pricing & any discounts/incentives
• Personally invite VIP’s and local teachers
• Set up online payment system
• Create spreadsheet to track registrations
• Book teachers’ flights if necessary
• Edify the teachers on social media and in announcements

1 month in advance:

Workshop Day

• Check venue for safety & risk management
• Post up copies of schedule
• Brief your registration volunteer and provide them with list, waivers, pens, cash box with a float, and wristbands with scissors to cut them.
• Setup/Takedown: A/C, chairs, tables, DJ equipment, lights, schedule posters, hanging decorations, bar supplies, water and cups, coffee, flyer table, registration table, outside direction signs, fans, morning and pre-dance floor sweeping/mopping (very important if you are not in an actual dance studio). Make sure the appropriate people have the building keys.
• Introduce teachers
• Attend the workshops & record the recaps
• Pay the teachers before they leave the venue

Here's that link to get the workbook: