Organizing a Workshop

[Arcaira]

I hope this isn't out of place here. If it is I'm so sorry!

So, there are hardly any dancers in this area (I know of so few!) and Rania suggested having a workshop in this area...

How would I go about organizing it? I haven't even performed in front of an audience bigger then my mom, dog, mom's dog, and my hubby yet!

Help help help!

 

[Darshiva]

Call people you admire & ask them their hourly rate, and if they are available on the date you want.

Then contact a suitable venue & organise to hire it for the time required.

Then figure out how much you want to charge & work out the minimum amount of people needed to book to break even. Adjust the price to suit a resonably low turnout.

Make sure your venue has enough space for the minimum required bookings, and get a rough idea of how many would be the maximum.

Then go get your advertising sorted for the event. Be prepared to pay well for this because good advertising will get you bums on seats - as it were.

There are a few other things to consider like discussing insurance & music licensing with both your guest teacher(s) and your venue. You may need to pay for that as well, so be prepared.

The important thing to remember is to get someone you want to study with so that if you don't get enough to cover costs at least you got to study with someone you want to learn from.

 

[Samira_dncr]

I hope this isn't out of place here. If it is I'm so sorry!

So, there are hardly any dancers in this area (I know of so few!) and Rania suggested having a workshop in this area...

How would I go about organizing it? I haven't even performed in front of an audience bigger then my mom, dog, mom's dog, and my hubby yet!

Help help help!

This would be one very rare example that I would suggest doing a split with a visiting instructor, as it would minimize your risk.

Truthfully, I wouldn't do anything that costs a ton of money. Unless you have some idea of what sort of turn out you can expect, it's very difficult to plan appropriately. Can you possibly host a community belly dance party as a starter to see if you can get anyone to show up to that? It would give you a foundation to collect the email addresses of potential participants, and it will help establish more of a community in your area.

I'd recommend to start start small and then build up from there.

 

[Arcaira]

Thank you both for the advice.

Another thing that I'm curious about is what kinds of events to even have in a workshop. I have a dancer I admire in mind, and I think she's reasonably priced and that good stuff, but what other things should I have going on?

My area, at least that I've seen thus far, there are no workshops that I can observe, so I'm doing a hit or miss situation it looks like.

The bright side is that I have a lot more interest in this area then I thought I would.

 

[Darshiva]

From experience, keep it simple. The simpler the better. I'm suffering from workshop (organising) burnout right now, so who better to give you advice.

Keep it to one teacher, make it all about them. Ask them if they want to bring their shop with them that way they'll feel good about the amount of work/money you're sending their way.

If you want to, being your own shop,but discuss it first with your guest teacher.

Remember to allow for travel time for both attendees and the guest teacher. Keep it within budget, and price it so that you'll cover your costs with very low attendance.

Some things to watch out for:

After all your hard work, most of the attendees WILL treat you like they're doing you a huge favour by turning up. The only people who will actually appreciate the work & money you have poured into this will be the volunteers and the guest teacher. That kinda shocked me when I held my first event so I thought I'd give you a heads-up.

Allow at least an hour of set-up and 2 of take-down. The take-down will take you a lot less time than the set-up, but it will get eaten up by attendees stading around & having a gossip & picking the brain of the guest teacher.

Bring coffee & sweets. Whether you have them as pay per item or incorporate them into the cost of the ticket is up to you, but the attendees will love you for it.

Treat your guest teacher like a queen/king and s/he will be back, AND you'll get a good rep as a host.

These are my learnings. Read (& heed) them in good faith.

 

[Samira_dncr]

I agree with everything that Darshiva has said. If you want to do more elaborate events, do them down the road and build up to them. I started the Vegas Intensive on a shoestring budget with local teachers in a local dance studio...8 years later the event in now in a major hotel on the Las Vegas strip. It's been an amazing journey, but it didn't happen overnight.

I got to watch someone else come into Vegas, dump a huge amount of money into an event (more than 400K), and then lose everything. I got to learn all about what NOT to do. Start small, and then build on the base of students you have created.

START AN EMAIL LIST AND CHERISH IT. Don't abuse your folks with countless spamy email, but do stay in touch. Once a month is good. Keep everyone in the loop about what you are working on.

Also, after a great weekend...you'll find that everyone wants you to bring that person back again and they will all swear to support it if you do. I've watched other local organizers lose tons of money on the 2nd workshop with an instructor because very few people actually follow through and do what they say they are going to do. In fact, you should just be aware that everyone will tell you they are coming, but don't believe a word of it until they've actually given you a deposit.

Oh...and if your workshop is really expensive, then you might consider offering payment plans. I offer plan for the full package at the Intensive, and it's been a great thing for many people.

 

[Samira_dncr]

Oh, and instead of starting with a "show"....you might consider featuring your headliner at a hafla. Many people want the opportunity to perform and will often attend events where they can get instruction as well as perform in a show. I have no idea if you have a strong enough local community to warrant this, but it can be fairly casual and fun. In my area, I charge $5 + a plate of food for a potluck. Performers and kids under 12 are free. If I had it to do over again, I might make the price $10, but I've been doing these monthly get togethers for more than 7 years, and that was the going rate at the time. I usually schedule guest workshop instructors on a hafla weekend as I know it boosts hafla attendance and I usually get a few stragglers to sign up for the sunday workshop.

 

[Samira_dncr]

And while I'm at it...

You can also offer incentives to other instructors. If they get 5 of their students to register, then they get their workshop for free. It doesn't have to be this exactly, but you get the idea.

Oh, and definitely have an early bird price and a at the door price. Penalize the late-comers and encourage the early-birds.