My first attempt at running independent workshops resulted in 3 successful sessions, over 30 satisfied students, and almost 20 hours of teaching. An incredible 93% of attendees said they would come to my next workshop. Overall, it has been a flying start to my education program. Everyone who attended has given me inspiration and courage to create more sessions. They have also taught me how I can add even more value to my workshops.
Give value throughout the workshop
I asked my students to mark what was the most valuable part of the workshop. You can always expect to see one session that stands out, but my results showed that storytelling was by far the most valuable part of the workshop.
On the one hand, this is positive. It shows that the subject I am most passionate about I teach best. On the other hand, it makes me think that perhaps I wasn’t focused enough on the rest of the workshop. In other words, value needs to be given to students for the whole duration of the workshops. Check yourself to make sure you are doing this.
What am I going to do differently?
These results have encouraged me to take out personal branding, and not dedicate a whole section to it. Rather, I will integrate the most important elements into my storytelling session, and divide that session into two segments. I have also decided to elaborate on my SEO. Rather than just working through my “best practise” guide. I will also add more in-depth examples that can help students of different levels.
Side Note: This type of feedback is extremely useful to you for your content as well. Often your audience prefers one category or theme to another. It’s worth knowing which one, if there is one, and why.
Don’t cram valuable content
It’s difficult to decide if it’s better to hold a one day workshop or divide up the sessions into more days. An advantage to having it all in one day is that you only need availability from your attendees for that day. If you are starting out like myself, this is good because you want to eliminate as many obstacles as possible to people coming to your workshop. Having to be available on more than one day, usually a weekend, can often put people off. Also, it can be challenging to find and afford a venue for more than one day.
What am I going to do differently?
However, it seems that all of the content was heavy to digest in one day. Over 50% of people would have preferred the workshop to be split into two days. I will take this advice on, and make sure the next workshop takes places in two sessions, 4 hours per session.
As good a speaker or teacher one might be, there is a limit to how much anyone can learn in one day.
The aim of your workshop should not be to teach your students everything you know, but handpicked lessons that can benefit them the most.
Show the value
When writing my workshop I made each session follow the same pattern, theory + case study. Theory is not just dry, it can also cause confusion when not applied to a real life example. I made sure that all of the theory I was teaching could be seen in a current business example.
Case studies are great for team work, but remember to add examples, and more examples, and even more examples. “More examples that we could analyse on the spot” , was one of the comments in my feedback survey. When you think that you have added enough examples, add another 5.
What am I going to do differently?
Add more examples, just like we used to do at university when writing comparative literature essays.
Point. Example. Explain.
That’s how each important learning point should be delivered.
Conclusion
As a teacher, content writer, workshop host, or any educator it’s essential that you also learn from your work. Each workshop will be different, your audience can sometimes respond better than other times, but each workshop is your learning curve. I urge you to make a note of 3 things that you could do better each time, and try apply them in the future.
Ask for feedback
It’s as simple as sending a survey to all of your participants straight after the workshop to get their impressions. I used Google Forms, easy to use and integrates perfectly with my emails.
You might also be able to use that feedback as part of your workshop promotions in the form of testimonials.
Dino Delic, COO at FishingBooker
Nikoleta Rakocevic, Owner of Queen Victoria Education
Rahela Lončarić, Freelancer - Digital Marketing Specialist at Online Reflection
Neda D. Stevanović, Head of Business Development at MVP Workshop
Ivana Ćirković, Digital Marketing consultant and owner of KickStart.rs digital marketing agency
Milos Mihaljevic, ManageWP Customer Happiness Team Lead
Milica Spasojevic, UI Designer at GoDaddy
Daniela Marušić Gajica, Human Resources Supervisor South East Europe SEE Region, 3M
Una Kolesar, Communications Specialist and Katarina Kragović, Lead Management Specialist - Trizma Smart Outsourcing
