Nadira's Musings

Durrah and I are in the midst of planning our first workshop. While we’d love to have someone sponsor us but we’ve decided to sponsor ourselves. This is becoming a lot more common in the bellydance world. There was a time when you wouldn’t dream of sponsoring yourself, but i think with the changing economy we’ve all had to diversify our income streams and get creative! I maybe new to actually teaching workshops but i’ve been fortunate to have some fabulous dancers like Taaj Fi Qalbi www.thebellydancetrainer.com and Zuleika www.zbellydance.com to show me the ropes.   To that aim here are the steps that I s am taking to secure a successful workshop. Step 1 Define your product: this may seem elementary but you really need to decide what you have to offer and how to package that skill to market it.Step 2 Figure out who wants your product aka Demographics: This may seem simple but for each product you have a different group or demographic, an intro workshop will mainly appeal to hobbyists who have disposable income and time. Basically women over 40 who have older grown children and money to spend on things that are not light and heat:)Step 3 Secure a Studio and date: Pick a studio that you already have a relationship with if possible, if not ask around to other bellydancers and see who they’re fave studios are and go from there decide what the split will be and price your workshop accordingly. Step 4 Check the date with other dancers in your area! And then recheck, and then hope for the best: I know this seems like a hassle and trust me it is, unfortunately we are such a closed community that we don’t advertise even to each other. Half the time I don’t know what’s going on when. Use the local listserv, face book, e-mail studio owners and teachers directly do whatever you have to do to avoid a conflict. That said, if you have done all these things and scheduled and later someone says “I’m having a bellydance hoe down that day and I want you to cancel” point to your listserv, facebook, and e-mails and say you did the best you could and you wish things had worked out differently. Don’t change your venue,date or anything wants you have started advertising. Everyone else can just put their big girl panties on and start actually advertising their events. Step5 Advertise, Advertise,Advertise: No really Advertise, come up with something catchy to make your workshop product stand out. Durrah came up with ATS Spice, This workshop is now diamonds:)We’re basing our advertising off of the oldspice commercials. Flyers to all the bellydance studios, flyers at all the bellydance events, everyweek update your web presence with something that your doing that involves the Workshop Our product is an ATS workshop and our demographic is women who like to laugh and want to enjoy themselves at a workshop. Step 6 Plan,Plan, Plan, over plan really:  If your workshop is 2 hours have 3 hours of material ready to share Have the handouts ready, rehearse what your going to teach, have a back up plan for if some of the class is progressing faster than others. Workshops aren’t like classes you need to teach to all skill levels. Communicate with the studio owner about who needs to be where when  and make sure to double check everything.Your music, your outfit,time in transit etc. Step 7 Teach your workshop: with all the planning this will be a breeze! enjoy yourself, relax, you’ve got it under control. Step 8 post workshop survey: this is helpful for the instructor so I’d hand one out before the end and collect as the students leave. As this will be our first time I would like the critique to improve on our workshop teaching skills.Step 9 Make sure everyone gets paid according to the agreement: Everyone should want to do it again if the studio owner and Durrah and I have put forth our best effort. Step 10  Post workshop wrap up: Make sure to post pics, and kind comments on the listservs, facebook, your website.