Well, this is something that I did a little bit backwards. Usually you’re an established professional dancer before you ever consider teaching your first workshop. And before anyone freaks out about a non-pro hitting the workshop circuit, I’d like to reassure you that I wasn’t teaching dance! No, I taught about blogging, which is something I do have plenty of professional experience with.
So how did this happen? The short story is, I applied and I got accepted. But of course there’s a lot more to it than that. Before I applied to teach at Waking Persephone, I had built myself a reputation within the dance community, as both a blogger and as someone who values being a member of the community and contributes how she can. I had attended WP the previous year, had nice interactions with Tempest and the rest of the event staff. Then I came home and blogged about it. This cemented my status as someone who cared about and wanted to support WP whether or not I was teaching. I don’t know how much any of this helped with my application getting accepted, or if they just looked at it and said “You know what? Having a blog workshop is a good idea, sure glad somebody submitted that idea.” But I’m sure that being an active part of the community didn’t hurt!
I had actually hoped to offer my workshop somewhere locally before Waking Persephone, so that I could be sure that the kinks were worked out and that I had enough material and whatever. Things didn’t work out that way, so WP was my first run of offering the workshop. I did a few things to make up for my lack of opportunity to do a local offering. I read my notes aloud to my husband. I got some really good advice from a friend who teaches classes in a different medium. I proof-read my notes repeatedly. I made myself a little agenda for the day-of so I’d remember everything I wanted to do. Leading up to the event and at the start of the class, I gave my students the chance to put in requests for what they wanted to know about blogs.
So my advice for teaching your first workshop boils down to:
- Be prepared.
- Err on the side of being over-prepared.
- Prepare more material than you might need (we didn’t get to one of the exercises that I thought might be fun, but wasn’t necessary).
- Seek advice not just from others in your field, but from those outside the field.
- If you’re providing notes, proofread them!
- Be prepared.
Because I was prepared, I actually wasn’t too nervous stepping into my workshop. And you guys, I had such a good time! It helped that 3 of my 4 students were people I already knew — one was a fellow AZ dancer who I adore, one was my LVBDI and WP roomie, one was a FB friend who I got to meet in person the night before, and then the new-to-me person was lovely too. It also helped that not only was I prepared, but my students were also prepared. They walked into the classroom knowing what they wanted out of a blog and where their “pain points” were, as we say in my day job. They made my job easier by asking questions and having specific needs that I could address, so that I didn’t rush through my material and then have a bunch of time left to fill. They helped me keep the workshop flowing, by sometimes saying something that flowed neatly into the next section of the class. And they asked questions that helped me realize where I could expand my material for the next time I offer this blog. In short, they were wonderful!
In performing, they say “Remember, the audience wants to see you succeed!” and I think it’s the same thing with workshops. You don’t have to be afraid of your students. For the most part, they are there because they’ve heard of you, seen you dance (or read your blog…) and they think you have something to offer them. They’re receptive and ready for what you have to offer. So just relax and enjoy the experience, then ask their feedback on if there’s any way you can make it even better next time.
I’d like to close this blog post with a big THANK YOU to Tempest for taking the chance on an untried instructor! I really enjoyed my first workshop teaching experience and am already planning for future workshops!