CURVY YOGA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM CLASS/WORKSHOP PLANNING: LOGISTICS MODULE FIVE

CURVY YOGA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM CLASS/WORKSHOP PLANNING: LOGISTICS MODULE FIVE

Class/Workshop Planning: Logistics Now that you ve mapped out your content, let s talk logistics. This is the part of a class or workshop that often gets left to chance. But for curvy students in particular, this is what can make or break their experience. So let s make it the best we can Here are a few things to consider: Da te/t i me When will the class/workshop be held? When is the best time to hold your class/workshop? Consider the ideal audience you already dreamed up. When might they be most available to attend class? An amazing space may be available on Tuesdays at Curvy Yoga www.curvyyoga.com 1

7:30am, but is that really the best time for your class/workshop (maybe it is If so, great If not, don t sacrifice time for location). Are there any date/time conflicts? Check out any community calendars in your town and see if there are any major events competing with your workshop. If a beloved local sports team has a major home game during your workshop, you might want to consider rescheduling even if just for traffic reasons. Also double check holidays, religious calendars and local school schedules. For example, if you don t have children in the local school system, you might not be aware that next Friday is a parent-teacher day at school, and therefore it will be hard for parents to attend your afternoon workshop. Location Where is this class/workshop being held? If the class is being held at a yoga studio, is there anything you might suggest that the studio has on the website to make it more welcoming to curvy students? Examples include diverse images of people practicing yoga, a statement of welcoming, etc. If the class isn t being held at a yoga studio, where will it be? Sure, your best friend s basement might be huge, but will people really want to go there? Ease of access Is it easy to find? Is it accessible (for example, if your workshop is for curvy students with mobility issues and your workshop is on the 3 rd floor of a building, easy elevator access is a must). Directions Does the space you re using have a website (with clear directions listed)? If so, be sure to include the URL in any of your advertising materials. If not, or if they don t have good directions available, write your own. Even if you think everyone and their brother knows how to find this place, include directions. This is a key contributor to safety that people feel confident that they can find the class/workshop in a timely manner. Curvy Yoga www.curvyyoga.com 2

Classroom Space Keeping your ideal audience size in mind, can this many people comfortably fit in the space? Sure, it s kind of fun (emphasis on kind of) when you attend a class that s jammed mat-to-mat. But most of the time, people want a little breathing room especially if they re new to yoga and/or unsure of what to expect. On the flip side, will the room feel full if less people attend than you d like? People feel like they have the best experience when the room is comfortably full. Then they feel like they were a part of something, but they re not secretly trying to shove their neighbor s foot off their mat the whole class. So before you rent out a local amphitheater, consider what the energy of the space will feel like with less participants. Mirrors Many spaces that are available to rent for movement classes (in a studio or not) have mirrors. Does that work for you? If so, how? If not, how could you cover them? Props What props do you need for your workshop? What additional props should you have on hand if folks show up with needs you re not expecting? Ample props is another way to keep folks feeling safe and like their needs are being both seen and met. If you have an ongoing group of students, it is acceptable to ask them to bring their own props. However, if you are hoping to bring in new students, that s less likely to be accessible. People aren t ready to shell out money for their own props without even knowing if they like yoga or not. If you don t have all the props you d like available, teach with and to what you have. If you don t have any props, sequence your class in such a way that it will be safe for people of many different abilities sans props. Sound Since you are doing so much great work to make your class/workshop accessible, this is another huge consideration. How well will your students be able to hear you from the corner of the room? What about if the class is twice as packed as you were expecting? Do you have access to a mic if needed. Curvy Yoga www.curvyyoga.com 3

Music Also related to sound is the question of music. If you would like to play music in your class/workshop, make sure that you have the equipment available that you need. Find out if where you re teaching has a sound system or if you need to bring your own. Also, find out what they re able to play for example, can you just plug in your ipod and go, or do you need to bring a CD with you? You also want to consider ease of use. If the system is complicated, arrange to stop by one day before your workshop to figure it out. There s nothing like a technology meltdown five minutes before you re supposed to start to leave you feeling frazzled. Access to walls One of my favorite props for my students is a wall. If you like to use that, too (or just might like to keep the option open), consider how much wall space your classroom has available and then plan accordingly. Room layout What would be the best arrangement of the space so that everyone can see easily and well? Where should you be? How would you prefer your students mats be arranged? I love having students with the short end of their mat to the wall. I think this gives everyone a good opportunity to see, and it makes it really easy to use the wall for folks who want/need it as well as if you re using it. This layout does limit the number of people who can be in the room in some ways, but overall I think it shakes out about the same. You re losing space in the middle of the room, but if you had everyone in rows, you d be losing the wall space especially on the sides and front of the room. Handouts Handouts are a nice way to set workshops apart from regular classes. Once you ve determined your workshop content, begin working on one or more handouts with relevant information for participants to take away with them. This can also be a nice thing to advertise Participants will leave with a written practice they can do on their own at home. It s also a great way to make sure your contact info is in people s hands when they leave. Feel free to also list any relevant upcoming events. If folks enjoyed this workshop, they likely want to know about other opportunities to practice with you. Curvy Yoga www.curvyyoga.com 4

Registration How-to How will people sign up for your workshop? If you are teaching at a yoga studio, they will probably handle that for you. However, people attending are probably wanting to connect more with you than the studio. So find out if the studio will share the registration list (especially emails) with you. Or ask if it s okay if you have a newsletter sign-up sheet for interested folks. Most studios are okay with this so long as you make it an option and not a requirement. If you are not teaching at a studio, I recommend Eventbrite for sign-up. It is easy to navigate for both you and your students. If needed, people can even pay via Eventbrite. And you can collect whatever information you d like. Be sure to get people s email addresses so you can be in touch with info about future events How much? This is a tough one Questions to consider: How much are your students used to paying for classes? Are you drawing in new students or from your current student base? What is the typical price for a workshop by a local teacher in your town? What is your goal with this event to get people in the door? Build a longterm student base? Make moolah? All of the above? If you re still not sure what to charge, consider doing a survey (informal, in-person or online via something like SurveyMonkey) to see how much your students would be willing to pay. Don t have any students yet but have some interested friends/acquaintances? See if you can give them a call and pick their brain for 10 minutes about what they d like from a workshop and how much they d be willing to pay. How far in advance? It s nice to strike a balance between giving people enough time to think about an event before they sign up and not giving them too much time. For example, if you open registration six months in advance (unless it s a major event), that s probably too much time. Too much can change for people in that amount of time. I like to give 4-6 weeks notice (and maybe even 8, but that s the outset for my preference) for a workshop. Of course, if you re teaching at a studio or somewhere like that, the schedule may be dictated for you based on what they like to do. But I find that this amount of time works well; it s enough for people to think about it but not too much that they don t have any sense of their schedule and if they can commit. Curvy Yoga www.curvyyoga.com 5

Much of the time, people will wait until the last minute to register anyway. You can try to incentivize signing up earlier (by offering an early-bird rate), but people still like to wait sometimes. This is good for you to know for your planning purposes; you might like to set a goal of how many people to have by a certain time for example, one month away, two weeks away, one week away, etc. This will help you know if the workshop is filling in a way that meets your goals both energetically (having enough people in the room to do what you have planned, if that s a factor) and financially. Waiting-List It s best to know ahead of time how many people you can fit in the space. If more people want to sign up than can fit, you ll need a waiting list. This is why I like to keep a close eye on registration; it s all the better if you have a system that won t allow registration past a certain number of sign-ups. If you sense that the event will fill, you can send a follow-up email to people after they register. You can thank them for signing up and mention that you re expecting this workshop to fill, so if they can t attend for some reason, ask them to please let you know so you can open their spot to someone else. Of course, this all depends on the policies of where you re teaching and whether or not people can get their money back after they register. Curvy Yoga www.curvyyoga.com 6