Finding the Perfect Workshop Venue for You

February 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

How do you know when you’ve found the perfect workshop venue? It’s usually when your students ask you to teach more workshops in that space! Now depending on what you teach you’re going to have different requirements for your students. Some of you may even use your own home as your workshop space, but you folks aren’t the people I’m talking to today.

Finding the right space for what you’re teaching is vital for your students to return and for your workshops to remain profitable. I’m currently teaching all of my live workshops at the Center for Excellence in Raleigh, NC and it’s been a fabulous partnership. The Center for Excellence offers tiered memberships depending on how many times a month you will use the space—this is a great arrangement, but there are other options out there besides dedicated workshop spaces—you can also teach at community centers or lifelong learning programs that will take a percentage of your participant fees or pay you a flat rate from your workshops. I used to teach at several of these centers, but have now streamlined all of my workshops at the Center for Excellence because it makes sense for my business.

If You Teach Writing Workshops Here’s What a Great Workshop Space Looks Like

  • The location is good with easy access from major highways and the parking lot is not on a high or low slope. Folks shouldn’t have to pay to park! If it’s possible to meet ADA requirements, the workshop space is on the lower floor or there’s an elevator nearby. At one of my workshops I once had a woman fall down the stairs and although she wasn’t too badly hurt, this incident made me think twice about upper level workshop spaces.
  • There are plenty of tables and comfortable chairs and the room can comfortably hold 20 people. (I know you want big classes, right?) Save your students’ necks with tables, not clipboards!
  • Good lighting is very important both inside the space in and in the parking lot for night classes. I love spaces that have large windows and natural light.
  • There’s a whiteboard, easel and projector available.
  • The space gives you access to a copier or printer when that extra person walks in.
  • There’s a kitchen available with a water cooler and coffee maker.
  • The space is clean, free of vermin and well-maintained.

I’ve been teaching live workshops for six years and can attest to the importance all of these points above. Cost is also something you need to think about and a more expensive workshop space can be worth it if you give a lot of workshops.

Your Turn:

What’s missing off of this list? If you teach workshops, please share some of your words of wisdom with us!

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Writers: How Not to Bomb

July 17, 2011 by 2 Comments
How Not to Bomb

How Not to Bomb

When you’re nervous before a reading, open mic or a speaking event you’re that way because you don’t want to bomb. You don’t want to be humiliated and asked never to come back.  You also don’t want to let your audience down. Maybe you’ve had a less-than-ideal speaking experience and you’re afraid lightning will strike twice. I’d like to share a few tips with you on how not to bomb, or at least how to bomb less! Now, let go of your nervousness and give your best performance to the people who have come to see you! Know Your Audience If you’re an author giving a reading, know your audience! Are they familiar with your work or are they completely new to it? If they are new to it, warm them up by telling them why they’ll love your work and use humor! If you’re the first speaker, you won’t have a lot of material to riff about except complimentary stuff about the venue, the hosts and the warm crowd, but if you’re performing after an open mic segment or after another speaker, talk up the folks who have  gone before you and give them a little love. Doing so will endear you to your audience. I had a little issue with a speaking engagement when I realized that my talk was geared towards entrepreneurs and not corporate employees. Oh, boy! I should have asked my speaking coordinator who my audience so I could prepare. But here I was and I spoke to them about how being creative and flexible would make them more effective in their presentations—something from entrepreneur world that they may not deal with on a daily basis. Collect Stories                     As you go about your life, collect anecdotes that will resonate with your audience and that will help you break the tension. Just be sure that they’re relevant to you and your reading! Prepare Rehearse your talk and material ahead of time—mark your pages if you’re reading from your book so you’re not thumbing randomly! Check to see where you’re stumbling and adjust. Time your talk so you’re going over or under. Show Up Early When you show up early rather than on time you give yourself the chance to arrange the room and get a feel for the acoustics. I’ve shown up early at gigs and have rearranged the chairs to go from a classroom to a U-pattern—it’s made all of the difference! Don’t drink too much This applies more at a reading or an open mic, but don’t drink even if you think it’ll help you when it’s your turn at the mic. Drink plenty of water and when you’re all through, then have your favorite adult beverage. Your Turn OK, so those are my tips on how not to bomb. What have I missed? Please feel free to add a few more suggestions in the comments for us!
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Five Easy Ways to Video Blog

March 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Using video on your blog can instantly help you build trust, credibility and your expert standing. Video can also give your potential clients a keen sense of what you do and how you do it. For instance, if you’re blogging about “5 Ways to Boost Traffic On Your Website,” wouldn’t your message be more powerful if you could add video to that post along with your image, voice and passion? These days it’s even easier and less expensive to add video with the Flip cameras, iPhones, digital cameras and more! And once you’ve created your video it’s a snap to upload it to YouTube or Vimeo–both video sharing sites can let your video go viral thanks to social media. I also found a new site called Animoto which allows you to create a video/slideshow post accompanied by music using your photos. Now that’s easy! Check out this video I just made using Animoto that shows highlights from my book launch of Unfinished Projects. Here are Five Easy Ways to Video Blog:
  • know your content so you can talk comfortably in front of the camera without a script; be sure you know what you want your viewers to do after watching your video. It can be “Call Me for a Free Consult” or “Check out my eReport” or “Come Visit My Website for Other Cool Videos.”
  • Use good indoor lighting, or better yet go outdoors! I love filming on vacation (see my videos taken in South Dakota and New York)
  • Make sure your sound is clear–clear audio is vital for a good video blog post
  • Share your videos on Facebook and encourage your friends to “Share” it by asking them do it directly
  • Don’t try to cram too much into a video post; keep it around three minutes long on a single topic (multi topics in the same video will confuse your viewer and they won’t know what action to take). List posts work really well for this format. For instance, you can create a video about “Three Ways to ….” or create a video for a product or book review.
If you want to know more about video blogging, I suggest you check out this workshop facilitated by Alex Ferguson of EpicRealm Studio and Alice Osborn of Write from the Inside Out: Video Blogging Boot Camp with Alex Ferguson and Alice Osborn Location: EpicRealm Video Studio, 901-D Kildaire Farm Rd.  Cary, NC 27511 Thursday, March 31st from 11:30-1:30pm Cost: $37 Register HERE Everyone knows blogs help you cultivate a following on the web, but did you know that video blogging can help you establish even more trust and impact with your followers—plus, it’s just darn fun! Join web video specialist Alex Ferguson and writer Alice Osborn as they discuss creating strong vLogging (video blogging) content, including how to work on your script. This will be a hands-on workshop which will most benefit those who have some video and blogging experience. Get your video questions answered and start having fun with sharing your expertise to the world! Your Turn:Do you video blog? If yes, have you found that it’s boosted your traffic and your business? Let me know in the comments below:
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