Thread: Best times/days to teach?

Okay, so...I've been doing all of this talk about preparing to teach! Now I'm getting to the nitty gritty stuff! (Contacting studios, enrolling in teacher training, etc).

I was just wondering, for those of you that teach on a regular basis, what are the best days/times to teach. I know it depends on a lot of factors, but I just wanna know which classes are fuller than others.

I really don't want a class of 200, I just want to be able to break even as far as studio rental, etc. There is a place down the street from my house that's in an awesome location, has a good amount of parking (a big deal, I live in Hollywod) and is right next to major shops, etc. BUT studio rental is $50 an hour. Seems pretty steep!

Anyway, what do you think/what have you observed?

My experience has been Mon-Thurs nights, between about 6:30-9:30pm, are the most popular times. Especially Mon and Tues nights. I think that earlier in the week people have more energy, and they don't have so much work piled up on their desk that they have to clear before the weekend. In the classes I teach that are farther away from the city (and hence most workplaces) I have to start a little later, in order for people to make it on time. If I was teaching right in the city, then I'd look at an earlier start time for people going straight to class from work.

I have had lots of requests for daytime classes, but my experience (and this confers with others) is that daytime classes are really hard to keep going. My guess is that there's too many other things you can do in the daytime, like the banking, etc. In the evening, there's less distractions to keep you away from class.

Sat mornings (not too early) can work, but that's often when parents are running their kids to sport, etc (at least, here in Oz, but I think it's the same in the US). It's probably a convenient option for people who work long hours or interstate during the week and don't have kids.

Friday nights - forget it! People are either home recovering from work, or out drinking recovering from work!

Very interested to hear what works for others.

Definately earlier in the week is best.
I used to have classes on Thursday nights and Saturday at midday - never again. Thursday night (a.k.a late night shopping night) meant that I never really got good class sizes because so many people would rather go shopping, and my Saturday classes either had people turning up sporadically depending on whether or not they were hung over, or dependant on when their children had sports.
So I decided to teach on Tuesday night, and I had a big class from the get go. :)

Monday and Wednesday evenings 6-8 has worked well for me. I also do a Saturday morning class at 10 am which has gone well.

This pretty much confirms what I was thinking. Monday nights are best starting out. Now to find a place that has that time frame available. It seems like most places already have their 7pm and later slots filled.

I gotta keep looking!

Weeknights 7-9pm is prime time. It's tough to find a studio available during those hours, though.

I think the SINGLE most important factor in keeping my classes full has been organizing them in 6-week sessions and insisting on prepayment. People who would otherwise not come because of a long day at work or whatever WILL show up (usually) if they've prepaid for the class. I've even been able to work Friday evening and Sunday evening classes this way when it was the only studio time available. That never would have worked on a drop-in basis.

And I find it SO much easier to teach a set amount of material to the SAME group of people over a period of time!! I used to teach drop-in classes, I think it's frustrating for everyone when you've got some students who've been coming for months but every week or two there are several total newbies who have to be shown everything from the beginning!

Speaking as a student, not a teacher, the best classes for me start at 7 and go until 8:30. The later start time means I can get home and get dinner for the family and not feel like I have to rush out to class. It ends early enough that I still have some time to unwind before bedtime as well. Tues, Wed, and Thurs are the best nights.

My prime time for beginning classes is Monday through Thursday at 7 or 7:30pm. With an intermediate level class, I can get away with an hour or two on either side of that, because those students are a little more invested and willing to adjust their work/home schedules to make class.

I have had terrible problems making the minimum enrollment for weekday daytime classes. I think it only works well if you're teaching in an affluent community where there are lots of stay-at-home moms, or maybe in an urban area where there's a lot of 2nd or 3rd shifters. Daytime weekend classes are better, but between workshops, gigs and family time, I choose not to teach on the weekends.

Oh, and I'm ITA with what Lauren said about making people sign up in advance for a session of classes. I know a lot of people do drop ins, but I've never been able to make it work, personally speaking.

Mondays aren't the best because there are more holidays on Mondays. Similar with Fridays, and lots of people want to either chill or party on Friday nights. Wednesday is a church night for some people. I prefer Tuesdays and Thursday nights after 7 to get the dancers who work time to get there. I also like morning classes after 9 for moms with kids in preschool.

Hello, started back teaching at our community college of 2007 after a long absence since 1980. My first class that I taught for the summer started at 5 pm and had 24 enrolled. My second fall class started at 4:15, then I was able to get a room with mirrors, and 24 enrolled in that. I then started a spring class at 7 pm on Tues still and only 14 enrolled.

I have had an ongoing class at a dance studio on Thursday night for the intermediate/advance at 6:00 pm since July of last year.

Wed. was church night and am started another Tues 7:00 class on June 10.
The college here will not let me teach unless I have it listed and put on a schedule.

Our town is so weird for no one has ever taught at the college when I left. When I was p.g. with my second child in 1977, a former student started teaching and left there 2 years after she taught there.

I found it weird that the ladies came even after 4:00 pm and most of them took off their jobs to come to class.

Thanks guys! This is really helpful!

I'm having so much trouble finding places where I can teach after 7pm...It looks like the best I can do is a 5:30-6:30 on a Monday night, and that's not a good time here in LA (Too much trafic. No one will get there on time)

There are some affluent areas I could teach (during the day) where I know there are lots of stay at home mommies. I might start with that first. I don't plan on teaching for a few months so I still have some time to search.

Keep the ideas comin' ladies!

I've got classes from 9:30-11am - they're very popular with the stay-at-home mom crowd... giving them one morning a week to themselves during school hours.

If you go this route - try to advertise in the school newsletters, park bullitan boards, etc. The places moms go.

I think the best are Monday or Tuesday nights at 7:30 pm. Students are often wives and moms, and this way they are home in a decent hour (shortly after 8:30 pm ) and their husbands are more supportive of their hobby. (as opposed to coming home closer to 10 pm.)
Wednesday night would fall 2nd.
If you have only beginners, Thursday is probably just as good, but some people go out on Thursday nights, (dates, hanging out with friends). If you have mixed level class, or higher up, Thursday may not be that good, because some dancers do perform on Thursdays (but very seldom Mondays-Tuesdays).
You also want to keep your schedule open for any parties Thursday nights.
Saturdays in my opinion are not that good, lot of people want to sleep in after a work week, or have to spend time with their kids.

I think husbands/significant others are big factors in this - I remember back in the day when I went to my very first dance class I had to ask my boyfriend if he would watch my daughter for that one hour every week (which became 2 hours-2 classes) and have a commitment that he won't bail on me.

I generally teach on Mondays and Wednesday evenings. During June and July, my Monday classes go on hiatus because of the number of 3-day weekends people generally go on with their families. The summer isn't a problem for my Wednesday classes, but for Mondays it can be pretty drastic some years.

I have also taught on Saturdays and Sundays with pretty good success. The only day I have really seen to be a huge issue is Friday....I have known a few dancers who tried Friday classes, but haven't seen it work out. I would imagine it is different based on the available student demographic.

My Saturday morning class works really well for me, because I have some students coming from 1.5 hrs+ away that would not ever be able to make it on a weeknight. (I teach Tribal and there are cities around my location that have no Tribal instructors.)
I've also found that I teach MUCH better in the morning on the weekend than after a workday. Probably due to not being exhausted.

I might give a Saturday class a try. I know when I was in college I was much more likely to go to my teacher's Sat. class than her Tues/Thurs classes because I was exauhsted from school. (keep in mind I lived on campus and her classes were taught on campus at the rec center)

I'll probably start with the weekday classes though. The place where I'd teach on Sat. afternoons is a little expensive so I want to wait until I have a little more money.

I think I'm gonna do a Tuesday 5:30-6:30, a Tuesday morning for at-home mommies, and waaaaayyyy down the line, a Saturday class. I know the Tuesday evening one isn't the best time, but all the 7pm slots are taken. I'll give it a trial run and if it's really bad, I might just stick to the morning classes until I can find something else.

Good luck!

It's unusual, but I teach on Sundays. I have 3 back to back classes from 5-9. It works pretty well. I originally took Sundays simply because it was all the studio had (besides Saturdays, which are a no for me). I lost some students when I went to Sundays, but I've also picked up a bunch for whom Sunday was their best option. In my area, you can find a dozen classes on any night- Monday-Thursday, and a bunch on Saturday morning, but as far as I know, there's only 1 other studio that has Sundauy classes, and that's worked in my favor.