Thread: 6:30 or 8pm class?

I'm curious what your experience is with class times. I'm talking with a new studio and they have two openings on Thursday nights: 6:30pm and 8pm.

I can't decide which to take.

Have you had greater success with earlier or later time slots? Or is the 6-9 window good either way?

I get more complaints about early time slots than later. Ideally, it seems me that 7pm is a prime slot. If I had to pick between the two you were given, I'd take 8pm, but with a sad face on.

I take an 8pm class and it works for me. I would say that especially for folks who work, that time allows them to go home, have dinner, kiss the kids, etc. and still go to class.

I teach three classes on Mondays, my first at 6:20, and the last starting at 8:35. Curiously enough, the smallest class of the three is the 7:30pm class, so I'd go with the 6:30 class.

It really depends on where you are & who you are appealing to- 6:30 is nice for those who don't want to go home before class, 8 for those who do, but in my area it is harder to get a late nigh babysitter, so I do better with a 6:30 class. When I was closer to the U, later was better.

It seems like beginners are less likely to come out later, so I would take the early slot if it's a beginner class and the later slot if it's advanced.

Originally Posted by Andrea2

It seems like beginners are less likely to come out later, so I would take the early slot if it's a beginner class and the later slot if it's advanced.

Haha, my beginner class is the 8:35 slot. I have 19 students this session, and they all said they'd be happy to continue on in the same time slot next session!

It is more about location , how far are you from downtown or city , "traffic" time to leave work and get to a class or time to leave work and get home get to a class all should be considered in making a class time decision . For myself 7:30 or 8:00 always did well on week nights as long as it was only a 1 hour class .

The main downside I see to the 8pm class (and I teach one!) is that sometimes by the time people have come home, eaten dinner and sat down on the couch, the last thing they want to do is get up and drag themselves out to class.

My preference would be for the 6:30 class, but as you can see it varies wildly from area to area.

Take them both. Offer a steps class and a choreo class where you also teach the steps (different from the previous). Students could take either or both.

Speaking as a student, for me it's totally dependent on the location. When I was in NH and class was only 18 minutes from home, I had no problem with my 8pm class. But since I moved to MI and the closest instructor is an hour away, there's no way I would even consider a class that late.

My most succesfull class from attentance start at 10.30 pm !! but again this is Greece ,r:;
I put beginer classes around 7.30 earlier just kid classes.

Maria Aya ..g.:

I'd do 6:30. Those with kids will like that one, I've had better luck with that one. Most of my students were mommies. ;-) can you have both?!

just my 2 cents

I take an hour long 6:30 class and I love it. It gives me time to eat dinner before I go, and time to get stuff done when I get home before I have to go to bed. An 8:00 class would be way too late for me, personally, because I have a half hour drive to class so it would be 9:30 before I got home.

the problem with the 6:30 class is that you are going to have late comers who arrive after work and might get stuck in traffic/picking up kids/eating first etc...

Originally Posted by laura 2

The main downside I see to the 8pm class (and I teach one!) is that sometimes by the time people have come home, eaten dinner and sat down on the couch, the last thing they want to do is get up and drag themselves out to class.

My preference would be for the 6:30 class, but as you can see it varies wildly from area to area.

I have done this - I quit sitting down though and kept going so I wouldn't get too sedentary and not want to go to class.

I don't eat before I dance, and my current class ends at 8:30. By the end of that class I'm ravenous! I'd be such a happy camper if it started earlier. I have taken earlier classes before and it gave me just enough time to get home from work, changed, and cleaned up without letting myself relax too much.

If your up to it and can arrange it, I'd see if you could do both time slots at least for a session or two and see what works out best for your area.

I teach a class one night from 6 to 7:45 and another night from 8 to 9:30 for beginners. I've found both classes do have appeal to my local area. The later class has traditionally been smaller than the earlier class for the past couple of years, right up until this session, proving you can never predict whats going to happen.

It depends on what time people prefer to eat in your area.

For me, 6:30 I'm either eating, full with a hurried meal or HUNGRY at the end of class.
8 is perfect for me. I can have some tea after dinner, load the dishwasher, find my dance shoes and hipscarf and still be on time.
I took a 6 to 7 class the other day and it way also fine. I went after work and cane home at 7:20 to make a simple meal.
I am single without kids by the way. Mommies will eat earlier.

Yeah that is a tough decision! I do think it depends a lot on the community you live in. I live in a very suburban community and people go to bed early here, most are families, so the 6:30 would work better. But other areas the 8 makes sense. I know the people here would have a hard time going to class at 8 and not getting out until 9 and then go home and relax and have to get up to go to work or take kids to school early the next day. You have to think about the lifestyles of the people around you to make the best decision. I do like the idea of taking both times and see which one works if that is feasible for you.

I say pick the time you want to teach. Yeah, you'll lose some people who absolutely can't make the time/date, but I have found for the most part that if people want to do it, they will make the sacrifices they need to to be able to attend. Those are the highly motivated people you would like to have in class anyway.

My most successful classes have been at 6 pm or 6:30. It seems like around here once people get home, eat, and sit down on the couch, they're done for the evening. I could never do the 8 pm class myself because I go to bed between 9:30 and 10. It takes me time to relax after dancing before I can get to sleep.

My classes are 6pm & 7:30pm - back to back (so I'm pretty hungry by the time they are over). I get people who like both. Those who come straight from work (in which case 6pm can be too late - when I was a student it was 5:30pm) and those who need to go home first. Those that want to be home not too late and those who need to get the kids settled first. Oh, and what's on TV.

Myself, I'd opt for the 8pm class.
In the fall i will be taking a 2 hour class one from 730 to 830 and the other from 830 to 930. Will mean a later bed time on that one day but thats ok as also have troupe practice etc.

I will speak for some shift workers here and say that usually (*usually*) a 12 hr shift ends/starts at 7 pm, and its a lot easier to change your shifts around to work days instead of nights, rather than to take the entire day off just for a class.

so in conclusion, for my people I say 8 pm

I like 6:30 better...for me, it's a consideration of time/relying on public transit. I'm closer to classes coming from work than I am from home, and having to go back out and wait for the bus/subway can be a pain. Plus, when I'm home, I tend to end up being home for the day, especially if I've had a full work day

Thank y'all for all your comments. I guess it's 6 in one and half a dozen on other.

I've since gone with the 8pm slot, because the highway it's on is one that comes straight out of Houston and is still back-uped around 6pm, so that may cause problems for folks that live out here. If the class was in the city, I would have considered the other time a better choice. That's my reasoning anyways.

I'm renting the space, so I can't afford to rent two spots just to see, but if this spot doesn't pan out, maybe I'll try the other slot next time and see if I have a better turnout.

Originally Posted by azahara

It is more about location , how far are you from downtown or city , "traffic" time to leave work and get to a class or time to leave work and get home get to a class all should be considered in making a class time decision . For myself 7:30 or 8:00 always did well on week nights as long as it was only a 1 hour class .

I'm a half hour from work to class and an hour from class to home at night. If it was much later than 6:45, it would be too late for me.

Everyone is different. I take an evening class regularly, but when I drop in on a morning class, it's a world apart in a good way.

I'm a morning person, but mornings don't really fit my schedule, so my instructor gets me at the end of a workday, and I'm often worn out already, and that's the way it is.

So many factors.

Well I recently had several time slots for various reasons. I live in a big metro area so I teach all over the place. I try to keep my teaching jobs near my day job since that is the hot area for lessons. Unfortunately, my home area is pretty dead. So, my 6 p.m. slot did okay but people invariably ran late due to rush hour traffic.. My 6:30 -7 p.m. classes fared better. But the fitness company I worked for changed my time to 7:30 p.m. for the fall. So far, all my classes have fallen beneath the minimum enrollment and have been cancelled and frankly I'm relieved. I have to travel a distance to teach and I'm not crazy about the time slot. I think it is a lot easier to teach a time, after work (especially in the fall and winter), before people get home, get relaxed, and zoned out. The only time I had a great late evening class was when all the students literally lived a block away. I had a 60 minute drive home but they could walk home in 5 minutes.

Anyway, I've pretty much decided to quit teaching after this year. To me the money I make for the time I commute isn't worth it.

I had one class at 6:30 once, and had to cancel it because no one could make it there in time from work. My classes are all at 8:00 or 8:30 and no one complains that they are too late. The only evening class that I have that starts at 7:00 is on a Sunday, so that is different. I'd go with 8:00.