Thread: What days do you teach?

I'm trying to figure out what the best day(s) are to teach class. I've had quite a few people say they'd love a class during the daytime, in the week. Well, I also have a real job, so that is impossible. I asked if I offered a Saturday morning class would that suffice? "Sure!" was the enthusiastic response...but do you think ANYONE showed up!!!!
What days do YOU offer, and what seems to work best?

I have monthly workshops on Friday nights.
Other than that I teach workshops on weekends - and yes, some people can only come on Saturday, some only on Sunday..... There is no system to the madness ..c::

You will never find a day that fits everybody!
Our school has some classes at 9 AM / 10:30 AM and at some that start as late as 8:30 PM... OK, we have a lot of teachers, but clearly there is a demand for different times during the day.

I have even started to make a Doodle for my monthly zill classes to make sure that as many students as possible will show up - but these are students that have come before, so that's different.

Make people pre-register. So you know it it's worth getting out of the house... They have to make a commitment and not just decide that "Oh it's Saturday morning, I could go to dance class... But I went out late last night and I'd rather just stay in bed..."

MEISSOUN

Originally Posted by meissoun

I have monthly workshops on Friday nights.
Other than that I teach workshops on weekends - and yes, some people can only come on Saturday, some only on Sunday..... There is no system to the madness ..c::

You will never find a day that fits everybody!
Our school has some classes at 9 AM / 10:30 AM and at some that start as late as 8:30 PM... OK, we have a lot of teachers, but clearly there is a demand for different times during the day.

I have even started to make a Doodle for my monthly zill classes to make sure that as many students as possible will show up - but these are students that have come before, so that's different.

Make people pre-register. So you know it it's worth getting out of the house... They have to make a commitment and not just decide that "Oh it's Saturday morning, I could go to dance class... But I went out late last night and I'd rather just stay in bed..."

MEISSOUN

Yes I am DEFINATELY making people pre-register next time...thinking of offering a "free class" on a Saturday, where I do a little demo and have students there too...and use that day as a registration finale day LOL

Mondays aren't good because you have to deal with national holidays (& long weekends). I also hate tying up weekends, but I know someone who teaches both Saturday & Sunday. I'd hate that!

I teach Wed., Thurs., and have Rehearsal Club on Fridays. I was surprised about Friday being a popular day - I gave people the choice of Tuesday or Friday, they wanted Friday! And all classes are in the evening.

Never believe those people who say "My friends & I'll come if you teach a (whatever day) class!" yeah right!

My regular classes are on Monday and Wednesday with special series on Thursday and rehearsals on the weekends when I am in town. I haven't had any real issues with having class on Monday due to holidays; I just post the monthly schedule and plan around any days that I can't be there. Then again, I tend to teach on most of the holidays anyway. I tend to travel a good bit on the weekends to teach workshops and perform, so teaching a weekly class on Saturday or Sunday won't work with my schedule.

i teach privates morning, afternoon.large classes in the evening. i teach/coach monday through thursday. i just yesterday shut down saturdays...i just hurt all over ..have since i took all over with bayla zenas retirement.

Originally Posted by meissoun

You will never find a day that fits everybody!

this, so you have to think about who you want to reach and then pick something that works reasonably for you.
for example, if you're specifically targeting stay-at-home moms then offering a class while their children are in school would be a good move, but if you're expecting your students to have jobs too then after hours is pretty normal.
the beginner classes around here are all in the evenings on the weekdays.
there is one class that is "beyond beginner" which is on a saturday, but generally i think that, unless you have people who like BD enough to have stuck with it long enough to be past a beginner, then they will find better things to do every weekend, and you'll get that "oh i'd love to come!" when asking before hand followed by "oh my cousin's wedding" "there was a jazz festival" "i slept in" "my nephew had a soccer game" etc every week when it come time for them to actually show up.
those things are less likely to happen during the week and you'll get more regular attendance out of your beginner/hobby students.

i am suprised by all the "fridays".....are there no friday night gig's where you are

I've always wondered if a Monday Night Alternative to Football belly dance class would be a hit with football widows, but Anthea's point about holidays is a good one.

I teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the early evening. My Thursday classes are more popular, but it may be because of the venue.

I teach on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. My two later classes (the 7:45-9:15pm ones on Mon & Wed) are always more full than the two 6:00pm ones. The Tuesday night 7pm is pretty slow, but it's a different venue and I'm the newbie teacher there.

I almost always go to class on Saturdays, and usually stay for the two teachers after my class (Jenna and Fahtiem) on Tuesdays, until about 11pm.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 6 - 9 are prime times at our studio. We do one morning class a week. Anything outside of this schedule has to be pretty interesting to pull our general dance public.

When Ruric taught at a local YMCA, the YMCA did a poll about when folks wanted classes. They got a couple hundred responses and the responses were all over the map. Couldn't do anything meaningful with the data :)

Monday and Tuesday noon, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening, and Saturday morning. I've tried a few times to schedule a Wednesday noon but it never seems to get enough people. Daytime classes are hard to fill. Saturday seems to very popular around here. My partner teaches Friday evenings and her classes are packed then, but I don't like to schedule things on Fridays because of gigs and/or time with the hubby.

thanks anja

Great information ladies =) Thank you all so much for sharing! It helps to know the YMCA poll info, too LOL

You'll never find the magic day/time combo that everyone will come to - trust me, I've tried ..l;, and gave up.

I do Tuesday evenings 6-7pm & Saturday mornings 9:45-10:45. Where I am, Saturday mornings are not at all very popular, but weekday evenings right after work are. I wish Saturdays were more popular, personally I love starting my weekend/Saturday mornings with dance, but guess I'm weird like that lol.

Originally Posted by dunyah

I've always wondered if a Monday Night Alternative to Football belly dance class would be a hit with football widows, but Anthea's point about holidays is a good one.

LOL. And those ladies with children would not dare let their husbands "watch" the kids when football is on.

I taught Mondays and yes, holidays threw everything off. I taught on all the Monday holidays and even though announcing that in class the week or two before and students saying they would definitely still come, my class size would shrink by half or more on those nights.

I have a day job as well. Tuesday and Wednesday nights seem to work best for me. I can't do Fridays or weekends because my schedule is way too variable with gigs, traveling, etc.

Thursdays are ok, but for three day weekend travelers a lot of people leave Thursday night and want to take time to pack/get ready.

I teach on monday and had to cancel the thursday class for this semester due to not enough students. It was at an awkward time though, starting at 17.45.

I don't mind the holidays on mondays, we have a couple of weeks to make up for the holidays.

I teach Tuesday, Thursday , and Friday three classes each night. I have a yoga studio in residence at my studio and they take the other two nights, during the day and weekend mornings. I have taught every night of the week in my time. Hate Mondays, everyone is just tired! Every other night is good. It changes though, this session I have many more students on Tuesday than Thursday and my Fridays are filled go figure?
My advanced level has always been on Fridays (started at a Ballet studio and that was the time slots available then ) it seems to be their thing to do on Fridays, we often get together after class and rehearsal So it is fun!
No magic time at all, every session is not the same. I am locked into my times now so I will stick with them. Lots of classes to choose from for students though.
As far as gigs, My Fridays end at 9 PM so it works out.