Thread: hosting a workshop?

How does one go about hosting a workshop?
Bringing instructors from out of town/state? I'm assuming that the host has to cover plane tickets? hotel? food?
How do you know that there will be enough interest for the workshop?

How do you find vendors? Do you charge for their space?



Thanks!

Most pros charge between $150-$300 per hour
Hosts pay travel, food, hotel, space, insurance, etc.

And sweat for weeks because no one signs up until last minute...

Originally Posted by amity

Most pros charge between $150-$300 per hour
Hosts pay travel, food, hotel, space, insurance, etc.

And sweat for weeks because no one signs up until last minute...

Originally Posted by lylagus

That was my exact first reaction when I first started hosting stuff. It was a huge shock. I came from the ballroom industry and was used to hiring top level coaches for $500 A DAY, not $300/hour. Seriously!! And we'd work them for 8 hours. And then on top of that, we'd charge our students $125/hour for a coaching lesson. So we could easily turn a profit by bringing in a coach.

Then I entered the belly arena...and nearly died of shock at the difference. The artists charge WAY more and the students pay WAY less. Yeah...huge differences which make it very difficult to make things profitable.

The only advice I have is to negotiate a "split" that is fair to both parties if you don't have any idea of how many people will show up. And don't agree to a 70/30 split if at all possible (yes, some artists expect 70% of your profits--whew).

I've hosted a couple of workshops at my little studio already...

The first was a drumming workshop w/ Buddy Helm, and it went FAB!
I did it on 70/30 split - but he paid all his own expenses, and provided me with advertising material with which to promote the event.


The second workshop we held was w/ an out of town (hell, out of country) instructor. I paid airfare, meals, and put the instructor up at one of our instructors homes because they "preferred to stay w/ someone vs. a cold/barren hotel". Then I had to guarantee a minimum or 70/30 (whichever was greater). I wound up sooo upside down on this one...

Things didn't go over quite as well as they did for the first workshop either.
Partly because the out of area instructor, touring the US, was difficult to get in touch with, get promotional pics from, etc. The venue for the show cancelled on me last minute and I had to scramble for another location (at hire rate). And then too, a local (much better known) studio decided to schedule a last minute workshop of their own the weekend before mine was to be held. A lot of people who'd said they wanted to come to my workshop called to say that they while they still really wanted to come - just couldn't afford cost of both weekends.
I was really bummed (especially since this "other studio" knew what the date of my event was to be). They claim that it didn't happen on purpose - but I've seen them do little things in this manner (to others) a couple of times since.

Anyhoo, I'm a tad wiser now, and one of the things is that I don't do 70/30 split for anything, unless the instructor coming in wants to share the cost of promotion or venue, wave airfare/meals/accomodation. I know there are a couple of big names out there what supposedly are worth what they charge, for the sheer fact that just their name draws great attendance - and maybe they might be worth sponsoring, but as a new up & coming studio, I just cannot afford their prices. Not to mention a slow(ing) economy means fewer people signing up....

Originally Posted by amity

And sweat for weeks because no one signs up until last minute...

Oh, so true, so true ,f::

Originally Posted by Samira_dncr

Then I entered the belly arena...and nearly died of shock at the difference. The artists charge WAY more and the students pay WAY less. Yeah...huge differences which make it very difficult to make things profitable.

You know, this makes it so much harder to put on a really nice event too. Any added fee or any "surprise" cost can be the difference between making any sort of profit and ending up in the red and it's just getting worse. When I started dancing, $50 for a 2 hour workshop was considered a reasonable rate to pay and now it seems like anything over $35 raises eyebrows (in my area anyway).