Hello everyone and thank you for joining me! It is a sunny and crisp October day here in Maine and I hope you are enjoying the current season you are in wherever you are in the world. I had an opportunity recently to deliver a couple of full day workshops for a local organization and I was struck again by how much I love delivering workshops. High-quality workshops are a fantastic way to deliver training in a way that allows the participant to start playing or grappling with the concepts you’re teaching. The workshop format is ideal when you’re working with a group that will benefit from learning side by side, such as a team from the same company. The workshop format is also ideal when the group would benefit from learning from each other. This could be a mix of people from different industries, backgrounds, level of experience, etc. The workshop can act as a conduit to exchange knowledge and provide feedback. Workshops are one of my favorite ways to teach because the attendees get involved and start making the content meaningful for them. I will often turn a presentation into a workshop and it is always well-received. When I think of workshops, I think interactive and engaged: workbooks, or worksheets, paired sharing, small group exercises, and whole group discussions. In fact, as the person leading the workshop, the more I can minimize my time talking and maximize the time the participants are talking, the better. Public versus Private Workshops I’ve been asked to do workshops for organizations and I’ve also organized workshops for the public. Both of these can be gratifying and they each have their pros and cons. When an organization asks you to do a workshop, they are going to take care of most of the logistics, marketing, and other communications. They are also going to pay you an agreed upon amount of money so even if some people need to back out, you don’t have to issue refunds. This situation takes a lot of work off your plate but you don’t have a lot of control either. You may not have any say in the location, the skill or knowledge level of the participants, choices for refreshments, etc. The one thing you do want to make non-negotiable, if this applies to the workshop you are doing, is the limit to the number of participants in the workshop. Much like a classroom there is ideal ratio of facilitators to participants for maximum learning and engagement and that number will usually fluctuate between 16-20 participants to one facilitator. It all depends on the content of the workshop and the skill level of the participants with the particular topic you are addressing. You don’t want to set yourself up for a situation that could be frustrating and disappointing for both the participants and for yourself. For an organization there’s also more work leading up to being asked to do the workshop. There’s likely been networking, an exploratory meeting to assess the specific needs, proposal writing and negotiation of the fine details before you even know you’re doing the workshop for sure. And there’s no guarantee you’ll get to deliver the workshop. All your effort may be for naught if they determine that now isn’t the right time or you are not the exact fit they are looking for. You can usually earn more money doing workshops for organizations but also consider the amount of time you’ll invest before you get paid to deliver the workshop. Now, if you are going to do a workshop yourself that is open to the public, you have much greater control over all the details of your event. You get to pick the location, the food and beverage choices; you can set criteria around who can attend based on skill level, and you have much more control over the date and time. However, the marketing, sales, communications, and all the minute details are on you or a person you are paying to take on these tasks. It’s not unheard of for someone to register and pay for you event only to realize they have a conflict and cannot attend. Know that they will