Creating Workshops

(upbeat music) Hi, everyone. Welcome to "The Pilates Report." It's the first one of the year, and I'm really excited to have you all here. I am joined today by my guest, Amy Havens, and I'm so excited to talk to her about creating workshops. Welcome, May. Thank you, Gia.

Nice to be here. Hey, everybody. How are you doing today? Happy new year. Happy new year to you.

Happy new year. I can stress new, the word new. I'm doing well. I just will preface quickly, there could be a white flash of dog hair that you see any second. Here she goes.

I'm doing well. I'm very happy to be... Of course. She was laying very quietly, everybody, until now, and she must know the camera's on. I'm doing well, very happy to be here.

This is a great topic to discuss and chat about. Yeah. I have a lot of questions too because I've never taught a workshop or anything. So a lot of these questions are just my personal questions of just how do you do it? So my first question for you is, do you remember your first workshop?

And if so, like, what did you teach, or who was the audience? What do you remember about it? I have a strong sense my first workshop was probably something related to feet, foot stuff, you know, all that wonderful foot thing, all that stuff I love, in my home studio when I had the larger facility center at my Pilates, and to clients and to students that were in classes to say, hey, I got some ideas I want to pull together in more of a organized fashion, and let's play that way. So it's probably very playful-ish, but had to have been there. I can't imagine where else it would have been.

That's awesome. So where do you get your inspiration for workshops? Like, how do you... Like, what inspires you to create a workshop or what topics do you choose? Well, that's a great question too, Gia.

I think it really depends on who the audience is going to end up being and where, you know, if it's a studio workshop or conference, or I would say most... Often it's the host studio or the organization that says, "We want you for this presentation. What kind of ideas do you have?" Right, so a lot of what I enjoy teaching, of course, foot mechanics and gait mechanics, things like that. I love bone health. So I tend to work with my students in a studio setting of my clients, a little older population, so anything related to aging well, aging with safety, balance work, but not easy stuff, but things like that, approachable.

I also love a good reformer cleanup, you know. Like, let's just take a look and break down some things in all the apparatus, actually. So I really get charged with that approach and taking, yeah, kind of cleaning up and considering the cleanup. Yeah. It's a wonderful way to employ the creativity that teachers have to be allowed to teach in something like that and put something together in an open format rather than we want you to teach this topic, and that has happened as well, but.

Yeah, so it becomes more of a collaborative thing, like they kind of tell you we're interested in these topics, but what are you interested too, so then you can kind of work with them, and it's not just like, we're hiring you to do this, and then that's your contract. You can kind of make it your own a little bit, right? Yes. Yes. And I'll also answer this.

I don't work for a specific school or organization, so I have more creative license, I think, to create my own work that way. You know, I'm not lined up with some specific like here where we want you to go out and teach shoulder mechanics. And that also happens, but that's just not how it is for me. I'm on my own. And it's always too, if it's a more of a studio workshop, it's so fun because you get to talk to the host and say, what do you want?

Is it for your teachers, or is it for the clients of the studio? Is it going to get both mixed bag? You know, what do you want people to walk away with? That's something I always ask. Oh, that's great.

Because then they get back on Monday morning, and you see the people already getting back into what they learned in the last couple of days. So gotta ask the host what do they want. Yeah, it's always exciting too after a workshop, and then you, if you're excited about it, then you go and start to use the concepts or skills that you learned in the workshop on like the next day. It's always an exciting feeling, and everything's just kinda a little bit fresh. So I think that's a great approach to it, too.

I think so too, and I will say I went to out to Cleveland many, gosh, five years ago or something with Troy McCarty That was so fun. And one of the comments at the end, from Troy, so Troy, thank you, was, "Amy, there was a lot of usable material that we as teachers will be able to use on Monday morning and going forward." It wasn't complex. It was that particular workshop was reformer work and kind of creative play on things and adding music to reformer workouts. So they had a lot to work with right away rather than not. So I think that's a great compliment too, yeah.

That's great. So when you're creating a workshop, what steps do you go in? What steps do you take in starting to make it? Like, how do you start? All these good questions.

I generally get a big notebook out, and I just started jotting ideas of what topics I enjoy talking about, what I think would be sustainable topics to evenly break down into smaller segments, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. I usually do it in the alphabet like that rather than numbers. And then start to research if needed. You know, research depending on what the theme is, looking back over old notes from other workshops for inspiration, or just getting into, of course, the studio and just getting busy and moving and thinking through, okay, if this is the main topic, how can I break this down into steps that are digestible, and leaving plenty of room in the lecture portion to then get people moving. I like to talk, clearly, but I also, in a workshop setting, like to get people moving.

You've got to feel the work, so get as much time in the apparatus or on the mat or with the prop, yeah. Partnering, if we can do that, you know. When you're creating the workshops, do you tend to make it more of like a interactive workshop where the students can ask questions and kind of feel it, or do you do like a set time for lecture and then set time for practical experience? I tend to like the first. I'm less formal in a workshop setting.

Even in a conference setting, I think that might... I prefer in studio settings, I should say that way. And I like it more interactive. I think that dialogue, and I talk about this a lot, teaching, for me, whether I'm presenting in a larger setting or here is dialogue, so let's get in. I mean, I will generally give the lecture or what we're talking about, but I think it's important to allow the students, so everyone attending, to ask questions, however, that can get a little bit off line.

It sometimes can get a little too free. Yeah, off topic and a little bit too kind of loose where I'll have to reign it in, but generally, I like it a little bit more interactive. And usually, I know it probably changes depending on how long the workshop is, but around how long does it take you to plan a workshop? You're right. It depends on how long the workshop is.

You know, if it's a two hour quick and kind of quick, and that one won't take too long. If it's a four to six hour workshop, let's say, or a full day, there's several weeks worth that goes into planning that, absolutely. And trial and error and going back and kind of looking through it and like getting that first draft and then looking going, do I really need all of that? I like to have less, I'm sorry. I like to have more content than less, right.

So I can discern at the moment if I need to extract and take out. If the immediate topic is so juicy that people really dive in deeply, I can say, well, we're not going to get to such and such down here, but I would say it really depends on how long the overall workshop is, so, but you know, I put some work into them. Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

So when you're going about like iterating a workshop, especially if it's one you're going to do in more than one place, how do you go about like making changes and adjustments, and even for the first time, do you try it out on people before you actually present it? Or do you kind of just talk to people or just figure it out on your own self? How do you go about that? All of that. All of that, I do.

I first try on myself, you know. I work it through because I'm working on the talking points, whatever the theme might be, but I do like to practice it on people first before I go somewhere to teach it out, and having clients to teach that to is wonderful because then they get, the feel a little special that I'm asking them to be the recipient first before I go and teach it out. And I also get feedback from them that way where a question that they may ask maybe it was something that I wouldn't have thought would be a question that comes up. So I think it's really important to test it out before going. And then, you know, it's always when you're in the setting of the workshop and maybe things come up that you didn't expect, maybe it goes, you get through it quicker than you thought.

All of these are notes to take on how it could be replicated the next time around if that workshop is something that gets used in other place. Could I add more in since I got through so quickly this time? Or gosh, it looks like we only got through the first two topics. Did I plan too much in those two topics? How can I expedite and move it through a little bit quicker?

So I think it's just like any artist or creative process, you just trial and error, and you give yourself license to omit and add in as needed. That's great. I love that answer. I just want to remind everyone attending too, if you have questions for Amy about creating workshops, feel free to leave them in the chat because we're going to leave time at the end to do a Q&A with Amy. So add your questions to the chat when you have them, but I want to move on into presenting at conferences because I know you've presented at smaller studio workshops and then also at conferences.

So I'm curious to know, like, what is the process for presenting at a conference? What is the application process like? And then once you're accepted, what steps do you do to prepare for the event? Gia, great questions. Okay, I'll first start with saying I have never applied to present at a conference like a PMA or any of those.

I just haven't. I've been invited to teach at some conferences, so South Korea, in Spain, maybe some others. And so I've been invited, right. It hasn't been something that I've had to apply for. So for everyone that has had to go through that process, always congratulations.

That's a big, big step to take, and I probably should do it at some point. I just haven't. That just hasn't been the way it's worked around for me. Larger conference settings are exciting because there's so many people there watching and wanting to learn, you know, and the ones I have presented in, there have been translators. So of course, a lot of them have been in international, and that's exciting as well, but also tricky.

I think the first time I had a translator was in South Korea. I do remember that. And some of the feedback I received is not going to surprise anybody, was, "Amy, you said too many words," because the translator, how it works with translation, it's tricky. So what I learned from that experience from anyone who's about ready to go do that, and we'll get back to that, I know we will, is fewer words so that translator can nail the words and nail the intention of what I was wanting to have said because things do "get lost in translation." So that's something I learned, and so when I'm planning the content, you know, bold words, bold themed words, things like that is what I learned. So, gosh, they're exciting, you know, because the room was full of all of this energy, but it's also, it can be hard to manage that energy and get around, do the entire room, especially if it's a small, short time period,.

If it's a two hour workshop kind of thing, they just go by like that. Yeah. You know, and the longer extended, like a four hour or six hour, then people can kind of settle into things, and you get your breaks and whatnot, but yeah. So conference workshops are tough I think. I think they're really hard.

I think some people nail them, and, you know, just go in, and they just really nail those. I know I've been there when they have, so yeah. And what is it like presenting to like a big number of people like that? 'Cause at the smaller workshop or like a studio workshop, it's more intimate space, but what is it like presenting to like a huge group of people at a conference? Well, again, it's exciting.

And I think there's a lot of food that gets exchanged, a lot of energy that gets exchanged, and it can be overwhelming because of that energy. I think a lot of us teachers probably feel it kind of permeating in the space, but it's also, you feel such support from the students and the people that are there that you just get this rise in this charge of, wow, you're here to hear what I have to say, and hopefully I can give out what I want to say in a clear fashion, so they're exciting. They're exciting, for sure. Very energizing, I can say it that way too. Yeah.

Gotta be on your feet. I bet. So I have the same question for smaller intimate workshops like at a studio and then for conferences, but what are the pros and cons of each? Or what do you think are the pros and cons of each? Okay, yeah, I think for the smaller scenario like a studio workshop, the preparation's no less at all.

I think knowing that the room is a little more of a controlled environment in that regard, knowing intimacy, meaning smaller, there's a greater chance of going deeper into the material, for sure. So I think pros and cons, that one is a big one for me. A smaller setting, you're usually allowed to go in more intimately, deeper, bigger questions, more time to exchange with the students, them to exchange with me, allowing me to have more thinking around it, and experimentation on something, where in a conference, generally, that is not what we're there for. It's a larger, more generalized bit of information, perhaps that's being talked about and less hands-on, although some workshops in the past, some conference workshops, have been very hands-on. You get partners, and you start going to work, and you know, the room gets really bubbled up with lots of energy, and then we have to kind of cork it and get it down.

But in a studio setting, it's easier to kind of tamper that, and I just love that exchange with each other. I think it's really valuable to have the smaller settings to get that working with each other going. Yeah. It sounds like studio workshops in general are just like, because you can go deeper and really connect with people, it seems like it's just a better experience all around for everyone. And I know a lot of people do want to present at bigger conferences, but it seems like, to me, a studio workshop would be a great place for people to like get their feet wet, especially, but also to really dive deep into some topics they're interested in.

I agree. I do. You know, my nerves get up when I'm doing something like this, when I studio workshop, when I have a bigger setting, and that's a good thing. I think having some excitement as a mers is really good thing. You're wanting to, you know, get the information out as clearly as you can, but I think if someone's out for watching right now that's thinking, gosh, I really want to start.

Where should I start? Gather your students in your settings here, or gather some friends and just play it out with them, or fellow teachers where you're at. I know the world we're in right now is different. We don't have the freedom that we did, you know, even a couple of years ago to just freely put these things together. So we're going to have to kind of wait a bit on it, but I guess there's no time like the present to try, right.

So if you're thinking of trying one, it can be a workshop of two people. Numbers doesn't matter. Does it? I don't think, so I don't think it matters. Yeah, that's actually leads into my next question.

So what are your thoughts about like workshops for clients, and do you think that's a great place for people to start if they have no experience in creating workshops? 'Cause I know a lot of us tend to think of it as workshops for teachers, but they can also be for clients, right? Absolutely, it can be for clients. I think that's a great place to start for so many reasons. You get a chance to just continue your relationship building with them.

You already have trust within the clients that you're working with. They know you, they know how you talk, and then what I've experienced is they feel kind of special. Like, wow, she's going to build out even more time for me now in a deeper way. And they learn a lot more than they maybe expected to in a workshop because I get 'em working. I get 'em moving.

I don't want to just sit in lecture them, you know? So I think that's a great place to get the feet wet is with your clients. And you might enjoy it only teaching clients workshops and never need to go further than that or exchange with... I think the presentation of material is different also if you're presenting to a client base group versus teachers because the outcome is different. If you're teaching to teachers, we need the teachers to understand what they need to get out of their clients, you know, not really just for themselves, of course, for themselves as well.

And we go to workshops to better ourselves as movers, but we should also be going there to learn the material to teach the people that come to see us, you know. Yeah. So how do you approach a workshop for a client compared to the teacher? What are the differences that you do for the client base? It's fun.

They're fun, first of all. I like to have to make sure they have fun and say, hey, we're going to dive into, you know, the feet, again, I just kind of use that 'cause I've done that before. Or, hey, I've noticed that a lot of you... In a little email or newsletter, I've noticed many of you are having some shoulder stuff. Guess what?

I put together a 90 minute workshop for us where we can separate out a few topics to discuss, and I'll give you a few more exercises than you normally do on the apparatus so we can break some things down, really discuss why those things might be happening for you. That little pain you get in the front of your shoulder, let's talk about it, or the click in the hips. I have 90 minutes for clients I like to do, pretty simple, and they get, it's like an extended class, 90 minutes or two hours usually for clients. That's great. And then I have this question for like teacher workshops, but how do you decide how much to charge for the client type workshops?

That's a great question too. All these are so good. I don't like to charge too too much for a clinic workshop. Figure, I look at what they might be paying in a group class and either double or triple that depending on how long the workshop is. So mine are, you know, tending to be about 65 or $75 for 90 minutes or two hours.

I think that's fair. Most of the clients are like, "Really? That's all?" So that's a nice response because they want to keep doing them, you know, and some of the workshops I've had for the clients here are five or six people at a time. Again, they don't have to be big. Now, they can be. Of course, you'd make more money if you have more people and all that, but I think we get to think about what's the end goal for us.

What do we want our clients to receive out of the information exchange? Yeah, and it also creates that relationship that, you had said before it deepens your relationship with the client, and so then you retain them for longer. If they're willing to come to the workshops, they want to keep learning from you, and they know that you're taking care of them, too. Agreed, and you know, I think a lot of us would agree that, in our environment, as a Pilates teacher trust is mandatory. Relationship is absolutely a must.

And for us to kind of look at them in such a way that they are our clients, yes, but they're students, and what do you know? What if one of them ends up being a teacher? You know, letting them also feel confidence in the material that they're learning and allowing an opportunity for them to study a little bit deeper instead of just the 35 or the one hour class once or twice a week, a 90 minute experience for them is pretty cool. A lot of people really like that, and they surprise themselves with how much they already know what the come out of. And then they come into class the next couple of weeks, and you're like, yeah, you got it, you know.

Then we progress. Then we make progress. Yeah, that's wonderful. It's good, yeah. I love that.

So back to pricing, so you don't have to say how much you charge necessarily, but how do you go about deciding what to charge for it Like a studio workshop If you're traveling somewhere or even a local studio, they bring you in? Okay, that's, yeah, 'cause everyone's different. A lot of what I've done is, again, it's a conversation with the host studio, and the host studio I will go into a conversation around how many hours, how many workshops do they want, how long would they be, will they be half day, full day. Sometimes can charge an hourly rate. Some people feel more comfortable setting a half day rate.

I'm not gonna tell people what to charge. I don't feel comfortable doing that 'cause I'm not a business coach in that regard. You know what I mean? And I know you're not asking me to do that. I think like, if it's a studio workshop that I've been hired to do, they usually can also set the parameters.

I'll say, here, this is what I charge, and most times they haven't had to negotiate that, but it can be also, if it's a full weekend, it can be something as like a whole weekend fee that you can receive, so. Is that too vague of an answer for you? No, it's not to vague at all 'cause I just, I don't want you to say exactly what. That's always a weird question, but it's great advice for just going in and knowing like, what to expect if you've never done it before. Yeah.

I will, if I can add too, workshops are special, you know. It's a continued learning opportunity. So making them approachable in terms of the fee is not a bad idea, right. You know, I don't want to overprice it so then people may not want to do it again or do more of them, or they have a certain budget for their continuing ed for that year, they can spread it out. But at the same time, depending on what context you're presenting, material you're presenting, the price needs to reflect that.

So if it is a really high level workshop, maybe the fee is more. If it's more like choreography and the reformer or mat choreography, maybe there's some variables you can play with there in terms of how much you charge, so. Yeah. That's wonderful advice. So moving away from pricing, what do you do, or have you ever had a question from an attendee of a workshop that you didn't know the answer to, and how do you handle that when that happens or if it's happened? Yeah, nothing's coming to me right now that I can say, oh, I remember that time I didn't know the answer, but my personality is such that I would say if a question was presented to me that I did not have the answer for, I would say, I don't know.

I just don't know. Thank you for that question. That's brilliant. Let me write the question down so I can go do some more work on finding that answer. Happy to email you the answer or tell everyone what I find, or even, what if there's someone in the room that I can say, does anyone have the answer to that, and that's not a bad way to approach that if you don't know it for yourself.

Does anyone else have the answer? And you never know, there could be someone that knows they have the answer. And I don't know. I don't know at all. I know a lot, but I don't know everything, so I think it's okay to say I don't know.

Great advice. I totally agree 'cause I think sometimes people get nervous to go ahead with it because they like, oh, I don't know all the answers, but you don't have to know everything. Like, everyone's learning. And I feel like probably from my workshop, you also learn more too, just from creating it. Yeah, you know.

Yes, so the material I offer in a workshop is, yes, I put it together. I organize it. I hope I have all the answers that someone might ask, but no, we never know. There could be a brilliant question that I've never thought about, and boom, it hits., and like, I really don't know. To be able to just humble, be normal.

We're all, you know, I just don't know, but ask someone else if they know. That's cool, I think. I agree. Betina asks, can we hear more about the creating part of a small workshop? Again, I think for me, it's the topic first.

So let's say I've been asked to come do a in-studio workshop for, I'll make this even more exciting. What if it's a workshop that's the studio owner has said, hey, we're going to have teachers who are there as well as our clients, and that has happened, and those are fun because, like I said, I try to have more material than not, but more material than I need so I can extract if I don't need it or if I'm getting off track. But for me, a lot of times when I'm planning, I will get in the studio and just put myself in the mindset of the learner and think what would they want to learn. What do I know that they might already know? If it's studio with seasoned teachers, you know, and then a room full of clients that are kind of non teacher people, anything goes in a way, you know.

I don't want to present you too difficult material that they can't get, but I try to put myself in the mindset of the learner and what do I want to walk away with the workshop from. That's great. Is that enough? For my planning, yeah. It's like, well, I look at at teachers like us and people going out to present, we're artists or like a musician creating their music or a chef creating recipes.

It's a lot of trial and error based on an enormous amount of knowledge, right? And so I think we have to be flexible enough to know on the spot sometimes need to shift plan. Yeah, You know, ideas not sinking in, too complex or not complex enough. We have to be able to think on our feet. But I look at the studio setting as a big laboratory for us to just go in and just create.

That's awesome. I have a question from Paulina. She wants to know, when did you feel comfortable enough to teach a workshop? And she said, she's been a teacher and a studio owner, she's not the only one teaching there, for three years, and she has a lot of ideas for workshops, but doesn't know if she needs to have more years of practice. That's a great question, Paulina.

Thank you for asking that. I think I would say, colleague to colleague to all of us, is why wait? I think I waited a little too long, worried, oh, do I know enough? What are they going to think of me? You know, all of those maybe things that don't really need to get into the vortex here.

If you have ideas that are moving you with your teaching with your clients and students, if you feel like those ideas are filling you up and making you excited that you want to talk more about them, create a workshop, do it. What's the harm in it? Why wait? And just get started. And you might surprise yourself and go, wow, I'm really good at this.

I've got a lot to say, and they come freely for you. You might do your first workshop and go, I need a mentor. I need somebody to help me organize it or teach how to go through that, and there are so many business coaches out in our market now, which is fabulous, that there can be people that can guide you, you know. So I say resource those resources too, but why wait? Do it.

Yeah. No, I'm similar to Paulina. I had chances, like previous studios that I've worked at, they're like, do you want to teach a workshop to the clients, and I talked myself out of it 'cause I was like, no, I'm not ready for that. I haven't... And I've been teaching for a long time.

I was like, I haven't been teaching long enough. I don't know what to do. So I talked myself out of it, and I kind of regret it because I'm like, I should have just tried to see if like I could even do it or see if I liked it because who knows what would happen, but I think it's always good to just go ahead and start and try it because the worst that could happen, especially if it's a smaller workshop, it's just a few people, and maybe they still get something out of it maybe it's not how you want it to go, but they'll probably still learn something. Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I think if we think all of us think back on our apprenticeship time of being that teacher in training, and we know we have got the exam date out there somewhere, to get that completion, you've got to do that step.

You know, if you feel in your heart and your soul and your spirit that you want to be a teacher that offers more extended learning opportunities, you need to create an opportunity for extended learning opportunity for people. It's a test of your knowledge. It's a test of your ability to hold space for people, hold interest. Time management is a big one, so there are lots. And you just don't know until you (indistinct).

Was it Ron Fletcher that said, you don't know what you don't know until you know it, something like that, yeah? I think so. I think that, yeah. You don't know until you know? You don't know what you don't know until you know.

You know? Yeah. But I agree. You have to create the opportunity for yourself too, instead of waiting for, because no one's going to tell you that you're ready. You just have to do it and jump in because otherwise you're just gonna be waiting for a long time until maybe someone will come with an opportunity, but if you create it yourself, then you'll already have experience, and then you can keep going to more and bigger workshops if you'd like.

I think that's, I do, I think that's great. And you know, I remember getting feedback from some people I respect about a couple of the early days, and thank goodness. Amy, you need to organize your material a little bit better, or great topics, oh my gosh, we would have loved to do a little less on an extended topic and a little bit more., but I could tell you had all these notes that you didn't get to, or... You know, those are some examples that probably did come up, but I think, you know, people are willing to give feedback. Knowing if somebody's wanting to go into the presentation realm, people are willing to say, hey, want a little feedback?

Take it. Take it as a learning experience. Take it as a really good opportunity. I agree. So David has a question.

Can we hear about intro to Pilates equipment workshops for fitness instructors? What fabulous question, David. Intro to Pilates for fitness instructors, boy, first of all, I think is a great thing to do. I think it's another way we can marry in language with one another in terms profession. So if it's a, let's say it's an athletic club that also has a Pilates facility in it and how to have some consistency in language or share clients or let those fitness trainers learn why Pilates is different than their equipment and maybe complimentary, you know, I would like to probably advise us not to go in with that air of our work is better than their work.

It's physical training work, right? We're trying to share ideas. I think it's fabulous that we would do that for a fitness trainer, and say, hey, we've got a lot to share. You know, that particular move that you guys do looks a lot like something we do. Would you like to learn about that?

Come feel our equipment. It's different than your equipment, but it's complimentary. We're helping bodies move better, and in health, maybe share. You have this enthusiasm and to bring those kind of people together, those groups together, but do it. Why not?

That's great. These are great questions. Oh, Michelle Sim- Yeah, great questions. Oh, hey, Michelle. Hi.

Yeah. Beverly asked, can you address how to market a workshop if you're not one of the big schools in the industry, and what is a good length of time for a workshop for teachers? Okay, you're talking to me. I'm not the best marketer of myself, and I will admit that, right. You've just all heard me say it.

I'm not the best at it. So what I've learned to do is ask for help. I'm learning and still learning to ask for help from somebody that might have some real strong prowess for marketing. That's my best advice for that because you want people to come, right? And if you're not the best at it, or if you're shy, or don't have what you think the skills are to market, get someone to help you, pay them for it, and know that that's part of your workshop fee.

So that's that. What was the second part of the question? How long to do it for teachers? The second part is what is a good length of time for a workshop for teachers? Teachers.

Oh, I love workshops, so I'd say two eight hour days. I think it depends on the content. I do, I love workshops. I love being able to just go in and learn and learn and learn and learn. I feel at least a full day occasionally is not a bad idea.

You know what I mean? Like an eight to five or the one hour lunch and a couple of 15 minute breaks. Yeah, I think it's okay. We need to challenge. We need to challenge ourselves and retain and have concentration and be able to sustain a chunk of time like that.

I think a four hour also is great. I mean, yeah, I think anything is great, but why not have a full day? Yeah, if you can dive really deep into a topic, I'd say that's the way to go because sometimes the two hours' almost like an intro into the topic, and you just get a little taste of it, but then people end up wanting more. And if you really want to get stuff you can use, like that eight hour day or even like a four hour workshop, you can really dive deep and try it out on your body. You try it out teaching other people.

Whatever the topic is, you can really get into it. Absolutely. And I mean, it could be something... Well, right, this is where the artistry comes in because the topic... I keep using a feat, everybody, because I just think it's kind of a go-to.

But what if you wanted to talk about all the different footwork options in a Pilates studio setting? Come on, you know, there's Cadillac. There's the Wonder Chair. There, of course there's reformer. There's how to do standing for work.

There's, what if the feet don't really work that well, what kind of topics do you talk about there? You know what I mean? So that's a generalized topic, footwork on the Pilates apparatus. Would you get, you know, attendees? Probably and maybe not.

It's hard to say. Versus, you know what I'm saying? There's so much to offer there. Choreography on the reformer based on the Short Box series. You don't want to get too far off the topic or too far off the, you know, not get too crazy with creativity to hurt people, and it's not about that at all.

That's not what I'm saying about creativity, but I think you guys know what I'm saying. I'm always happy to go into more conversation later if needed, but. Yeah. Oh, in regards to the marketing, I also want to add newsletters are always a great way to market. We still use them.

I know a lot of studios have newsletters, but especially if you're doing a client-based workshop, it's a great way to get people interested in and get people on your email list. It's easy marketing that you can do and promote your workshops. And then also, social media marketing can work too. You just want to make sure, when you're marketing on social media, you're reaching the target audience that you want. And if most of your audience is clients, maybe that's not who you're gonna, you're not gonna do a social media campaign on your workshop for teachers there.

So you just want to figure out where your audience is, and then that's who you want to market to and you figure out where you can market to them. But as Amy said, hiring someone who can help you with that is always a good thing to do, that way you can focus on creating your workshop and not have to worry about all those details as well. So it depends on what your strength is, but there's ways to go about marketing. Elizabeth says she also finds taking workshops from others is a helpful way to build workshops. It helps you see what works and what might've been better to inform your own process.

I think that's great advice too because if you're always a student, you're always going to be a better teacher too. We have to always be learning. Absolutely. That's great advice for all of us to hear, and thanks for the marketing input too, Gia, absolutely. Yeah, we're here to learn.

Angela. Yeah. Angela asks, do you typically have all attendees of a workshop, either in-person or virtual, do you have them sign a liability waiver? That's a good question. In-person, I would, yeah.

Online, I have, but a lot of the workshops that I've presented for are, you know, taught and presented, have been for another studio. And so they take care of the liability waiver, and certainly the conference has taken care of that upon registration. So yes, yes. Do those waivers. Say when in doubt, have people sign a waiver so you're protected. Get those waivers.

Yeah. We've learned from Cory Sterling, who's been a guest on "The Pilates Report" a few times now. He's a lawyer who wrote "The Yoga Law Book." Always have your waiver up to date. Work with a lawyer in the beginning, so that way you're covered in case something comes out, and you don't want them to find any loopholes, so always have a waiver whenever you can. Yeah.

And not a generic waiver. Yeah, and I know I've listened to Cory's, the interviews with Cory, and they're brilliant And they're, it's digestible material. If y'all haven't heard those, go back. We have it here. You know, yes, it's a plug for that, but we want to be looked at as a reputable, you know, industry.

And so waiver yourself. It doesn't take that much time to do. Yeah, I believe he said better to pay a little bit in the beginning rather than to pay a lot in the end because they found a loophole. So always have a waiver. Yeah, exactly. Great advice from Cory.

Yes, thank you, Cory. Yeah, so if there's no more questions in the chat, I have one more for you, Amy. Okay. What advice do you have for teachers who are nervous to take this step in their careers? Is there any last words you want to give them, just to kind of push them to jump, make the jump?

As I said a few moments ago, yeah, I think if you're feeling moved within yourself to stretch your boundaries a little bit and grow and take the chance, I would encourage you to do it. Time is so short here in this world. I won't go too esoteric, but why not take the chance, you know? And if you're not feeling fully prepared or nervous, that's really, really good in a way because that means you care a lot about your material, you care about the outcome, and maybe seek out a mentor for like, maybe you just need like a one-time mentoring session with somebody who you say, I've got a few ideas. Here's my outline.

Can you take a look? Do you think, you know, I'm planning a two hour workshop for clients. You know, and have that courage to step out and ask for help early in the game. I think you'll build your confidence sooner and know where you need to grow and maybe... Yeah, does that?

Yeah, I think that that's a good place. And what's the harm in trying? Like I said, a minute ago, if you get in there and you do a workshop, and you're like, nah, that wasn't what I thought it would be, well, then... And if you get in there and you're like, oh my gosh, that was so amazing. That's exactly what I want to say.

That's how I want to be saying what I need to say, then look what you've done, you know, what you've given yourself, so. Great advice. Thank you, Amy. And thank you everyone for attending. You're so welcome.

We're recording this. Yeah, we're recording this, so it will be up on the site too, if you want to go back and reference any of Amy's responses, and it'll be up on the site by the end of the week. So thank you, and we'll see you again next time. Thank you, Gia. Thanks, everybody.

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