Seminars

[Cthulhu]

For those who've hosted seminars before...

How do you go about doing it? If you could, describe how your first experience organizing and/or hosting a seminar went, what you did to prepare, mistakes you've made, and lessons you've learned.

I'm trying to get things started in this area, as we are severely seminar deprived, and would appreciate any pointers.

Thankee,

Cthulhu

 

[Chris from CT]

I've done some seminars in the past and have enjoyed doing them. My first experience was a good one, but man was I nervous. It worked out well though.

When I plan a seminar I plan for these things.

Where will the seminar be held?
Options could include:
In your dojo,
at a friend's or someone else's dojo,
at a VFW hall,
in a park,
at a local YMCA

I don't have a studio of my own so I have done them at other dojos and at the local YMCA's.

What material will the seminar cover?
Depending on where you do the seminar and who you teach it to will change what you teach.

At the YMCA I did a few self defense seminars, so I chose to teach some Kempo material and some Hapkido material. Now decide on what level your participants will be at. I chose very basic physical material in the self defense seminars because most of them had little to no experience.

It was quite different at my friend's Kempo dojo. I decided to do strictly Hapkido and show how it could be incorporated into Kempo. The experience level was higher in this situation than in the self defense seminars so I "raised the bar" on difficulty.

Lesson Plan
Write out exactly what you want to teach. I would recommend writting down more than you expect to teach just in case they are picking things up quickly, or something doesn't work as planned.

One thing that I usually do is give out a review booklet for each participant. So that way they have something to take with them and can look back on it if they forget and want a small reminder.

Price
It's up to you. If you go through a VFW or a YMCA you will have to take care of rental fee for the room from the money you receive from the participants. If you are doing it at another person's dojo I usually run two different methods:

1) Flat fee - Dojo pays one price. no more no less. This puts more responsibility on the host to get people there.

2) $ per head - the host gets a cut and so does the seminar instructor from each participant's entry fee.

If the seminar is far away, you also dicuss travelling expences and/or accomodations with who ever the host is.

I love doing seminars. It's a great way to meet others in the martial art community.

Sorry to be so long winded. I hope this helps.
Take care

 

[Chris from CT]

Hey, Cthulhu.
I don't know what's wrong with my reading and comprehension skills. After re-reading your original post, I screwed up. :idea:

I think you just mean hosting.
OOPS
:iws:

Hopefully some of it was helpful. (Pricing?)

My "Hooked on Phonics" is coming anyday now.

take care

 

[Rob_Broad]

The first thing to do is consult with the people that are most like to attend the seminar and see who they would like to have in. From there contact the people they want to see and get some costs from these instructors. After you have some costs talk to the people who want to attend get a rough number so you know what to charge everybody so you can break even atleast.

Call and book the date(s) for your seminar, and pray it works.

 

[Eniygma]

I am holding a seminar on May 18th and I have done some like it before. But, as far as pricing goes I have seen anywhere from 175 to 50 dollars. A lot depends on what you are going to teach how long is the seminar (two hours worth of training may only be worth 20 bucks to someone, or two full 10 hour days may be worth 125-175). A lot holds true with what you think the training the individuals are getting is worth? Know what I mean? My seminar is $50 a person....My rent is $25 an hour and my seminar is five hours long so it is 100 bucks off the top and then I also have a class size restriction of 25 people so.....as you can see $50 is pretty good for five hours worth of work. But, I am teaching all kinds of stuff too! Some other things to think about is the area?....(if you are in a relatively low income area, don't charge $200 for a seminar....you will probably be the only onbe there), where you are teaching?....(if your at the YMCA that can hold 100 people in the gym or more, and your giving a women's SD class, maybe you will only want to charge $30 or so). The above are all examples, not scripture. But, it all boils down to one thing......How much would you pay for the training????

E