Preparing to Teach a
Jewelry Workshop

© by Rena Klingenberg; all rights reserved

Preparing for a jewelry workshop is the next step. You've already decided on a group to target for your jewelry making workshop, and you’ve chosen a project for them to make. (See Teaching Jewelry Making Workshops for all the steps involved in leading a successful jewelry class.)

So now you'll need to find the person in charge of activities for the group, such as the parent in charge of the Girl Scout troop, the president of the club, the shop owner, the activities director of the facility, etc.

Call this person in charge and describe a jewelry-making workshop you’d like to teach for their group or shop. Be open and listen carefully to their ideas and needs.

Determine where the workshop will be—the best place is at their location, in a large room with tables and chairs. However, you can also do workshops in your home or studio if you have the space.

Let the person in charge know your maximum workshop class size. Depending on the project, 25 students is generally a good maximum when everyone is working on the same project.

Let them know how much time you need for the workshop. To figure this out, you’ll need to

1. First make a sample of the project yourself, alone in your studio.

2. As you make it yourself, before you do each step of the project, stop and explain clearly to yourself how to do the next step.

3. Time yourself doing this from start to finish, and then double this time—your students won’t be as fast as you, and the workshop pace will be slower because you’ll be moving around the class giving individual help.

4. Add at least an additional half-hour for introductions, general information, questions, and students taking time to choose their beads or supplies.

5. It’s important to build in enough time that your students don’t feel rushed. Pressure kills creativity, and besides, one reason people signed up for your workshop is because they were thinking of it as a fun and relaxing activity, not a 50-yard dash!

6. As you work on your sample, make a written list of every single supply and tool needed to complete the project. Then double-check the list. It’s vital to the success of your workshop that you bring every single thing needed for each student to complete the project!

Determine the best workshop day and time for their group, and for you. Arrange to arrive at least half an hour before the scheduled workshop time so you can set up the room and your supplies, and be ready for your students when they come in!

Discuss how the class will be promoted, so you can be sure of getting as close to your maximum head-count as possible. The more students you have, the greater your earnings, since each participant pays you for the workshop!

For example, you’ll expend about the same amount of time and energy whether you have 5 students or 25 . . . but you’ll earn 5 times as much money if you get the full 25 instead of just 5! So get your workshops as full as possible. Offer to make a flyer advertising the workshop to the group. The flyer should have a good, enticing photo of the jewelry the partipants will be making. (See Tips for Photographing Jewelry.)

Ask the person in charge to do a signup sheet for the participants, because you’ll need a final head-count. This serves two purposes:

1. You’ll know how many people to count on coming;
   
2. It makes people commit to themselves that they’re coming!

Let the person in charge of activities know what the workshop will cost each student.

A week before the workshop, call this person again to confirm the details and the head-count. Then, if possible, call or have the person in charge of activities call each person who has signed up for the workshop, reminding them of the date and time. This helps you get your maximum attendance and therefore maximum income from the workshop!

VERY IMPORTANT: At least two weeks before the class, check your jewelry making supplies carefully. Be sure that for each person who has signed up, you have enough of EVERY SINGLE ELEMENT (supplies, tools, etc.) NEEDED TO MAKE THIS PROJECT . . . PLUS about 10% extra of each supply, just in case!

Order whatever you don’t have, and be sure it will all be shipped to you by a method that will get it to you before the workshop date!

A workshop without adequate supplies is a flop, and it makes you look very unprofessional. So check and double-check! Then relax and look forward to your workshop.

For the complete success guide to profitable jewelry making classes, see Teaching Jewelry Making Workshops.

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