Lessons I learned from my failed workshop
On a whim, I thought it would be a great idea last week to host a cooking class style workshop and was so excited about it. I have been wanting to get back into doing workshops for a while now and although life with littles never feels predictable I thought I would ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’, to get back into the game. And woof did I learn some very important things! Since becoming a parent I have learned that if something is not working, it may be a sign that I need to lower and/or change my expectations. And how life giving it has been to embrace that I can and at time should change my expectations/plans/thoughts because that is something in my power that I can do. Back to my workshop. I decided on the Wednesday that it would be a good idea to plan to do it on the Friday night, two days away. I worked on a pdf handout and posted on socials that I was going to be doing this, which during this season of life is something that is a bit out of my comfort zone. And also. like many other things in my life, my relationship with social media has been shifting and changing so posting and being present on that platform can be challenging for me. I was super excited when I was able to pick up some incredible ingredients for the recipes I was making at our CSA the afternoon of the workshop. I had everything prepped and even brought out my ring light (thank you Heather and Ralph!), had it all prepped and ready to go. And then…….
crickets
For the first 10 minutes, no one showed up.
And then one person did. Hooray! But then said that they weren’t able to stay.
So, then I tried to record it for the people who had shown interest in the workshop. And realized I didn’t have the right account to record a zoom meeting ….
From there, I made a quick pivot and switched to a live on Instagram so that at least it would be recorded. And had one person show up (who also ended up being present in my house, thanks B :), with one other popping on at the very end.
Was it a success? Did it feel like a success? 100% !
It wasn’t what I thought it would be, but I learned some really valuable lessons for going forward and doing this thing again. Next time I will:
Plan on holding the workshop on a weeknight, as an online gathering on a Friday night in the summer is probably not the time that people are going to want to me on their screens
If I am hosting it on zoom, make sure I have the account that allows me to record it!
Know that I can use a live on Instagram to record it as the number of views for the workshop has been pretty good for me
Give people a little more time to put it on their calendars, two days was not enough advance notice for most people
I’m finding, especially these days, that if I come from a place of curiosity and with a mindset open to learning (especially from my mistakes!), that when things don’t go the way that I wanted them to go or expected them to go it is much easier to move on without going down the rabbit hole of negative self talk. My kids are always learning, and even though I’ve been around a lot longer than them it helps to remember that I am always learning new things too, if only I am open to it.
