How do I advertise workshops and find suitable space?

DrFroggies

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone could give me some direction here, it would be a really great help if you could...

I've developed a series of workshops to cover both 10 week and one day modules, I have the breakdown and know how they'll run, I've the flyers designed and I'm ready to go but I have 2 area's I'm still uncertain of...

1. (And most importantly) Where do I put my flyers...where/how do I advertise?

2. Where can I find the best value space (ie. community centres, schools etc)?

I've sourced some spaces already but other than popping flyers up in supermarkets the advertising thing has me lost.

These might seem obvious to some of you but for some reason they have me flummoxed as many places (such as libraries etc) seem to be very finickity or only allow certain types of workshops (free reading classes and the like) but I know there are an abundance of normal workshops out there.

I've seen people offering similar one day and weekly workshops in various arts/performance/life enhancement areas from dance and acting to painting and meditation and I can see there's a whole thread devoted to advertising workshops etc here so I'm hoping someone could give me some advice on this?

I'd be hugely grateful for advice before I pay out money on flyers and web domains etc.

Thanks ;-)

faceman

DrFroggies wrote: »

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone could give me some direction here, it would be a really great help if you could...

I've developed a series of workshops to cover both 10 week and one day modules, I have the breakdown and know how they'll run, I've the flyers designed and I'm ready to go but I have 2 area's I'm still uncertain of...

1. (And most importantly) Where do I put my flyers...where/how do I advertise?

2. Where can I find the best value space (ie. community centres, schools etc)?

I've sourced some spaces already but other than popping flyers up in supermarkets the advertising thing has me lost.

These might seem obvious to some of you but for some reason they have me flummoxed as many places (such as libraries etc) seem to be very finickity or only allow certain types of workshops (free reading classes and the like) but I know there are an abundance of normal workshops out there.

I've seen people offering similar one day and weekly workshops in various arts/performance/life enhancement areas from dance and acting to painting and meditation and I can see there's a whole thread devoted to advertising workshops etc here so I'm hoping someone could give me some advice on this?

I'd be hugely grateful for advice before I pay out money on flyers and web domains etc.

Thanks ;-)

First off congrats and best of luck with your venture. It's very rewarding teaching and sharing talent with others.

The hard part is getting people to sign up but it's not impossible. It just takes hard work

Here's some tips I have anyway:

Social media: use it right. Built support and interest. Don't use social media to spam courses, people hate that. Use paid ads if necessary. People like to interact with social media.

Word of mouth: This is crucial. Your first few courses might be slim on numbers. But given people's passion for drama and such, if they enjoy your course they will tell friends. Many people who come to me are due to word of mouth

Online message boards: There are plenty. Obviously there is a thread here but you could also check out crookedhouse.ie too. Just don't forget to read forum rules before advertising. Otherwise your posts could be deleted.

Posters: ask permission to hang up posters and fliers around town.

The competition: This is one where a lot of people fall down and as a result while industry suffers. Where possible work with your 'competitors'. If you can't accommodate a student or if they are looking for something that you don't really provide, don't bs them. Send them to someone who does. You may not always get reciprocation but it is sending a message to people that the industry is solid and works together. Someone comes to your course and likes it, they may as a result do someone else's course too at a later date. Don't slag off the competition. It's unprofessional and gives a bad impression to your potential students.

Venues: Schools, arts centres and the like will offer space at a price. Just makes sure you have your own insurance. There is a new arts centre opening in Dublin 8 soon that might be interested in taking you in so keep an eye out there.

Best of luck with it!

DrFroggies

Hi Faceman,

Thanks a million for taking the time to reply to my questions. I'm looking forward to starting the workshops and hopefully giving participants something that they'll find really beneficial.

I'm plan to set up a good social network and online presence for these workshops as they go along but to begin with I'm hoping to advertise more traditionally through flyer and poster distribution. (basically I'd like to get some participant feedback and testimonials before putting my online - facebook, twitter etc out there).

And that's where I've been having problems I just can't think where to place the flyers? I can only think of Supermarkets and possibly libraries and the odd cafe (although I've been finding fewer of the latter two willing to allow flyer advertising) I have a feeling I'm just missing out on somewhere obvious to put up posters or leave flyers...is there anywhere you can recommend (ie places which would usually come to mind when distributing flyers)?

Another thing I was wondering is...is there a standard price rate I should be expecting from community centres and schools - I've contacted a number of arts/recreation and community centres and even hotels etc but the prices vary greatly so just trying to find out if there is a 'reasonable' price to expect.

And finally...insurance...I never even thought about that!!:o Where would I go to find out about that and how much could I be looking at?

Hope you don't mind me asking these follow up questions but as I was saying it's just all this initial stuff which has me a little befuddled.

Thanks again.

faceman wrote: »

First off congrats and best of luck with your venture. It's very rewarding teaching and sharing talent with others.

The hard part is getting people to sign up but it's not impossible. It just takes hard work

Here's some tips I have anyway:

Social media: use it right. Built support and interest. Don't use social media to spam courses, people hate that. Use paid ads if necessary. People like to interact with social media.

Word of mouth: This is crucial. Your first few courses might be slim on numbers. But given people's passion for drama and such, if they enjoy your course they will tell friends. Many people who come to me are due to word of mouth

Online message boards: There are plenty. Obviously there is a thread here but you could also check out crookedhouse.ie too. Just don't forget to read forum rules before advertising. Otherwise your posts could be deleted.

Posters: ask permission to hang up posters and fliers around town.

The competition: This is one where a lot of people fall down and as a result while industry suffers. Where possible work with your 'competitors'. If you can't accommodate a student or if they are looking for something that you don't really provide, don't bs them. Send them to someone who does. You may not always get reciprocation but it is sending a message to people that the industry is solid and works together. Someone comes to your course and likes it, they may as a result do someone else's course too at a later date. Don't slag off the competition. It's unprofessional and gives a bad impression to your potential students.

Venues: Schools, arts centres and the like will offer space at a price. Just makes sure you have your own insurance. There is a new arts centre opening in Dublin 8 soon that might be interested in taking you in so keep an eye out there.

Best of luck with it!

SilSil

That was very useful for me too! I organized very interesting workshop, unfortunately I reported some errors in advertising and its promotion, as a result it had not much success. Thanks for this thread!

faceman

No probs answering your questions.

Once you establish yourself you'll have less reliance on physical media for advertising. It can be tricky to get cheape space rental in Dublin. Anything around the €20 per hour mark (or less) is good.

It's important to be consistent with your venue too. Use the same one where possible.

Regarding fliers don't forget you can't hand them out on the street without a license and you're also at risk for littering fines. But you will find coffee shops and stories that will allow you leave them instore and hand up a posters

Insurance is a pain but it's necessary. Many venues won't allow you access until you show them your cert. The DLI get a special rate with JPC insurance. I'm insured through a broker in Galway and I get a great rate although I'll have to look up what they're called. Think it's Burke insurance.

DrFroggies

SilSil wrote: »

That was very useful for me too! I organized very interesting workshop, unfortunately I reported some errors in advertising and its promotion, as a result it had not much success. Thanks for this thread!

Hi SilSil...what do you mean 'reported some errors'? What do you think the lack of success was down to?

faceman wrote: »

No probs answering your questions.

Once you establish yourself you'll have less reliance on physical media for advertising. It can be tricky to get cheape space rental in Dublin. Anything around the €20 per hour mark (or less) is good.

It's important to be consistent with your venue too. Use the same one where possible.

Regarding fliers don't forget you can't hand them out on the street without a license and you're also at risk for littering fines. But you will find coffee shops and stories that will allow you leave them instore and hand up a posters

Insurance is a pain but it's necessary. Many venues won't allow you access until you show them your cert. The DLI get a special rate with JPC insurance. I'm insured through a broker in Galway and I get a great rate although I'll have to look up what they're called. Think it's Burke insurance.

Cheers Faceman, yeah the insurance was not something I'd factored in at all...had a look at JPC after you mentioned it so I have an idea of the kind of yearly rate I'd be looking at paying...gonna do a search around and see if I can get some kind of per day deal until know I have enough uptake to justify paying a years worth.

My concern with uptake is just because so few places seem to allow leaving of flyers or putting up posters anymore...but i figure if I can get even 5 people per workshop for the first couple I should be okay and then build up the numbers to hopefully around 10 per workshop after that.

I'm dropping down to a local newspaper this afternoon to see about advertising with them so that might get some interest (depending on what the newspaper charge).

lukegriffen

I've never run any courses, but if it was me, I'd try and get social media up & running in advance, get lots of people following you on twitter & liking you on facebook etc (it can take quite a while to build up followers). I'd run a couple of one-off courses for free in return for people giving you constructive feedback on Facebook. You can then use the good quotes on your fliers, and improve the course based on the feedback..

I don't think libraries care too much what fliers are in their library, i left a few in Pearse street & Rathmines etc, and the staff seemed fairly relaxed about it.
put fliers around temple bar (ifi, gallery of photograpy etc)
You could email dublineventguide & offer a few free places as competition (he's a readership of 15k)