Thoughts on Letterhead meets and workshops

[Dan Sawatzky]

This is not a rant nor aimed at anyone... just some of my personal observations meant to stimulate thought and discussion about Letterhead meets in general and this workshop in particular. I know some of the original Letterheads frequent this board, and I would especially love to hear their thoughts and comments.

I was talking to someone recently about the Router Magic Workshops we are currently hosting four times each year in our studio. This person commented on how we had obviously found a lucrative new source of income. It wasn't the first time I had heard the remark and undoubtably some other folks might think the same thing. The comments made me smile and got me thinking as I sometimes do.

It seems these folks had done some quick math... number of available seats (10) multipled by the the entrance fee ($1,500) and come up with a total. (10 X $1,500 = $15,000) While this number was absolutely correct as far as the potential gross income for a workshop it didn't sum up our net income nor take into account the costs for the project. As we all should know, that's not how it works. Hosting an event of any kind is somewhat like running a business... the truth is you only get to keep what's left over at the end. Or pay the difference if you are short. I would also argue that time spent away from your business actually can cost you money... especially if you are busy.

Bear with me while I explain my point of view...

A couple of summers ago we hosted the 'Picnic at the Ranch' here in Yarrow. It was a blast and we had fun as did most of those who came! And we were proud to host about 60 people for the day. We had asked for a small $20 donation to help cover costs, which most happily paid. I heard a couple of the attendees complain about the price we were charging and a few simply didn't pay. Whatever. Everyone who helped us out was waived in (as it should be) A few of the attendees were our guests for various good reasons.

The work to get ready for the event started weeks before and involved paid staff and family members and friends. As anyone who has hosted an event in their own shop well understands, its no small task.

Afterwards things had to be cleaned up, put away and borrowed items returned, before we could get into production once more. I never truly added up the cost... I never really want to know... but without doing the detailed math I do know we did not come close to breaking even... just adding up the big things and not including our wages or that of our staff. Countless small things will never be accounted for and I wasn't keeping score. The Picnic, even though it was a small, low key, and very casual affair cost us money. Plenty. All that being said I still loved hosting the event but a number of things prevented me from wanting to do more similar gigs.

We didn't want to largely subsidise future Letterhead meets at our place of business. It didn't make sense.

Hosting an event can be a high stress and somewhat crazy excercise on occasion. Don't believe me... take a good look at the host(s) of the next Letterhead event you attend. Most times these folks are simply a blur as they run around tending every detail, trying their best to make everyone happy. Chances are they will have to look at the pictures which other people took afterwards to really appreciate what went on. And chances are they will need a real holiday too, whether they get to take one or not.

The third thing is that I would love to have been able to spend more time with each of our guests during the event. Many had travelled a long,long ways to come (which I really appreciated) and they wanted to see more of what we did and how we did it. I hardly got to spend more than a few minutes with each of them at the picnic because I was kinda busy taking care of things for everyone else.

Just as importantly I wanted to teach and share what we do here, but because of the crowd and my busyness at the meet there was no way it was humanly possible.

While there were some brief demos and some learning definitely took place at the picnic, the fact remains it was primarily a social event as are most Letterhead events these days. I love a good party but I wanted more from the events I choose to host.

Like many who host Letterhead meets, I know we could have spent the time and effort to contact other businesses to help sponsor the meet and offset some hard costs. But I also know that there are countless requests for support of these type of events. Sponsorships seldom really pay off for the donors. There is also a real cost for the host/organizers to spend the time making these arrangements. Time is real money if you take it away from your business. Lastly, I wasn't at all comfortable begging sponsorships and donations from my suppliers.

There had to be a better solution (for us). We hoped to discover it with the workshop format. The first one we held in October was a test.

We struggled long and hard to come up with a price that would both cover our expenses and at the same time provide value to those attending. But just how do you calculate that and what do you include to make it so?

It was our desire to attract the top signmakers in the industry as well as those just starting but who were eager to learn the things we were teaching. In short we were looking for those with a huge passion for the craft.

We wanted the workshop to be over the top in every respect possible! We were sharing proven methods and 'secrets' which had taken years to gather and formulate. Bringing in the top EnRoute trainer meant the instruction we provided at the gathering was two-fold... delivered from both from the artistic side (me) and from a technical standpoint (Tom). We could effectively deliver both the 'how' and 'why' of what we do. CD's and printed material from EnRoute would provide a way for each attendee to review what was covered during the workshop and for reference later... no small value by itself. We also included a CD of proven bitmap textures which I had developed over the last years.

We started to add up the expenses. Staffing costs to prepare, host and clean up afterwards. Costs of wholesome, catered meals, supplies and necessary tools and materials we needed to properly host the event. Catering the event in the shop would maximise our time in learning. I didn't want to rely on family volunteering to subsidise the event. This was my gig... not theirs.

Many, many hours were spent planning and preparing the material we would cover. The seemingly endless arrangements took many hours. Many emails were sent and many phone calls were made. It was all to make sure everyone and every detail was taken care of.

We checked out the caterers, and the accomodations. The shop was cleaned from one end to the other, customer's projects put away and everything made safe for our guests. Some projects were postponed and rescheduled after the workshop was done. Multiple samples were created, everything put on display and carefully arranged. We purchased tables, chairs, a projector screen, and a host of other smaller things to create a workable and first class venue, not only for this first event but also for the future.

Our guest teacher, Tom Penner, head trainer from EnRoute flew in from back east before the official start of the workshop and together we reviewed our materials one last time and made final plans and arrangements. Everything was ready, everything tested and working, every detail in place.

The workshop was officially underway!

Things went relatively smooth for our first time out of the gate... although we made some small changes as we went, adapting to the specific needs of our guests. Each morning I got up early to be ready for the first arrival... and worked long past the leaving of the last guest... putting things in place for the next day and tying up loose ends. That was as it should be. Family and staff did their part as well, making the event seamless, with few hitches. Plenty of effort was expended to make things flow.

Although I stayed plenty busy through the event, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute through the workshop. I was relaxed and although I was the host/teacher I also got a chance to learn plenty, visit, relax (a little) and have tons of laughs. Although it was an intense experience I can honestly say I enjoyed the event as much as any Letterhead meet I have attended. Although we are working on some minor tweaks for the next one, the first workshop met my expectations.

Our focus was narrow, the material covered was broad and varied. We accomplished pretty much everything we had planned although we had to push hard to do it.

I believe (judging from the very positive reponses afterwards) we provided excellent value to each of the attendees. The fees we charged covered our expenses and allowed us to do things absolutely right - without running ourselves ragged. Our partner's costs (EnRoute) were also covered to a large extent.

I fully realise that in reality, the workshop fees were a but small part of the workshop costs for our guests. Most in attendance came from thousands of miles away. Air fares, rental cars, hotel expenses, meals (away from our workshop) and other sundry travel expenses undoubtably all added up to be no small expense for each of our guests.

Did we make money on the workshop? It depends on how you look at it. If you count every hour and all the costs I sincerely doubt it. We absolutely didn't come close to making normal shop rate. We could have made real money by simply working at normal jobs in the shop... and there was no shortage of them.

But I had no regrets this go around...

The end result was an enjoyable experience for me and our guests... one I really am eager to do again, hopefully many times. I got to share what I am passionate about with a number of other people - all of whom were there to learn and willing to pay for the experience. I got to do it in a relatively relaxed envronment where I, my staff and our guests were comfortable. I believe we lit some fires of similar passion in others, passed on a bunch of hard earned skills and knowlege and did our very best to give excellent value for the money each guest paid. We certainly opended some minds to the possibilities of outragously creative thinking. I also got to learn some exciting new things!

In the end it was a very worthwhile experience, one which I believe falls into the definition of being a Letterhead, although perhaps not at all in the traditional sense. We recieved tremendous feedback from all who attended. The next workshop, February 22-24, looks like it will sell out and there is strong interest already in the following workshops scheduled for later in the year.

Spring Router Magic Apr. 25-27

Summer Router Magic July 18-20

Fall Router Magic Oct. 10-12

Its going to be interesting to see where this leads.


Planning the next workshop in Yarrow...

-grampa dan

[Kent Smith]

Whew that was long and I must admit I did not memorize all the points. However, I think there is a difference between an open Letterhead meet and a Letterhead hosted workshop/seminar. They define themselves and charging a fair fee for a workshop/semiar is reasonable and certainly not out of line to result in a profit for your time teaching. While the workshops I do also tend to be somewhat like a Letterhead meet, they are a paid teaching exercise first. Your shop time is certainly worth the same whatever project you are doing and anyone who thinks that gross income somehow results as net, needs more education in Money Matters.

[Mike Jackson]

Dan,
There really aren't any "rules" for hosting a meeting. I suspect a few people have actually made money hosting a meeting, but I doubt that's happened very many times. I think most hosts write off their own time completely, then hope to pay the costs of their staff if they are part of it. We hosted quite a few meetings, mostly small ones. The ones we liked the most were called "no-frills" meetings: No T-shirts, no food, no transportation, and generally no paid teachers. We usually offered coffee and donuts in the mornings and let people find places to eat downtown. You can often get a mobile food unit to come by if there are enough people and people can buy from them if they don't want to leave the shop. For some of those meetings, we asked for $20-$30 donations to cover some supplies and general expenses, but Darla and I never figured out time, or lost time, into the deal.

There have been other "art camps" in which the host hires an instructor for the event and pays their expenses and some time. The fees to the meeting are figured, as in your example, to hopefully not lose any money, assuming the slots fill up. In a free enterprise market, people will determine their level of price/expectations. Besides a $1500 fee, there is travel and accomidations, so the total bill can add up, so expectations on return on that money can be high. If you deliver, they will tell others and the next one will fill up. With a no-frills meeting, we always figured we could offer a real "value" for their $30 fee and travel costs. Coming to our shop was only half the attraction, Jackson Hole is the other. There is no way we'd want to pen up all the people for three days and them not get to enjoy the area. In the summer, we did a Snake River Float trip and in the winter, we had snowmobile tours and snow sledding.

I doubt you will ever hear a previous "host" complain about the cost of a meeting or seminar. They all know the up front and lingering costs.

Good luck on your next seminars.

Mike Jackson

[Danny Baronian]

If anyones ever thought a meet has been overpriced, now is the time to sound off.

When I bought a CNC, I realize within 6 months I wanted to get to the next level in the learning curve, as clients required more than basic 2D work. One thing that prompted that was a contract awarded only a month after the router arrived, that was completed with one helper, loaded onto a shipping container to Hawaii in 16, 18 hour days. In that time we machined, polished and assembled about 60 sheets of 1/2" acrylic. That would never have been completed that within that time frame without a CNC.

To get more proficient with the router, I spent roughly $ 1,800 for Kathy and I to take a week long class back east, not including air fair, lodging and meals. During that week I learned absolutely nothing , though I was assured on numerous occasions it would fit my needs, save what I learned from others in the class. Needless to say I was soured on expensive classes. Eventually I asked for, and received a full refund.

Last year I attended a users group meeting for ArtCam, the 3D program I currently use. Up to that point, that class was the best I have attended specifically for the router 3D software.

In between I've attended many Letterhead meets as well as the Conclave and Wall Dog meets. In comparison, those meets were inexpensive, something most everyone could afford.

Then along comes this saw warsky guy, and his expensive classes. I've since heard that his first class was considered a test run, so that made us basically test subjects. I attended that 'test run'. If things go as planned, Kathy and I will return in April for another round. And I'll take part in his test runs any time.

Not to lessen the experience of other classes taken over the years, but for information specifically designed for those using a router in their business - or for those considering purchase of a router, the class was the best router / software specific class I have ever attended. If you walked away with questions, you didn't ask them. You received information you will never receive from your local reseller or salesman because Dan, as an end user knew his capabilities and found ways to take it over the top.

With a regular (is there such a thing?) Letterhead meet, the goal regarding pricing, as I understand, is to charge enough to cover expenses, not necessarily to be "a lucrative new source of income." Remarks like that are from those that have never participated in putting on a meet. Have I ever put on a meet? No, and have no desire to do so. Helped in minor ways with those that have and admire them greatly for their generosity and willingness to do so.

But is this a meet? Not really, though the atmosphere and intensity was the same. Was this in any way different that what others are doing with computer and gilding classes, or taking advantage of "letterheads"? No. Occasionally the subject comes up that this type of endeavor doesn't fit into the Letterhead philosophy of freely sharing. I don't think that's a fair assumption, and think there is a place for Letterhead meets and classes such as Dan's, Noel and John's, David Butler, and Dave Smith.

Thinking back on the class, everyone was an adult, and paid the fee without complaint. If they - or you, consider the price unreasonable, or taking advantage of Letterheads: don't pay, don't go!

Shane Dunford's got a class coming up soon that sound's great, and Doug Bernhardt's been giving classes - I think. I'd love to attend one of Doug's.... but the view from his window will have to look warmer than the one I saw recently. Outside the picture window - everything was covered in snow! Everything but the tree trunks!

Danny

[Kent Smith]

Well stated Mike and Danny...and isn't it great to have such resources as a result of Letterheads. We all know each other and have met so many teachers because of the meets and our intercommunicating which is a direct result of the passion of the original 7.