I am getting ready to teach a two-day monotype workshop this weekend. I have five students so it will be a nice small group, leaving me plenty of time to really help each person and maybe even pull a few prints myself. I’ve taken dozens of workshops over the years along with leading workshops in a variety of subjects, and it occurred to me that there is an unspoken set of rules that apply to workshops that is seldom talked about. So here’s what I think is important to keep in mind if you are taking a workshop, chime in if you think of one I miss.
1. Be on time, even 10 minutes early, but don’t be late. Nothing is worse for me than feeling like that last student or two will walk in the door any minute, so I’ll hold off on starting. At some point I have to weigh starting without someone and wasting the time of the students who were on time. Plus, once I am in the groove it’s hard to go back and catch someone up.
2. Don’t show up too early and expect to have the instructors undivided attention. This happens fairly often for me. I have students that show up 45 minutes before the start of the workshop, excited to start the workshop, filled with enthusiasm and I really appreciate the positivity. But honestly, I am trying to get everything in it’s place so that I can effectively teach and students have everything that they need to have a successful first day. As much as I’d love to sit and chat, I can’t.
3. Be prepared to share. In a workshop situation, I supply a generous quantity of what I think students will need and want but I don’t always have enough on hand for everyone to have one of everything. Usually people end up sharing and while it’s not always a problem, if you are used to having something all to yourself, bring it. And if you have something that you’d like to share with others, you’ll earn the appreciation of your fellow students.
4. Be tolerant of other personalities. Every once in a while, someone comes to class and they don’t want to play nice. Whether they are pushy, bossy, politically incorrect or a slob, sometimes you have to look the other way. As an instructor, I try to deal with the offenders quietly and privately to see if I can moderate their behavior, for instance pointing out that their stuff is crowding someone else’s workspace. Grin and bear it if you can.
5. Label your personal things. I hate at the end of the workshop trying to figure out which brayer is mine and which is yours, and it happens more than you think. So mark your tools like scissors, brushes, x-actos and anything else that you bring so that we can tell them apart at the end of the workshop.
6. Avoid controversial topics. Try not to bring up issues that are controversial like politics and religion. While I find that most people that take workshops are open minded and well informed, you never know when someone in the room really believes that they were abducted by aliens, and they have the marks to prove it. I am not saying be fake, just bear in mind that it can make it awkward to have these conversations go awry. And for the record, I neither believe nor disbelieve in alien abduction, just in case someone who took a ride on a space ship wants to take my workshops. wink.
7. Clean up after yourself. I know, this seems really silly to have to mention this to adults but it’s true. Enough said.
Those are the things that I think a workshop participant should keep in mind when they take a workshop. I really love teaching workshops. I have developed friendships with many people who have taken my classes over the years. Teaching helps me be a better artist too, watching people create and solve problems, and as the Chinese proverb so wisely states, “When one teaches, two learn.”
AMBER GEORGE 
May 20, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Great list. I hate when people are late and I do start on time and I don’t go back..You made some very good points here. I will pass them on..thanks Amber Will I see you at Montserrat in June??
May 20, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Thanks Eileen. I won’t be at the Conference. I need some studio time to get ready for two group shows in July. Have a great time!
May 20, 2010 at 5:10 pm
AWESOME post! Thank you. Is there a polite way for me to send this to my students? Just kidding. But I especially like the conversation part. Leave politics at home.
May 20, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Thanks Lynette. Wouldn’t it be great to send it out? Of course, the students that really need to see this won’t read it but one can hope! I try to joke a little about some of them as the workshop goes on, but luckily I almost never have the more serious issues come up.
May 20, 2010 at 7:06 pm
I’m so with you on this, Amber, especially the first two points…and I remember now that I myself was always way too early for class, bugging the teacher, before I started teaching myself and found out how annoying that is!
I actually emailed my old teacher and apologized to her…;-)
May 20, 2010 at 8:44 pm
That was sweet to let your instructor know that!
May 20, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Hi Amber,
I LOVE this post! Would you be interested in letting me post a link, or have you as a guest blogger on my blog. I think this is extremely valuable for parents to share this information with their children as we head into ‘summer camp’ season as many of the ‘camps’ will be workshop environments.
Great advice!!!
May 20, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Thank you CareySue! I’ll send you a private email and we can discuss how we might collaborate.
May 21, 2010 at 4:44 am
Thanks for the post. A great list that I find “spot on”. I’ve encountered each in the classes and workshops I teach.
May 21, 2010 at 9:53 am
Thanks Helen!
May 21, 2010 at 5:43 am
Amber-
So well written!
Thank you for starting thus dialog- as an instuctor myself, I agree with your great insight.
best to you,
Cari
May 21, 2010 at 9:53 am
Thanks Cari!
May 21, 2010 at 6:45 am
Excellent list Amber. I taught the first session of a 6 week class last night and as I read your post, I ticked off all of these items. One to add: I’d bought multiple packs of glue sticks for a project. They turned out to be defective. We made it through with lots of joking–and I wasn’t hard on myself for not checking before hand. I learned that if I don’t think its a big deal–most likely neither will my students. Adaptation is essential to the art and the species!
May 21, 2010 at 8:28 am
This is great, thanks, much needed! I’ve been teaching workshops for a bit over a year and these simple rules are so true. Two issues I would love input on–
Music: something quiet playing in the background seems good…but it can be a problem to find what suits best and whether or not to have it on at all. My solution so far–I made a playlist for my computer of music that I think is OK, but it still seems hard to find the right volume–and one of my choices made someone want to tear her hair out, she said! (I got rid of that one.)
General conversation–good info on topics in your post, but I wonder about the overall level of talk in the room…some people much prefer the quiet for working and find it hard enough to be in a room full of other people to begin with. I aim for a friendly and comfortable atmosphere, and try to have a few work stations that are a little more remote from the action, if possible. I also think it helps if the instructor is engaged in her own work some of the time, as you mention you are…this helps set the tone. But with all of that,I’ve had feedback that there was too much chatting going on that was unrelated to the content of the workshop–small talk about kids and pets and whatnot. How to encourage people saving that for breaks and after hours? Obviously there is no one size fits all! in some groups everyone is chatty and it’s just fine. I think most people do expect that at a workshop.
Great topic!
May 21, 2010 at 9:47 am
Hi Rebecca. I do play music and I announce that if anyone doesn’t like it I’ll change it. I stick with classic stuff like Fleetwood Mac, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, that kind of stuff. The talking issue is a bit more problematic. I have had students that wanted total quiet, and I’ve had to gently tell them that it’s not really an option when you get that many people together in a room. If someone is particularly loud or dominating in conversation, I think it perfectly okay to find a moment when you are alone with that person to ask them to maybe tone it down a bit. Maybe say something like, I love your stories but a couple of students find it breaks their concentration, and the the student can hopefully self monitor.
The other issue that comes to mind from your questions is that there there may always be one person in a group who has an issue with all of the issues. One my workshops get past 10 students, I almost always have someone complain about something that has never been an issue before. Why is there a fan running? Why do you have all of the paper over there? How come we are using spoons? Sometimes a student is just unhappy and as hard as you try to may everything great for them, they are dissatisfied. All you can do at that point is say I’m sorry, take a deep breath and let it go.
May 21, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I love the Chinese proverb. I like teaching because I always learn something myself.
May 28, 2010 at 11:08 am
Very enlightening post. I have an etiquette question: I felt very uncomfortable when a fellow student in your recent workshop asked to photograph all of my and another student’s work before packing up to leave—and was happy she had misplaced her camera. Would you say her request was inappropriate?
May 28, 2010 at 11:53 am
I think everyone has their own comfort level with the issue of photography. Now with the web, do you really know where the photo may end up? I was put in a similar situation as a student in a workshop last year. Someone who I didn’t know from and organization I was not familiar with came into the workshop and asked to photograph students working. He came up to my table and asked to photograph me and I said no thanks. He was offended! And, he started to take my picture anyway. I told him I wasn’t being coy, and he implied I was being vain. All I can say is that it was fortunate for him that my husband wasn’t there. I tried to explain to him that I was not interested in having my photograph in the possession of a perfect stranger and that there were many reasons not including vanity. I think he could see that I was serious and backed away finally. I think it’s perfectly okay to say that you are not comfortable being photographed, and I don’t think you need to give a reason why. I think to want to photograph all of the work is extreme, although I could see maybe one or two photographs to memorialize the class. What I would have probably said in that situation is that you like to keep your images private but that you are flattered. That should be enough, and if not I would let the instructor know. As an instructor, I’d be happy to back you up!