Ok, I don’t think I’ve ever done one of these before but here goes nothing. I’ve been seeing a lot about online learning on here recently, so here’s a riff on the topic:

1. Millions of people are in a transitional phase right now - whether though lay-offs, furloughing, projects on pause, or just having time to take stock. There’s more time and space to learn and explore, but also opportunity to teach and share.

2. This is particularly enticing for those with expertise that was well-utilized IRL, or who have a niche specialism and find themselves now between things. How to apply those expertise in an online-only world?

3. A lot of people are looking at creating online courses. Makes sense. A growing range of online platforms and courses (yes, very meta) are making it easier, and successful creators openly sharing their successes.

4. However, despite the tools and resources available, it’s not at all as easy as it looks. In fact, it can be a huge chasm to cross: distilling content; understanding how people learn; producing valuable and cohesive lessons; being aware of learning curves…. marketing…!

5. And there are a lot of people doing it. Good news for the platforms, but there’s a risk of you being commoditized, or lost in the noise. You can get past this by finding a niche, but you could still do with having a decent-sized audience (if you dont - you gotta build one).

6. Additionally, many online courses have a high dropout rate. They’re largely one-way and passive, so staying engaged is tough. If you’re a creator, this combo of factors means you have your work cut out, especially when you’re starting out.

7. Crossing this chasm is hard. It can be overwhelming. It can result in disappointment, drop out, failure to launch.

Luckily, there’s another place.

You can visit it along the way to your online course, or use it as a place to pivot and head in an adjacent direction.

8. First, what this place is not. It’s not a webinar. Webinars have their place as a way to transfer information, but the audience probably won’t learn that much nor enjoy it (do you know anyone who loves webinars…?!), and chances are you as a creator won’t either.

9. With this format there’s also pressure on you to have it all figured out. Webinars come with expectations of polished expertise and fully crystalized takeaways. If you want to share your expertise and your vibes, you’ll probably do yourself a disservice using this format.

10. Webinars (and most online courses) also tend to lack the feedback loops that help us to make our work better. Having access to these is crucial at any stage of the journey, but particularly when you’re starting out.

11. To be clear, I’m not hating on online courses (ok, maybe a bit on webinars). When done well, courses are hugely valuable ways of transferring information, and open up access enormously. Amazing to think of all the topics now available for people to learn via online courses.

12. However, for the reasons noted earlier in this thread, many people are going to have a really hard time getting any traction as creators (let alone create viable revenue streams). It’s a lot of work and while you may hit the jackpot, you may not even get out of the gate

13. So what’s the alternative? Start with a workshop. Workshops are a little different to courses. They can feel like more of a high wire act, but the onus is on the feeling and the experience as much as the learning. This is good news for you.

14. Instead of just transferring information, they can transform it. They can also transform the people who experience them. And they can transform you too. This @fortelabs thread on the human elements is well worth reading: https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1186091763921866752

15. By doing a workshop you can show up with something you’re passionate about, and encourage others to explore it with you. There isn’t the expectation of it being ‘done’; it’s instead allowed to be a work in progress. In fact, it’s supposed to be a work in progress.

16. Workshops let you practice all the skills of building a course: preparing, distilling, structuring, explaining, articulating, performing, energizing. They’re also, as my good pal @tomcritchlow writes about, a portal to something more: https://tomcritchlow.com/2019/09/23/workshops/

17. I guarantee you will learn a ton from designing and running a workshop.

You'll learn about the topic, your work, and the way you design and create.

You'll learn about the people who join you, and you'll learn new things about yourself.

18. You don’t need much to get a workshop going; you don’t even need slides (let alone slick, well produced videos). I’ve seen amazing workshops run just with pen and paper as resources.

All you really need is you, and some curious humans to join you (and probably wifi...)

19. Ok - sounds great, right? But what about the skills you need to go out and do this?

‘Workshop Skills?’ Wtf does that even mean?

To my knowledge there’s no set definition, but here are a few of them:

20. Creating structure and process; designing relevant and engaging content, delivering content in an engaging and inspiring way; facilitating group discussion and exploration that encourages participants to collaborate and excel; and understanding human behavior helps too :)

21. Urgh. That feels more overwhelming than building a course!

I thought the same thing. The first few workshops I ran were pretty bad (ok, awful)

Then I realized I only had to follow a few principles to make them way better.

Once I got the basics down, everything opened up.

22. I definitely haven't mastered this work (not sure if’s even possible to do so), but some of the most rewarding work I've ever done have been designing and building workshops to help people go beyond. And I use my workshop skills in just about every area of my life today.

23. So, start with a workshop.

Even with a tiny audience you can quickly build up your workshop skills.

You'll rapidly get the feedback, reps, clarity and confidence you need to cross the chasm to courses - if you choose to take that path.

24. However, if you decide online courses aren’t for you, you’ll have got a set of skills that translate into all kinds of other areas.

Remember, workshops are portals.

They can lead you into all kinds of wonderful (and sometimes weird) places.

25. As you may have guessed by now, I’m a big fan of workshops.

If you’re a creator with expertise to share with the world (and I bet you are, even if you don’t believe it) and you want a place to help you build your workshop skills, join us: http://www.wavetable.net