05/05/2026
Here are five things I learned from hosting my first public workshops as an author.
Last week, I hosted two Core Values Discovery workshops (one virtual and one in person) that were open to the public.
I’ve done this work many times inside organizations, but this was the first time anyone could just… sign up.
It was a bit of an experiment, and I learned a lot.
Here are five things I’d do differently next time:
1. Write all of your emails in advance.
Confirmation, reminder, follow-up. I didn’t do this, and it slowed me down more than I expected. It became a distraction the week of, when my energy should have been on the session itself.
2. Be intentional about how you’re building your group.
I sent an email and posted on social. That helped, but it wasn’t enough. What really worked was direct outreach. It was effective, but time-consuming. Next time, I’ll plan for that.
3. People wanted more time.
This was the biggest takeaway. The virtual session was 90 minutes and the in-person was two hours, but across both, people wanted more space to go deeper. I’m still figuring out how to balance that.
4. Use a feedback form, but make it count.
I’m glad I did this, but it reminded me to be intentional about what I ask. Make sure the questions are actually useful.
5. Build a way to capture testimonials.
I didn’t do this, so now I’m following up one by one. It works, but it’s more time-consuming than it needed to be.
All part of the process.
Try something new.
Pay attention to what works.
Adjust for next time.
If you’ve done something like this before, I’d love to hear what’s worked for you below in the comments.
