It's What You Know and What You Do With It

You know stuff. Yes, you do. It is highly likely that you have specific knowledge of something that would be of interest to someone else.

The first step for How To Put Up a Workshop: what do you know? It took me years to realize that while I am a character driven writer just like a bunch of other writers, I have a whole actor's toolbox at my back when it comes to handling characters - a toolbox I could open up and offer to other writers. Insta-workshop. A good friend is fascinated by the novel Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. She has turned into the ultimate research geek for Edwardian fashion, manners, and ships/shipbuilding - not to mention her depth of insight into a single piece of literature. She has all kinds of workshop opportunities there. (Costuming/fashion, research resources for the time period, etc) Maybe you have a job you often see depicted inaccurately in fiction. There's your workshop. Or you have in depth insight into the mind of a serial killer because you've never, up until this very workshop, confessed that you are a serial killer. Whatever your knowledge, someone, somewhere needs it.

Second step for How To Put Up a Workshop: can you communicate your special thing in layman's terms? Part of the challenge of knowing what you know is that you know it. You take what you know for granted. Teasing apart what you know so that it's accessible to others is no easy feat. Solicit feedback from someone outside of your specialty field. A critique group can help. Or friends who know nothing about your deep, dark secret life. If it's the serial killer thing? I can't help. I'm busy.

Third step for How To Put Up a Workshop: pick your audience. Serial killer? I suggest that law enforcement might not be your ideal audience. The rest of you may have noticed I like cats. Hanging out with the cat fancy, I can say I have picked up a fair bit of information about the genetics of feline coloration. Specialized knowledge that's utterly useless to just about everyone else on earth. Knowing that my workshop audience(s) are likely to either be writers or steampunk enthusiasts, I have to realize nobody else cares that genetically speaking there's no such thing as a brown and white tabby cat. Unless I'm making a point of coming up with a mad scientist aboard and airship somewhere who's doing the impossible with gene splicing brown and white cats with machine components. Your audience is likely going to be determined by the conferences and meetings you already attend. Most of us are going to develop workshops for writers or for readers. But what other events do you attend? Our marina brings in speakers on subjects specific to boaters - crossing the Atlantic, managing storms at sea, circumnavigating Vancouver Island or cruising the canals of France. . .match what you know with who might be intrigued by what you know. Check your local libraries. Don't limit your audience. What you know may be applicable more than one place, which brings us to:

Fourth step for How To Put Up a Workshop: develop for more than one format. If you belong to RWA, you have amazing opportunities for putting on your workshop in multiple formats. You can teach your workshop online via a series of lessons you write out and then interactive emails with participants. Do this through your online chapters. You can present your workshop at your local chapter meeting. You can submit your workshop proposal to a local conference. Last but not least, you can submit your proposal to the National conference.

NOTE: while I echo the advice that interactive workshops are really helpful, don't think you'll get people out of their chairs to participate in actual movement once you reach local and national conference levels - everyone is in nice clothes and shoes. Interactive at that point means getting workshop participants to talk to you and/or share writing.

Wonderful Workshops

by Allison Pang

I've run an impromptu workshop or two at various cons (most of them were co-hosted, so that tends to take off the pressure a little bit.) However, I haven't done it enough on a regular basis to give specific advice as to the do/don'ts - but I do have a fair bit of experience in teaching. I spent about 7 years doing computer instruction to classes of anything from 5 to 50 people and I suspect a lot of the same skills come into play.

So here's my basic 5 suggestions:

1) There's actually an old adage that was fairly popular among the computer instructor set: Tell the students what you're going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them.

Sounds flippant maybe, but it's basic communication. Announcing the sorts of things you're planning on covering makes sense - it's a sort of table of contents so attendees know what to expect. (And if someone accidentally ended up in the wrong room, maybe they'll stay.)  I should also point out that a workshop that you present a lot is going to be much smoother overall than one you're doing once. If it's a long term thing, you'll find yourself falling into a rhythm after you've done it several times and you'll know how to time things just right.

At any rate, the gentle reminders of the topic on hand can help attendees to remember what you've told them. (And obviously, this is going to depend on the type of workshop. A serious craft workshop is going to have more thorough content then something off the cuff.)

2) Practice beforehand - should go without saying, but if you ever remember having to do those book reports in middle school, it's almost a given that you're going to end up with either too much info or not enough. What looks like a lot of content on paper can go by mighty quick if you're nervous and talking too fast. (It's probably better to have too much info than not enough - being able to hand out supplementary materials to cover the things you couldn't get to is a good way to drum up additional interest in the topic or in you as a brand.) That being said, definitely practice your presentation in front of a few good friends - they can help you work out the bugs and help you determine where you might need more detail or a place where you can shave off some time.

3) Cite your sources! (Or at least know where they come from!) Don't throw stats around unless you're confident in them - and if you're not sure, it's probably better to indicate a statement is your opinion as opposed to fact. ("I think X is" as opposed to "X is".) People aren't shy about asking questions or possibly calling you out, so it's important to understand the information you're presenting. And it's okay to say you don't know the answer to a question - you can use that as an opportunity to research that info and maybe answer it later on your blog or in a future workshop.  (As long as you aren't saying you don't know to EVERY question - but don't make something up just to have an answer, either.)

4) Walk around or stand up! If it's possible or in a smaller venue, I've often found that walking around the room slowly can keep people focused on you. Sitting at a table and talking to your hands is not going to keep your audience interested. Also, make sure your voice carries if you don't have a mic - also something to practice beforehand if you can. Keep water or something to drink close by - talking constantly in a loudish voice for 45 minute or more can definitely make for a dry throat.

5) Encourage discussion if time allows. Whatever you do - try to leave at least 10 or 15 minutes after the workshop to allow for discussion (unless you're actively doing Q&A as part of the workshop - just watch the time - it can be very easy to get off track, so make sure you have a good way to get back on topic. If you aren't good about keeping your own time, get a friend or an audience member to give you a heads up if you're getting close to running out of time.

Otherwise, just make sure you wrap things up nice and neatly (and have some swag on hand - giving away an arc or your latest book is a nice gesture.) If you're at a con, people have limited amounts of time to attend things - make them happy they attended yours. :)

Workshopping

I got half way through writing my weekly post, then went to check out what others had said to see if I was repeating. I was. That just means the info is valid, right? So here's my post which could be seen as an homage to the amazing Jeffe.

Our Sunday Word-Whore nailed it with her five tips. Definitely, #1 Give a Workshop on a topic people want to know more about. Snazzy titles help, but be realistic. Don't promise cupcakes made of solid gold if you're only going to deliver overly chocolate-chipped brownie bites. (Chocolate reference for KAK. POKE! Seriously, who wouldn't come to an overly-chocolate chipped brownie bite workshop?)

The workshop I have given a few times at various venues is called Manuscript Polish, and it is all about the things I learned (Jeffe #4 Use Your Own Experience) in the process of working with an editor over the first few books--specifically the things every author needs to do AFTER finishing the novel and BEFORE sending it in to an editor. Part informative, part Q&A, and part pep-talk, it is chocked full of information that I wish I had in my hands early on, but didn't.

But beware: the last time I gave it, I had two older gentlemen hecklers in row one and two.

(Which correlates to Jeffe's #3. Practice and Adapt.) You have to get your audience to feedback so you can adjust the material to them. My hecklers had me frustrated. For about 3 seconds.

What they didn't know, was, at the time, I tended bar at a VFW. I knew exactly how to handle the wise-cracks of the silver-haired smart-ass. I won them over, and was able to toss their heckling back at them ala comedic 'call back.' And fun was had by all.

Jeffe #5 Leave 'em inspired. Indeed!!! A good workshop will leave you inspired and anxious to write--and that is what those folks have come for!

Don't think "I can't give a workshop." Public speaking isn't my strongest skill. I'm sure my beginning-jitters don't exactly sell the idea that I have over half-a-million words published. What I lack in openings, however, I make up for in knowing my topic. The best workshops, I've found, are small enough that I can get everyone involved in the conversation. I welcome all questions--writing related, that is. Dear Abby I am not. I can hear it now:

"Dear Abby, my girlfriend is obsessed with my dangling participles. Help! How can I get her to focus on my diction?"

<giggles> Couldn't resist.

This year, at CONTEXT I'll be doing a brand new workshop.
webpage here  Writing the Fantasy Series   (Sunday, September 28th, 3pm-5pm)
I want to explore the pieces that come together to create an urban fantasy, high fantasy, or epic fantasy series, and will involve the group in activities that explain and define the basic parts of a fantasy novel, get them thinking in depth about their own projects, and help them generate and refine new ideas for their books.

I'm really excited about it, as I'm in the middle of a big fantasy right now and taking notes for the workshop as I go through it. If y'all are in the Columbus area come late September, come and give me a listen.

5 More Workshop Funs...

Did you read Jeffe's  5 Tips for Building a Successful Conference Workshop on Sunday? Yes? Good, 'cause those fundamentals are important and I'm going to give you...

5 More Workshop Funs:

1: Workshop Does Not Equal Lecture:  If you slept through the better portion of undergrad, then you know very few folks learn by simply listening.  Incorporating interaction -- through direct questions is good, through a game is better -- will prevent you from being likened to Ben Stein in Ferris Buller's Day Off.

2: Writing the Workshop: As fiction writers, we should rock scripting a workshop (and yes, you should write and act it all out before you set foot in the conference room, especially if public speaking is not your forte). Plotting, pacing, building up to a climax, the big reveal, and the denouement -- all those structures of a novel truly do apply to a workshop. Just expect the audience to be somewhat like your editor -- asking for clarifications in some spots while demanding you trim others. Keep your tangents to a minimum and your voice clear. The rest is easy.

3: Bait & Refer: An hour-long workshop will go by very quickly for those at the front of the room. If your workshop is only an hour, whatever you are teaching is going to be the Cliff Notes version. Doesn't matter if you're presenting How To Apply Lip Liner or Textiles During The Norman Invasion, be prepared to Bait and Refer. Your most effective teaching plan is to secure your audience's interest by baiting them with an enticing set-up, hooking them with a shallow answer, then referring them to your website for the more in depth explanation.

4:  Handouts: If people have taken planes to attend your workshop, they will not be taking handouts home.  Keep the bulk of the information online for attendees to research/print at their leisure. The most you can reasonably expect to make the trek home is one sheet of paper tri-folded into a brochure.  Having a brochure shows the attendees you are prepared to discuss the topic while respecting the constraints of time and space. Key elements of the brochure are: Workshop topic; highlights of Bait & Refer (see above); one blank panel for notes; and your info. Keep in mind, your brochure could/will end up discarded all over town.  It's accidental advertising. Let it work for you, but don't let the upsell dominate the topic.  

5: A Timer Is Your Friend: Bring a timer. Use a timer. Even seasoned pros on the speaker circuits use timers. They not only keep you mindful your pacing, but they're effective for managing Q&A (especially if you have one of the THOSE GUYS as mentioned in last week's posts).

Five Tips for Building a Successful Conference Workshop

Yesterday my lovely, smart and generous friend Darynda Jones gave the workshop for our monthly local chapter meeting. Giving presentations for small groups like this can be a great way to develop conference workshops. One of five I have to offer today.

Jeffe's Five Tips for Building a Successful Conference Workshop

1. Give the Peoples What They Want

I don't know about you guys, but people mention to me all the time what they'd like to learn. Sometimes they drop subtle hints. Sometimes they come right out and say "you should do a workshop on this." This is gold. Listen and give it to them. Caveat: convincing conference organizers can be a different matter entirely.

2. Basic Is Okay

I trip over this one time and again. I always figure people know stuff already and don't want a rehash. However, people don't necessarily know - and the fundamentals are called that for a reason. They always bear revisiting because they form the foundation for everything else. Also, people are most self-conscious about asking the basic questions, so it's good to touch base there.

3. Practice and Adapt

Find groups to give your workshop to, like Darynda is doing with us. Your local writers group or a group that sponsors online classes can be great places to test out a new conference workshop idea. Then pay attention to what people glom onto. What do they ask questions about? What gets them excited? If something doesn't work, no biggie. Now you know.

4. Use Your Own Experience

This is what people will want from you - what YOU have actually experienced, not what you read someone else doing. Seriously. Even if you think you don't have that much, it's still better to give your authentic, in-the-trenches feedback. Be honest and forthright - you likely have much more to offer than you think!

5. Leave Them Inspired.

Really, all anyone wants from a workshop is to leave it feeling fired up to get their own work done. Share your enthusiasm and energy and offer positive suggestions for moving forward. Even if you feel you only have a few substantive nuggets of information to offer, if you send people away feeling inspired, you've given a successful workshop.

Workshop Know How

You can teach workshops. Honest. Anyone can. It's rewarding and if you play your cards right, it's fun. The most fun I've had at a conference is doing a workshop.

Everyone knows something. You have specialized knowledge - whether it's about a time in history, a specific location, a method for getting into character, or for writing 40,000 words in two days. Try brainstorming a list of things you know. Identify one or two you'd like to work up into a presentation. Brainstorm out all of the things you'd want to tell fellow writers about on your chosen subject. Now decide whether you want to talk for forty-five to fifty minutes while people take notes, or whether you want some participation in the form of writing exercises or even getting people on their feet to try what you're talking about. Does your subject matter allow for the use of media like movie clips, slides or other audio/visual?

Know thyself, workshop presenter. Can you speak from a simple outline? Or do you need your presentation fully scripted out?

From your brainstormed list, build your outline and/or write up your presentation. This is a rough draft. If you have to do some research to fill in details or history, that happens now and fills in your draft. Let it sit for a week. Go back to it. Rearrange as the mood moves you. Tighten it up. Fill in details you'd forgotten until now. If you have photos or clips that you want to use in the presentation, build that file and note in your presentation outline which photos or clips go where. You can build the whole thing as a Powerpoint presentation if you like that sort of thing and if it won't divert you from writing your own books.

Set up your presentation and try speaking all the words - give the workshop to your stuffed animals or your action figures. Time yourself. Is it physically possible to say everything within 50 minutes? Breathing is not optional. If you don't breathe, neither will your audience. If you aren't comfortable saying what you have to say within the time constraint, no one else will be either. Speaking too quickly means no one absorbs what you say. So speak slowly and deliberately. Make heartless cuts to your content in order to fit comfortably within the time allotted.

Now, you need guinea pigs. Ask your local writer's group if they'd let you do your workshop for them. Most groups will. Ask for feedback and really listen to it so you can learn from it. You're not looking for public speaking critiques - at this point, you're vetting content. Did people feel like you left out anything vital? Where they overwhelmed? Would your audience have liked a copy of your notes? A list of your source materials so they could do some further research? Consider adding those things.

See if there's another writers' group in the next town/county/whatever that would let you do the workshop again. You're doing it again not only to work in feedback, but also to become more confident with your material.

At this point, you're ready to propose the workshop for a conference. Most conferences only allow 50 minutes for workshops (to allow people to get from place to another on time). If you intend to answer questions, plan for a few minutes.

At a conference, you'll want to state a few ground rules right up front.
1. Most conferences have people pitching - say so and tell people that if they get up and leave, you'll assume they have a pitch and you don't mind (and then don't mind or take it personally when someone leaves)
2. Point out the restrooms
3. State whether you'll take questions as you go, or whether you prefer that people hold their questions until the end

Then dive right in. Have fun. Invite your audience to have fun. If you screw up, laugh at yourself. No one gets shot at dawn because you lost your place.

Save your notes! After you've done your workshop, you have the groundwork for an article on your subject.

Workshops & Panels: Playing To The Room

Now that we're in the throes of Cons & Retreats Season, you're likely finding yourself in one (or more) of three roles: Contributor/Panelist, Audience Member, and/or Volunteer. 

Whenever possible, volunteer to help the organizers in someway. It increases your ROI and garners goodwill. If you're somewhat socially challenged like me, volunteering also eases the panic and awkwardness of the complete submersion in convention chaos. I like to volunteer to man the registration desk. Name + Face + Factoid = Easy way to start a conversation later.


Earlier this week, Jeffe & James offered suggestions for how to be an awesome moderator and panelist. My extensive experience as a panelist, moderator, lecturer, trainer, seat-spud, qualifies me to offer suggestions based on being in the audience...usually holding up a wall in the back of the room.

Moderators: Three Most Appreciated Qualities of Managing Talent:

1. Minding the Time 
• "Dude, I like your novels, but shut your pie-hole already!"    
2. Making sure every panelist speaks
• "Carpe Diem, better yet, Capre Mic 'Em, chicka. Take that mic from him and contribute!"
3. Managing the question queue
• "One question then back of the line, lady!" 

Panelists: How To Be Positively Memorable

1. Brevity & Levity 
• Seriously, I cannot emphasize this enough. While your answers shouldn't be as short as a tweet, they aren't your next novel either. If "funny" isn't in your wheelhouse, then default to "engaging with kindness."  Bored or berated is no fun for anyone.
2. Banter
• Light banter among your peers goes a long way to draw in your audience. Bantering with the audience? Even better ... as long as you retain control of it. Don't be shy about including the moderator; they deserve a public nod of appreciation.
3. Share The Stage & A Story
• Whatever you do, don't be THAT guy. The one who loves the sound of his own voice. The audience will pick up on the discomfort/resentment of your peers. The only thing you'll have gained is a reputation as a dickweed.

Workshop Leaders: Being Better Than A Webinar

1. Interaction
• The semantics of Workshop versus Lecture are critical here. Don't talk at me. Don't read from the slides or your script. I can download that shit. Get out from behind the podium. Walk the room. Look at me. Listen to me. Engage me.
2. Personalization
• Give me the value of being physically present. Be comfortable enough in your topic to be able to customize it to the people sitting before you. Thriller writers have different needs from erotica writers. A room full of biddies has different perspectives from twenty-somethings. If you succeed at interacting with your class, personalization is a natural extension of the flow of conversation.
3. Make Me Think 
• Please stop regurgitating crap found on the Web. I'm functionally literate and familiar with Google. I'm in your class to learn something new, even if it just how to look at a common issue from a different perspective. There's a lot to be said for the Socratic method, so if you can spark a friendly debate -- DO IT.  You'll have covered the first two points to workshop success with ease.

There you have my tips for leaders in a conference/retreat setting, dear readers. If you could give a Moderator, Panelist, or Workshop Leader one piece of advice, what would it be?

Five Tips for Being a Good Panel Moderator - and Why You Should Totally Do It

Fire season has started in New Mexico. Alas.

Makes for riveting sunsets, however!

This week's topic of conversation around the bordello is "Workshops & Panels: Learning, Leading, or Volunteering."

It's timely for me because I'm off this week to two sets of writerly endeavors. Monday through Thursday, I'll be joining Word Whore Marcella Burnard and former Word Whore Laura Bickle for an internet- and phone-free retreat to a cabin in the wilderness of Ohio. (I'm assured there really is such a thing.)

After that, I'll be at the Lori Foster Reader & Author Get Together. Since that event is mainly for readers, there won't be any workshops or panels. More like games, parties and other social events.

Workshops (where a specific tool is taught) or panels (where a number of authors are clustered around a common theme and dish on it) are really within-industry events.

They're also the most fun events a writer gets to do, in my opinion.

Signings are rarely fun. For the less well-known authors, signings are about lonely tables and people darting past, trying not to meet your eye. For better-known authors, it's a marathon of person after person with little meaningful conversation possible. There seems to be little ground between these two. I blame physics.

Workshops are a kick. The drawback is that you have to get OTHER people to agree that you have something to teach. I'm really excited to be doing a workshop at the Fiction Writing in the Digital Age Conference in Las Vegas in October.

More than Wham, Bam, Thank-You M’am – Wooing the Female Reader, presented by Jeffe Kennedy

• Over and over, statistics show that more women are reading fiction than men, particularly on e-Readers. With the overwhelming success of works like Fifty Shades of Grey and Twilight, it bears examining just what female readers are looking for – and what they’re buying. This workshop will examine how romance can be used to both attract readers and illuminate characterization. Sexual attraction can both entice and ratchet up the overall tension of any plot. Jeffe Kennedy, award-winning author of numerous series of erotic romance and fantasy, will walk participants through examples from literature and movies, to illustrate what women really want from a story.

Not only does the topic amuse me - very Word-Whore worthy, yes? - but I'm really looking forward to the conversation on this one. I'm anticipating the workshop will attract a lot of writers with interesting things to say - and ideas I haven't thought of. That's one of the great side-benefits of giving a workshop - all the stuff YOU learn from it.

Which brings me to: panels.

Oh. My. God. A good panel is like intellectual sex. It's like sex with a few carefully selected people who resonate on exactly your same levels. In public. With an audience offering suggestions and tossing sex toys up on the stage.

Or, at least - what I imagine that would be like. *cough*

Seriously, panels are amazing. It's an opportunity to have a structured conversation with like minds and involve and audience. Of course, much depends on the moderator. It's up to the moderator to keep the input from the various panelists even. Nothing ruins a panel faster than that One Person who simply WILL NOT SHUT UP. They can lurk in the audience, too. You know the one - the person who "asks a question" that simply a poorly disguised monologue on everything they would have said, had they been on a panel. A good moderator watches for this behavior and has to be gently ruthless in squelching it. Think iron fist in the velvet glove.

Often it's easier, as a newer writer, to get on panels as a moderator. This is a GREAT opportunity because the audience will see you up there with the fancier authors and associate you with them. Plus it's a perfect opportunity to stalk those authors and make them be your friends. They'll be a little nervous about the panel, and so off-guard, and they'll see you Someone Official. Use this to your advantage. Do it any chance you get. But be a good moderator.

Tips for Being a Good Moderator

1. Be assertive.

Everyone in that room is counting on YOU to stop the One Person Who Will Natter On. It's not about you. Do it for the People.

2. It's not about you.

As a moderator, you are there to serve the panelists. Don't talk about your books or your work. If they come up naturally in conversation, fine, but keep your focus on showcasing the panelists and their work. Don't worry - you'll get plenty of reflected glory.

3. Do your research

Read a little bit of each of the panelist's work. This is super easy to do these days via Amazon and their online samples. Make lists of common themes. Email the panelists ahead of time and ask for input on the panel theme. Have a set of questions ready, but not too many. You'll be amazed how fast the time goes.

4. Be aware

Watch the audience and spread out whose questions you take. Note who's been waiting a long time to ask their burning question. Pay attention to the panelists and ask direct questions of the quiet ones.

5. Enjoy the conversation

As a moderator, this is your chance to get these writers to open up and talk about interesting things. Take advantage of this opportunity and have fun!