Academy → Semester 7 → LEAD-704
LEAD-704

Running Workshops & Courses

Credits: 3 Hours: 45 Semester: 7 Prerequisites: LEAD-701 Methods: Workshop, Lab

You know how to mentor one-on-one (LEAD-701). Now you are going to learn how to teach groups. Workshops and courses let you share your expertise with dozens or hundreds of people at once, creating scalable income that does not require you to trade more hours for more dollars.

This course covers workshop design, facilitation skills, course creation, pricing, and how to deliver learning experiences that actually produce results for your students.

1
Workshops vs. Courses: Choosing Your Format
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Workshops and courses are different products that serve different purposes. Choosing the right format determines your time investment, pricing, and student outcomes.

Workshops

  • Duration: 1-3 hours, single session or a short series (2-4 sessions)
  • Format: Live, interactive. Teaching + hands-on practice + Q&A.
  • Best for: Specific skills that benefit from real-time feedback. "How to write your first NiteFlirt listing." "Thumbnail design in 60 minutes." "Audio editing crash course."
  • Pricing: $15-75 per attendee. Higher for niche expertise.
  • Pros: Fast to create, high engagement, immediate feedback, can run repeatedly.
  • Cons: Requires your live presence every time (unless recorded and sold as replay).

Online Courses

  • Duration: 2-20+ hours of content, self-paced or cohort-based
  • Format: Pre-recorded video lessons, written materials, exercises, community access.
  • Best for: Comprehensive topics that require structured, sequential learning. "Complete guide to launching on NiteFlirt." "Audio production from zero to pro."
  • Pricing: $49-499+ depending on depth and niche.
  • Pros: Create once, sell forever. True passive income. Scales infinitely.
  • Cons: Large upfront time investment (20-100+ hours to create a quality course). Completion rates are typically low (5-15% for self-paced).

The Hybrid Approach

The smartest play: start with workshops, then turn them into a course.

  1. Run a live workshop. Test your material with a real audience.
  2. Note what worked, what confused people, what questions came up.
  3. Refine the material based on real feedback.
  4. Record polished versions of each section.
  5. Package the recordings + exercises + resources as a self-paced course.

This way your course is battle-tested before you invest in production. Most failed courses fail because the creator guessed what students needed instead of testing it first.

💡 Key Takeaway

Workshops validate. Courses scale. Do workshops first to prove the concept, then build the course from proven material.

🔨 Exercise 1.1: Format Decision

  1. Using your top teaching topic from LEAD-701, decide: workshop or course? (Or hybrid?)
  2. Write a one-paragraph description of your offering: who is it for, what will they learn, what will they be able to do afterward?
  3. Draft a tentative price point based on the ranges above and the value your topic provides

Deliverable: Format decision with justification + offering description + price point rationale.

2
Designing the Learning Experience
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A workshop or course is not a dump of everything you know. It is a carefully structured journey from "I do not know how to do this" to "I just did it."

Backward Design

Start with the end result and work backward:

  1. Define the outcome. What will the student be able to DO after completing this? Not "understand audio editing" but "edit a 10-minute podcast episode from raw recording to published file in under 45 minutes."
  2. Define the evidence. How will you know they achieved the outcome? What deliverable proves it? A finished podcast episode. A published NiteFlirt listing. A posted video.
  3. Design the learning path. What skills and knowledge do they need to produce that deliverable? List them in order. Each one becomes a lesson or module.

Lesson Structure

Every lesson (whether live workshop segment or recorded video) should follow this flow:

  1. Context (1-2 min) - Why does this matter? What problem does it solve? Connect the skill to a real outcome.
  2. Demonstration (5-10 min) - Show them how. Screen share, live demo, over-the-shoulder walkthrough. Do not just describe. Show.
  3. Practice (5-15 min) - They do it themselves. In workshops, this happens live. In courses, this is the exercise/assignment.
  4. Feedback (2-5 min) - In workshops: live feedback. In courses: peer review, community feedback, or self-assessment rubric.
  5. Bridge (1 min) - How does this connect to the next lesson? What should they keep in mind moving forward?

Common Design Mistakes

  • Too much theory, not enough practice. Adults learn by doing, not by listening. Aim for at least 50% hands-on time.
  • Too many topics. A 2-hour workshop should cover 3-4 concepts maximum. Depth beats breadth every time.
  • No clear outcome. If the student finishes and has not created something tangible, the workshop failed.
  • Assuming knowledge. Define prerequisites clearly. Do not assume students know terms, tools, or concepts unless you explicitly require them.

🔨 Exercise 2.1: Course Design Document

  1. Using backward design, define: the outcome, the evidence (deliverable), and the learning path
  2. Break your workshop or course into lessons/modules (3-6 for a workshop, 6-12 for a course)
  3. For each lesson, write: title, learning objective (what they will be able to do), and the exercise/practice activity
  4. Estimate time for each lesson. Total should match your format (2 hours for workshop, 5-20 hours for course).

Deliverable: Complete course design document with outcome, modules, objectives, exercises, and time estimates.

3
Facilitation Skills
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Designing a great workshop and delivering a great workshop are different skills. Facilitation is what happens in the room (or Zoom call). It is how you manage energy, handle questions, keep things on track, and make every participant feel included.

Live Workshop Facilitation

  • Energy management. Open with high energy (a story, a surprising fact, a question). After every 15-20 minutes of teaching, do something interactive: a poll, a question, a quick exercise. People's attention spans are not 2 hours long.
  • Question handling. Set expectations early: "Hold questions until the end of each section" or "Raise your hand anytime." If a question is off-topic, acknowledge it and park it: "Great question, let me come back to that." Keep a list and address parked questions at the end.
  • Pace reading. Watch for signs of confusion (silence after a complex topic, lots of questions about the same thing) and slow down. Watch for signs of boredom (cameras off, chat quiet) and speed up or switch to interactive mode.
  • Inclusion. Call on quiet participants gently: "Maria, what is your take on this?" Use breakout rooms for small-group work so introverts can contribute. Mix up your interaction methods (chat, voice, polls, exercises).
  • Time management. Have a visible clock. Know which sections you can cut if you run long (always have a "nice to have" section you can drop). Never run over time. Ending 5 minutes early is better than 5 minutes late.

Handling Difficult Situations

  • The dominator - One participant who talks too much. "Thank you, Jordan. Let me hear from someone who has not spoken yet."
  • The silent group - Nobody is participating. Switch to a low-risk activity: "Type one word in the chat that describes how you feel about [topic]." Lower the barrier.
  • The off-topic tangent - "That is interesting and related to [X]. For today, let me keep us focused on [Y], but I will add that to my list for a future session."
  • Technical problems - Always have a backup plan. If screen share fails, describe verbally. If Zoom crashes, have a backup link. If your demo breaks, walk through it as a diagram. Preparation prevents panic.

🔨 Exercise 3.1: Practice Facilitation

  1. Run a 30-minute mini-workshop on any topic for a small group (3-10 people). Friends, community members, or fellow Academy students.
  2. Include at least: an opening hook, a demonstration, an interactive exercise, and Q&A
  3. Record the session. Watch it back and note: where did energy drop? Where was engagement highest? How did you handle questions?
  4. Ask attendees for anonymous feedback (Google Form): "What was most useful? What could be improved? Would you pay for a full version?"

Deliverable: Recording of mini-workshop + self-assessment notes + attendee feedback summary.

4
Launching & Selling Your Workshop or Course
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A great workshop that nobody attends generates zero revenue and zero impact. Selling is not sleazy. It is how you connect the right people with learning that will genuinely help them.

The Launch Sequence

  1. 2-4 weeks before: Warm up. Post free teaching content related to your workshop topic. Mention that a deeper workshop is coming. Build anticipation without hard selling.
  2. 1-2 weeks before: Announce. Clear description of what they will learn, who it is for, the date/time, the price, and how to register. Share on all your platforms.
  3. 1 week before: Social proof. Share testimonials from past students (or beta testers). Show previews of the content. Answer FAQs publicly.
  4. 48 hours before: Urgency. "Spots are limited" (if they are). "Early bird pricing ends tomorrow." "Last chance to join this cohort."
  5. Day of: Final push. "Starting in 3 hours. Link to join: [link]." Tag people who expressed interest but have not registered.

Pricing Strategy

  • First run: lower price or free. Your first workshop is a beta test. Price it at 50% of your target price or offer free spots in exchange for feedback and testimonials.
  • Anchor to value, not time. A 2-hour workshop that teaches someone to earn $500/month on NiteFlirt is worth more than $30. Price based on the outcome, not the hours.
  • Tiered access. Basic: recording only ($X). Standard: live attendance + recording ($2X). Premium: live + recording + 1-on-1 follow-up call ($4X). Let people choose their level.
  • Early bird pricing. 20-30% discount for early registrations. Creates urgency and validates demand before the event.

Platforms for Hosting

  • Live workshops: Zoom (most common), Google Meet, or StreamYard. Zoom has breakout rooms, polls, and recording built in.
  • Selling tickets: Eventbrite, Gumroad, or your own site. Keep it simple. The fewer clicks to purchase, the more sales.
  • Self-paced courses: Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, or Podia. These handle video hosting, student progress, certificates, and payments.
  • Community: Discord or a course platform's built-in community. Students who connect with each other complete courses at higher rates.

💡 Course Complete

You now know how to choose the right format, design effective learning experiences, facilitate engaging sessions, and sell your workshops and courses. This is one of the highest-leverage revenue streams available to established creators: you teach what you know, people pay for the transformation, and the business compounds. Next step: build it and launch it. Your capstone project is the proof.

🔨 Exercise 4.1: Course Capstone - Workshop Launch

  1. Design a complete workshop using the course design document from Module 2
  2. Create a sales page (landing page, Gumroad listing, or Eventbrite event) with clear description, outcomes, and pricing
  3. Execute the launch sequence: warm-up content, announcement, social proof, and urgency
  4. Run the workshop live for at least 5 attendees (paid or free pilot)
  5. Collect feedback, calculate revenue (or projected revenue at full price), and write a post-mortem: what worked, what to improve, and your plan for the next iteration

Deliverable: Sales page + launch content screenshots + workshop recording + feedback + post-mortem analysis.

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LEAD-705: Agency & Management Fundamentals
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