Advice for running workshops?
I'm possibly going to be teaming up with a sex therapist in her new private practice planning and running some sexuality-related workshops. I was wondering if anyone had tips on hosting these, such as:
- How best to gather ideas?
- What kinds of people-skills I might need?
- How to keep them exciting and engaging?
I'm very excited, yet mildly intimidated by this since I'm not a clinician. I'm interested in human sexuality, absolutely, but wondering where to start with this type of opportunity.
Thanks in advance! #health #sexuality #human-sexuality #workshop-development #personal-development
4 answers
Evi’s Answer
Hi Alexandra,
I would like to address this topic not from my day to day job, but from my side job, I have my own crochet boutique. It is not sexually linked at all :-), but has all to do with giving workshops, so I will share you this info.
Before the workshop:
It is very important for yourself to define a few questions upfront:
- Will you be giving 1 specific workshop or will you offer a menu off different workshops among which your customer can choose?
- Give a clear definition of what the workshop is all about. What will be the outcome for your customer after the workshop? Set clear goals so your customer gets to meet his expectations after the workshop.
- Indicate clearly what is included (material they take home after the session, use of your tools and machinery, tutorials, follow up sessions, .....) and what they have to bring their own
- If you give multi candidate sessions, indicate upfront if there is a minimum attendance required in order to give the workshop
The day of the workshop:
Make sure you are well prepared, you have everything ready, the location is installed (relaxing, not too cold, not too hot, ...), your tools and machinery are all functioning, you have a list of attendance, ....
And you take a nice breath in breath out!! You are hear to help people and teach them something, keep that in mind.
After the workshop:
If your business allows you to, try to connect with your customers.
- How have they experienced the workshop?
- Was it responding to their expectations?
- Is there something they see as improvement area?
And evaluate for yourself.
- How have YOU experienced the workshop?
- Was it responding to YOUR expectations?
- Is there something YOU see as improvement area?
I wish you all of luck whether it is in giving sexual workshops or anything else in life.
Kind Regards,
Evi
Thank you so much, Evi! I'll definitely work on those. Nice to hear from someone at Dell. I've been a committed user for years :)
Alexandra, Admin
Ashley’s Answer
Another general rule: be interactive. I wouldn't suggest standing in front of a room of people just reading from slides/script. Providing hand outs or relevant material to show attendees can get them engaged and ready to ask questions they may not have thought of before.
Elise’s Answer
Sounds like fun! Sexuality can be a tricky topic to facilitate, as people tend to bring a lot of assumptions and misinformation along with them. So it's really helpful to be fully prepared.
For generating ideas, I would image that the therapist you're working with might have a sense of what people are struggling the most with. As a long-time sexuality educator in my experience people are generally worried about:
1. How to communicate with their partner about something that isn't working or that they want to try
2. If something they feel/like/experience is normal
3. Whether or not they should try something new and what will happen if they don't
4. How to deal with different sex drives
There are tons of other topics of course but those are some places to think about starting. For adult learners, the most important thing is that they want to be engaged in the workshop. I agree with the person above who said you don't just want to talk at them. In fact, I think the most helpful thing you can do once you've decided on a topic is to figure out what skills people need to be successful and then build your workshop around those skills. People should get at least one chance to practice that skill if not multiple changes. (For instance, in a workshop on communication, people could practice listening, then they could practice responding empathetically, then they could practice stating their needs clearly and neutrally)
You need strong facilitation skills to run a sexuality workshop and you need the ability to remain calm if someone asks a challenging question. I find it helpful to take some time to think through what types of questions I think I might get and write down my answers so that I'm not responding with a knee-jerk reaction but something well thought out. You also need to be empathetic. People will show up with baggage like you cannot believe and you need to be able to meet them where they are. It's also helpful to know how to set boundaries in terms of what is an appropriate topic and what is not.
Happy to answer more questions as you get into it.