The 7 Types of Online Workshops You Can Host
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The 7 Types of Online Workshops You Can Host

Oh, hey there. Regina here. Talking about one of the most exciting (to me) forms of content ever. Ever, ever.

Online workshops.

If you want to get into info products, or build your email list, or create content that you can re-package as an opt-in or bonus, or show yourself as a coach or expert on a topic you’re passionate about, there are a few super valid reasons to start with workshops. Tons of epic reasons, actually.

Okay, 8, to be specific.

Hosting workshops . . .

1. Helps people start to see you as a teacher and an expert in your niche. A great workshop topic, attractive graphics to support your event, a simple signup process, and a helpful agenda/worksheet to go along with it and you will seem professional, experienced, and amazing.

This impression goes a long way whether you’re providing services, trying to line up speaking opportunities, or creating information products, membership programs, or coaching/mastermind groups.

2. Causes you to create actionable worksheets, tips, and content so that you can see if you even have enough material, information, etc. to create a full course/program out of your topic, or if it might be better as a book, or if it should be a one-on-one service, or be left alone as a workshop, or abandoned completely, or done as a collaboration, or made into a group program, etc.

3. Gives you tons of packaging options. You can use your workshop as a free opt-in event conducted live, a free opt-in conducted live and then packaged as an evergreen opt-in or product bonus, a free opt-in conducted live and then sold afterward, or a paid product . . . among other options.

4. Allows you to test out EVERYTHING. It would be horrible to waste time (or money) developing something as intense as a course or book that turns out to not actually work for you or your audience. Developing worksheets, slides, and a script or bullet points of info for your workshop will help you figure out if the content works for you, of course, but actually presenting the information to your audience will allow you to get a real understanding of how it works for them. Was it too long? Too short? Too hard? Too confusing? Just right? Etc.

5. Helps you create a larger product or series as you go. Instead of planning one major resource (think course, online school, etc.) and leaving it looming over you, you’re able to plan it and create small sections/modules of it as workshops. #Brilliant

6. Gives you an additional price point to serve your audience with, as well as a different level of intensity/urgency of information—many times, a workshop will be more actionable and comprehensive than a blog post, eBook, or other type of resource.

Serving your audience at varying levels of need (amount of information, price, learning style, etc.) is a way to show you care and to impress your ideal people.

7. Allows you to have a more personal, more in-depth Q+A session with your audience (than sending a survey via email or some such method). It’s more valuable for them and more valuable for you. They get their questions answered live and you get way more feedback or input that you can apply to a paid product or service. If you listen to the questions and chat happening during a workshop, you may literally get ideas for the exact words to use and the exact way to frame your paid products to build a better item and get better sales results.

8. Gets you used to creating videos. Whether you decide to screencast, share presentation slides, or turn the camera on yourself to present, you will get used to creating videos, editing, getting good sound, being more and more comfortable on screen/audio, hosting videos, and more.

If you decide to create full courses, or make videos a significant part of your content strategy, then completing workshop after workshop will only make you more awesome at creating videos and courses in general.


The 7 Types of Online Workshops

Now. Let’s borrow a bit of material from our epic 8-day email course on creating an information product and sales funnel from scratch and talk about the seven types of workshops you can use to help drive awareness and sales of your product, build an audience, or slow-build a larger course or product. And by the way, if the word “workshop” doesn’t work for you, swap it out with class, masterclass, training, or something else that resonates.

The 7 Types of Online Workshops You Can Host


1. Bootcamps

A multi-day, multi-session bootcamp is a great way to both build a community around a specific topic or goal and teach something that requires more time than a single workshop might allow. Bootcamps are also a clever way to promote a product that is on the expensive side for your audience. Why? Because having multiple events, a community, and extra chances to see how helpful you are gives people additional time to make an investment decision and more reasons to feel good about that decision.


2. Online Workshops

These are so much more than your typical webinar. Think of classes that last 2+ hours and come with worksheets, videos, or some type of additional resources.

You can use online workshops to increase signups to your email list, to make a profit, or to promote an additional paid product/service. I generally structure most of my workshops as “information only,” but if you spend hours training people for free, and several hours preparing for that training and creating epic materials, it’s certainly acceptable that you’d want to pitch a product during that time.

To handle selling in online workshops, I’d recommend:

  • letting people know ahead of time that you’ll be telling them about a specific product during the workshop–but that you won’t take up too much time on it
  • starting off the workshop strong, without selling
  • gradually bringing in materials and giving your audience access to things that are exclusive to your product
  • explaining your product and any special deal on it toward the end of your workshop
  • opening up a Q+A at the very end where people can ask questions about the workshop material or your course

3. Q+As or Office Hours

You can host live Q+A sessions (or even Periscopes) covering topics that are a part of your expertise to help people, show a more personal side, or lightly hint and direct people towards one of your services or products.

You can answer questions that were previously submitted and/or answer questions asked during the broadcast. You can prepare worksheets or note sheets ahead of time or leave the event entirely open to whatever direction it may go in.

Hint: If you are using Q+As to help promote a product, they are super effective when a product is about to launch or when the price of the product is going up soon. This can cause the right kind of excitement and urgency with your audience. Example: You have a product called Get Growing (How to Grow Your Own Produce, Even With a Small Backyard), and you have an office hours session called The Grow Your Own Produce Q+A in which you let people know that the price of Get Growing is going up in 7 days, but you also answer tons of questions on growing your own produce.


4. Live Trainings

When you want to show software, tips + tricks, or a specific method/process, a targeted live training may be your best bet. These will likely be shorter than your 2+ hour workshops, and they can be some of your most popular events.

I’ve done live trainings on things such as:

  • designing Instagram Stories templates in Keynote
  • teaching our “Instagram as a second website” framework
  • creating a simple sales funnel for an info product
  • and more

What types of things can you show your audience how to do, or how to do better, in 30 to 90 minutes?

Here are two things to keep in mind about your live trainings:

  • Often your live trainings can be smaller portions of a larger course or series. You can do them to help you build your content over time.
  • Even if you have a small audience, or absolutely no live audience, making your trainings happen anyways means you’ll have epic stuff to fill your YouTube channel with or use for opt-ins to your email list. One of my most watched videos (the tutorial shown above), has gotten 99% of its views after the original air date. You can create content that does wonders for your brand even if no one shows up to the original thing. Actually, there’s less pressure that way.

5. Workshop Series

Think of a workshop series as a collection of online workshops or live trainings all focused around the same topic (getting started in home gardening, growing your email list, etc.) or as a specific category/event that happens on a schedule, but topics vary.

This is how Jamie of Spruce Road does her Lunch & Learn series. The topics vary, the co-hosts vary, but they generally all have something to do with design—which is likely what Jamie wants to be known for and is definitely what she is an expert in.

Would a recurring series help you build your list, get consistent with creating content, help you meet cool collaborators, and be a quality way you could regularly promote your paid materials?

Which style of workshop seems to fit your personality best so far? Which one do you think would be best for your audience?


6. Webinars

Short, informative live workshops (typically set up to promote specific products) are called webinars. Often webinar hosts present the audience with a limited-time offer on a course, service, book, or bundle of items.

Webinars can be educational and fun, and often include presentation slides and a Q+A portion. Webinars may or may not come with worksheets and additional resources, but for the most part, they are set up to be effective sales venues for a product, so I feel they are often planned with the business owner’s goals in mind more so than audience goals.

If you choose to opt for a webinar (which is not a bad thing if it’s the solution that makes the most sense for you), try to think about what your audience is gaining from the experience and build in things they can appreciate. Even if they don’t buy from you or opt to go further with your brand, what can they take away from your webinar?


7. Live Mobile Broadcasts (such as Instagram Live, Facebook Live, etc.)

If you’re looking for a more informal broadcast than the ones above, why not break into video using Instagram or another live video app? You can use these for:

  • Q+As
  • Short tutorials
  • Daily/weekly tips
  • Sharing new products and giving demos
  • Creating something live
  • Testing out new content/product ideas
  • Getting feedback
  • Sharing inspiration or meaningful thoughts
  • and more

You could also structure any of the workshop types above as an Instagram Live broadcast or Twitter Spaces room.

It would certainly be less formal than a workshop hosted on Zoom, Livestream, or another similar tool, but maybe less formal is what you want to go for.

You could use mobile Lives to:

  • get practice presenting
  • get real-time feedback and interaction
  • help people start to see you as a teacher/coach
  • create videos you could repackage or use elsewhere

So, which type of workshop do you want to start with?

29 Comments | View All
  • You really do kill it everytime you do live workshops Regina, I love your British accent impression that you drop a few times 😉 I’m just wrapping up my plans to finally delve into workshops this year. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m ready to step out of my comfort zone and just do it. Going to start with Periscope then will lead into a webinar/live training.
    Is there one of these that is your preference, or one that you don’t think you’ll do as many/any of in 2016?

    PS, girl you’re awesome. Thank you for all of your seriously high value content, resources etc last year. Can’t wait to see what this year brings!

    • Awwww, Rebecca. Thank you so much for saying that and for taking the time to read this. I’m perfecting that accent and will nail it one day–just watch!

      I’ll be happy to see you get into workshops. I love the idea of starting with Periscope. And in answer to your question, I think a live training and then a legit workshop might be a good order to go in. Live trainings on one specific thing help you to direct your material while still getting used to being live.

      In 2016, I’ll probably just still not do to many webinars (if any), but I’m really not against any of them.

      Thank you again for the comment.

  • Regina your content is always epic and this post is no different. I always come away from the things you do enlightened and motivated. I’m actually thinking about doing a couple of webinars/workshops myself all because you’ve inspired me.

    Keep being an epic ninja because we all love and need you.

    Rhianne xo.

    • Rhianne, thank you for your sweet comment. You are always so, so good to me. I would 100% love it if you did some webinars/workshops. I legit think they’ll be fun for you–and such a great experience for your audience.

      Plus, you’ll look up and all the sudden you’ll have tons of material to roll into different info products. It will be amazing.

      Thank you again for this comment. It means a lot to me.

  • Hey Regina,

    This was such a mind-blowing post! Thank you for putting it together. I hadn’t considered doing a live workshop before (though I’ve attended a few). However, now I’m thinking about it, especially since I love teaching others.

    I think I’ll start with a live training, but probably not on periscope. I hopped on periscope and did a few broadcasts. I was terrified ?! I guess I just need to do more.

    What’s your #1 tip for those of us just starting to get into workshops?

  • Seriously, how did you know that I am currently planning a workshop? I love how you broke down the different types and the purposes they serve. Now I have a lot more thinking to do on this, but that’s a good thing haha 😉

    I KNOW that I need to scope more and I’ve been considering the Q+A thing so thanks for the extra tips on how to get that going.

    You rock as usual!

  • Regina,
    As my first comment, I want to thank you for the wealth of content you share with the world! Girl you a star, keep shining!

    Getting started is key but what to do next is the greatest challenge – workshop here I come gulps …

    Oh and by the way love the header image!

  • Uuuggghhh. My head is exploding. I don’t even know where to start with this. Obviously there’s SO MUCH POTENTIAL in these, especially for me in the visual arts, but I don’t think I even know what half of these things are like to experience myself, let alone create for other people.

    I think I’m going to have to find lots of examples and see what others are creating. I’ve done one online workshop/course which was done via a blog and that’s it. This is a whole new world for me really. It’s exciting but scary. Thank you for giving me a well needed shove in the right direction xx

  • Regina…super awesome post as usual. I’m planning my first workshop this year so this is a right on time post.

    Thanks so much for giving folks like myself a running start to learning how to package and host a workshop. Cheers!

  • You reading my mind? How dare you! One of my goals for 2016 is to get over my fear of public speaking/being on camera and host a workshop… This is the kind of motitvation I needed!

    Periscope has been a huge help – I love that nothing feels ‘permanent’ so I get over my perfectionist ‘shues pretty quickly.

  • Slowly, slowly coming out of my shell on this. I’ve been so scared to do live video. But, since I’m now creating stuff people are resonating with, I’m trying to frame it to myself as, “Hey Taylor, you’re showing a good friend how to do XYZ”, rather than, “Oh snap, this is going to feel like the high school presentation you bombed”.

    This clears up webinars vs. training. I thought they were the same thing. Good to know.

    • Hi Taylor, that sounds like an awesome way to reframe, I’m going to have to remember that for when I start second guessing myself on everything. You may want to ask a friend to start Blabbing with you (blab.im) to help you get started. Yes, it’s live video streaming, but you and your friend will have a portion of the screen each and it’s just like having a Skype or FaceTime conversation that lots of people are listening in to (and leaving you running commentary). It’s a lot easier for those that are a little more worried about diving into the live stream pool because you’re not there alone 🙂

      • Mmm.. this is AMAZING advice. Thanks!! I’ve joined one Blab before as an attendee and never thought about hosting one. The buddy idea would definitely be less pressure and void of awkward silences. I think that’s what I worry about the most lol.

  • Regina, this is fantastic! I’m just starting to get into producing webinars, but I had no idea there could be so many different ways to teach online. I really like the idea of Live Trainings – they could be a good match for me since I’m into teaching tech tips & tricks. Thanks 🙂

  • Wow, way to have your head buried in an epic to-do list Tors, how on earth did I miss this post?! I did say that, and I still totally stand by it. You, your content and your whole business are made of awesome. Thanks for everything you do, and for the workshop series, I’m totes stealing that one.

  • Well hellooo, so many options! So inspired by this post right now. Thank you so much for your epic content…. as usual. I seriously have GOT to start doing webinars. I don’t know why I keep putting it off. It has to happen! I hate that tomorrow is Saturday and honestly wish it were Monday so that I could implement some of these. This post is definitely going in my Buffer to tweet out because my peoples need to read this!!!

    Thank you so much for this post, email friend.

  • Great post and great blog. I’ve just discovered your site and think it’s fab. I’ve been blogging for 5 years and the last 3 years i’ve really focussed on blogging tips and advice … i’m late to realise i should be commercialising all of the advice I give so this is a great post to inspire me

    Mel x
    mediamarmalade.com

  • Great article Regina,

    Webinars are a great way to promote and sell your product to subscribers. It is very effective as you can teach your loyal subscribers about some topic and add more value by pitching your solution and product.

  • Thanks for writing this, it has helped me get a little more clearer on the types of online trainings and workshops I want to provide to my readers and which ones I could potentially charge for. I’m bookmarking this to come back to each time I create a workshop or webinar! Thanks again!

  • This is information sooo helpful Regina. I thankyou and applaud you for having it available for free. I know there are plenty of bloggers out there like me who just now getting started and do not have to fund as of now to purchase training and we are so thankful for you. Even though you may not be making money directly from the free info, you are building value and trusting relationships with your ninjas & i know as soon as the funds are available it wil be invested in you because we know that you really care. Don’t allow anyone to tell you you’re losing value by putting out this much free content, because you’re not, you are gaining it. I am now a ninja for life and will always support you. You will be blessed Regina, Thank you

  • Honestly, Regina. I’ve researched a ton of information, courses, and workshops relating to branding, products, webinars, etc. I came across your website and was simply amazed. First, the concise design is on point. Your content is super informative and detailed. I love your work!

  • Another fantastic post Regina!

    The types of workshops above are great ways to up your blogging game, you can interact with your audience more after you did these. They will say “Snap, this blogger is real; I’m gonna follow her blog all the time”

    Keep bloggin’!

  • Hey, Regina. I just nabbed most of your free guides on this site. There are so many great titles with valuable information, I can’t wait to delve into it.

    Only, I didn’t realize there was a lot of informational content further down each of the opt-in pages … so you will see quite a few repeat sign-ups from my email address. I am so sorry for this mistake. Just delete or ignore them and please accept my apologies.

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