Workshop Guidelines

General Information for new Workshop Presenters

This section describes some basic information about workshops at Elderflower.

How long is a workshop slot?

Each workshop time allotment is 1.5 hours.

If you have a presentation that is longer, we suggest dividing it into two workshops.

What are the usual scheduled times for presentations?

Morning workshops begin at 10:00 AM and finish at 11:30 AM

Afternoons have two time periods: 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm and 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Workshops are scheduled beginning Thursday morning.

Evening time periods are available, but not usually scheduled. If you wish to hold an early morning or an evening (after dinner) please mention this on your Workshop questionnaire application.

There are no workshops scheduled on Sunday or Friday evening.

What are the Location options?

Locations are available with electricity and flat areas. Most areas require attendees to bring their own chair to sit on.

The common locations set up for presentations are named by festival tradition and described here.

The Fire Circle – relatively isolated area not far from the Dining Hall with a fire place centered in front of a half-circle log bench seating. Room for camp chairs. Usually shaded except at mid-day.
Main Meadow – flat circular area good for big rituals, games or movement. No pre-set seating. There may be some folding chairs there. Fairly sunny location.
Brook Nook – well-shaded area at some distance from the main assembly area of camp. There may be some folding chairs placed there. Good for private space.
Grandmother Tree – sometimes shaded, sometime sunny, set in the hollow of a burned Redwood. Near the Dining Hall and assembly area, so sometimes a little noisy. A few folding chairs usually set up there.
The Grove – pretty well shaded, short distance from Assembly Area and Open Air Market. Usually isolated enough for quiet workshops.
Chat Circle – small seating area with logs, near Assembly Area near an unused fire place. Room for some extra chairs. Amount of sun/shade varies.
Assembly Area – sunny in the afternoons, active area where there are easily accessible tables and extra chairs.
Dining Hall – Inside, with electricity and tables with bench seating for workshops that require a flat working area and electricity.
Behind the Kitchen – one or two picnic style tables that offer flat space for crafting workshops. Possibility for electricity with long extension cords. Usually shaded, with some sun. Very close to Grandmother Tree.

Level of Experience

If you wish to, you can restrict or specify requirements for the group.

State your requirements in the program or on the schedule board. You can ask for a certain level of experience or familiarity with the subject. You might want to ask that everyone bring something in order to participate. You can set whatever standards you wish. Certainly feel free to offer something at an advanced or intermediate level and exclude beginners for the greater enrichment of those participating.

Help for new Presenters

Guidelines for new Workshop Presenters

These guidelines are offered to any woman who is new to planning or leading a workshop. We hope they will help you. For more support call the current Workshop Coordinator. Thank you for making a special contribution to Elderflower! Your workshop provides Elderflower participants with the unique opportunity to meet you personally and benefit from your special skill and wisdom.

You don't have to be a "Professional"

Only some workshops are lead by seasoned workshop leaders, or professional teachers. Many are offered by women new to leading workshops, who have a desire to share an experience or understanding that has special meaning to them. You don’t have to be an expert to share an experience or teach something special. Elderflower is a fantastic opportunity to learn and practice workshop facilitation because it is a friendly, safe and supportive environment. If you are new to workshop leadership, thank you for taking the risk and offering to share what you know. Please feel free to ask the community for the support support you need.

Types of Workshops

There are many types of workshops.

Rituals to work with a specific Goddess
Chat/Discussions
Lectures
Demonstrations
Teaching a craft or art
Meditation
Dance or Movement
Music
Goddess Lore and Mythology
Humor
Writing
Dreaming
Astrology
Tarot

At Elderflower, we have seen slideshows, and done rites of passage. We have had workshops that called a specific Goddess, and workshops that consisted of lecture presentations. You can do any type of workshop you can imagine.

Length

Workshops are generally one and a half hours in length – they can go over a maximum of 10 minutes beyond that. A shorter workshop would be acceptable.

It is hard to hold women’s attention for more than two hours at a time. If you are planning to do a workshop longer than two hours, please discuss it with the current workshop coordinator by phone or email. If the workshop is longer than that, it would be a good idea to structure it as a two part presentation with part one as a pre-requisite for part two. A two part workshop could also happen in different time slots such as morning and afternoon or on different days.

To arrange a two part workshop, you will need to contact the current workshop coordinator directly.

Subject

The festival was founded to celebrate and to honor the Goddess and the sacredness of nature. In whatever guise she chooses to manifest in our lives, we hold Her as a symbol of the Divine Feminine. Our rituals and workshops help us to invoke that energy, and through sisterhood, get closer to the deity within each of us.

Traditionally, we do not invoke male deities at Elderflower. While we respect the beliefs of all attendees, if your spiritual practice includes male deities, we ask that you do not manifest or teach them at the festival.

Planning

Get your workshop form in on time to the workshop coordinator. This will allow potential attendees to have a printed description in front of them when they arrive at the festival.

The festival is held in a forest. There is no internet connectivity - so any materials you use for planning should be accessible to you in printed format.

Try to plan a workshop that is participatory or has participatory parts to it. Women tend to learn and absorb more and enjoy the experience more when they share the experience actively. When doing a lecture-type presentation, handouts will help women to learn and remember.

Create an outline for the workshop.
Flesh out the outline with planned words and phrases, or write the lecture.
Make flash cards or highlight the key points of the outline/lecture.
Time the activities. How long will each part take?
Gather the materials to bring with you.
Practice the spoken or demonstrated parts of the workshop.
Ask a friend for feedback.

Before the presentation

After the presentation

Prepare your presentation

If you are giving a presentation of information, you might want to prepare what you want to say in advance. Then go over what you’ve written and list key portions of the presentation rather than reading your presentation like a statement. If you are afraid that you might get nervous and forget the content of your presentation you can keep the whole written text in front of you but go through it in advance and highlight or underline the key words. That way you can easily glance at your statement, say several sentences, look back over your notes to see if you covered what you want to say, and then go on to the next part.

If you are presenting material that you are very familiar with, you will be able to present it regardless of whether you are nervous or not. Sharing your personal experiences and anecdotes will help to put you at ease as well as share a special part of your own experience.

If you are leading a guided meditation, it is perfectly acceptable to write it out entirely in advance and read it to the group. Just be aware of the pace and tone that you are speaking with.

Introductions

At the minimum, introduce yourself. Are group introductions appropriate for your workshop? Sometimes it helps to start a workshop with introductions. Some workshops which involve discussion go more smoothly if the participants introduce themselves.

Methods for Group introductions – This can be simply going around the circle and sharing names or women can say something more about themselves such as why they are there, what they hope to learn or what their own experiences have been with the topic being presented. There are also many songs, chants and games that serve the purpose of introducing the women to each other. You want to keep this part short, so you time for body of your presentation. The beginning activity sets the tone for the whole workshop.

After the group has introduced themselves you might want to give them an extended introduction of yourself. You might want to share information about your background, how you came to lead this workshop or what your own training or experience has been with what you are teaching. You can also use this opportunity to announce other workshops or events you might be leading and briefly present the work you are in your own community.

Go ahead and pass around a pad for women to add their names to your mailing list if you wish to. Keep this part of your workshop to under five minutes, but do use this opportunity to promote your own work. Don’t use this time for selling merchandise. That activity is limited to the crafts area and we ask that you observe this.

Breathe

This may seem obvious. During the presentation, remember to breathe. Take extra deep breathes if you are nervous. It is perfectly okay to tell the group if you are nervous. Stating a difficult feeling often serves to dissipate the energy of it. The women in the group will want to help you feel at ease if they can. If you tell them that you have never lead a workshop before and you are nervous, it is likely that they will appreciate you even more for taking the risk with them.

Time Yourself

Have a clock or a watch near you to keep track of the time. Be prepared to adjust your plan if a part of your workshop takes longer than you anticipated. End your workshop on time. Many of your participants will want to go to something else after you workshop. It is disruptive to have most the group leave because they are sticking to a schedule. Also, another workshop might be scheduled to happen in the space that you are occupying.

Allow some time for questions

For lectures and demonstrations, it is good to stop at various times throughout the workshop to ask for questions. You can also ask participants if they have anything to add. Experience sharing from the participants sometimes teaches you something new, adds to the experience of the workshop and might remind you of something you forgot.

Resources

Remember to share resource information that will help your group to follow up on what they have learned from you. Recommend books, groups, centers periodicals, workshops, events and other teachers that are related to the material presented.

Be available

Allow time after the workshop for women to speak with you individually. Many women will wait until after the workshop to ask questions or share their experiences.

Be prepared for women to ask for advice or help with a problem or a concern. Decide in advance how much you are willing to offer individuals. Always be compassionate and supportive and respect your own limits and boundaries at the same time.

If a participant poses a serious problem that you can’t or don’t want to help with, you might want to suggest to her someone else that you think might help. In an extreme situation, you can refer her to festival staff. Always respect the confidentiality of anything personal that is shared with you.

Trance, meditation and emotional work

Be aware that trance work sometimes takes women to places that they haven’t been before.

Sometimes there is an emotional reaction if the woman is undergoing emotional instability in her life. Don’t allow an individual’s experience to detract form the experience of the group.

Ask her to talk with you about her problem after the workshop, or have her find a staff person to connect her with emotional support and counseling that is available at the festival. If a woman is too upset to find help herself, ask someone to go with her to find someone to talk with. If she has a friend in the workshop that would be the most appropriate person to offer her support until after you have completed the workshop. This is a very rare occurrence, but if it should happen, there is usually an Elderflower volunteer staff member who can help with that kind of problem. If you think your workshop might bring up intense emotions, you might want to ask the workshop coordinator ahead of time, who the best staff member for this would be.

Summary

Prepare your workshop in advance as much as possible. Prepare an outline and gather resources several days in advance to give yourself ample time to get familiar with with your plan. Research any details that you are uncertain of. Prepare and photocopy any handouts before you leave home. Ask a friend or a festival staff member for feedback or support. Once at the Festival, allow plenty of time prior to the workshop to check out the location. Take some extra time before leading your workshop, to center yourself and get grounded. Review your plan as often as you need to until you are completely comfortable. Stick to what you know and you will be surprised at how easy it is to make a presentation and teach it to others.

If you need special help planning your workshop, contact the workshop coordinator and she may be able to put you in touch with someone experienced in giving presentations at Elderflower who can advise you.

Sample Workshop Outline

This outline is offered to help a new workshop leader get started with planning. It is just one of many possible ways to structure a workshop.

Introductions go-around
Review content & purpose of workshop
Extended introduction of yourself
Pass around mailing list
Request for sharing of experience related to workshop from group.
Distribute handout
Present Information
Ask for questions
Lead experiential activity
Sharing go-around of experiences during activity
Ask for questions
Share resources (books, etc.)
Ground and release the group energy if that is appropriate to your presentation.
Thank the group for attending your workshop.

Remember to Ground and Release your own energy when the workshop is over.

August 7-11 2024