there may not be a “next time”…

When I announce classes that I’ve been accepted to teach at conferences, conventions and various other venues, nothing is certain about those classes. Being selected does not mean the classes will go ahead. If they don’t fill, I don’t go. No-one will pay my way to teach a class that doesn’t have enough enrolments – it’s a simple matter of economics.

And as I learned from my classes at a recent convention not going ahead, it can feel *absolutely brutal* when you’ve had that carrot dangled in front of you and then it is taken away.

Some time back, someone told me that they were going to that convention, but they hadn’t booked in to a class with me, “because I can do a class with you any time.”

I’d like to refute that statement. No, you can’t do a class with me any time.

1. I’m not teaching classes all the time.
2. If classes at a particular event don’t go ahead, the teacher is much less likely to be invited back, and much less likely to have any classes that they submit being selected at future events.

If people don’t take the opportunities that are there, to do classes with me, those opportunities dry up.

Organisers don’t want to hire someone whose classes were unpopular last time. Whether it is warranted or not, you/your classes get a reputation. I know this because I’ve been told by organisers as the reason why they wouldn’t hire me, “we can’t sell whitework classes.”

From my point of view, *I* don’t want to keep submitting for things when I keep getting knocked back or my classes get cancelled due to low numbers. I’m human. It hurts. I feel like a loser. Believe me, it HURTS. Out of self-preservation, I might choose not to put myself through that heartache again.

So if you see a class that I’m teaching and you’re considering signing up for it, then if you have the wherewithal to do so, sign up for it! The opportunity may not come up again. Don’t make the assumption that “I can do a class with Yvette any time” because it just isn’t true. Don’t assume that you can do a class with me “next time”. There simply may not be a next time.