[Scpg] cancelled workshop Nov 15 & 16 there will be an Agroforestry workshop at Venice High School LA

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

DISCUSSION ON, CANCELLATION Nov 15 & 16 there will be an Agroforestry 
workshop at Venice High School with Dr. Bill Roley, Dr. David Crow, David 
King, and Steven Gates of Living Systems.

FROM TOM "tom nead" <tom.nead at verizon.net>
t 11:19 AM 11/16/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>to all the responsible parties:
>(you know who you are i do not)
>in regards to the failed agro-forestry workshop of nov14-16
>
>please, please, please
>
>in the future, DO NOT cancel the rest of the workshop on friday night.
>
>it was very inconsiderate and rude to send out an email on nov12 with a 
>detailed schedule of the workshop,
>
>then on the evening of nov14 to announce to the 20 plus people attending 
>that the workshop had been cancelled due to lack of interest.
>
>i believe that apologies are in order.
>
>thank you,
>
>tom nead

A Santa Barbara Perspective on Workshops
hi Tom
         I think I got the  email to post on the listserve for the first 
time Nov 10 from Lois Arkin which I did to help promote here in Santa 
Barbara and elsewhere, not a great lead time for two day Workshops.

         this is wes from Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, myself and 
Margie Bushman have been organizers for the Permaculture Guild for over 5 
years here in the Santa Barbara area, it takes a lot of energy to organize 
a Workshop for a weekend. Our first weekend workshop took us over 4 months 
to organize and we put up the money to insure that the teachers got paid.We 
had to start from beginning learning press releases  , making posters and 
getting the word out before we had a listserve and large network. Our first 
Workshop with Penny Livingston (Permaculture Teacher ) cost including the 
teacher around $1200 to organize and run. Yes you can organize much less 
expensive courses, but you still have to pay the teachers who depend on 
workshops for part of their livelihood. The other model you can work with 
is too get new teachers to get together and teach courses in groups to pool 
their knowledge for a workshop, thi sis less expensive.

         Many workshops get cancelled in our region because of lack of 
signs ups before the date, but at the lecture the night before most times 
enough folks sign up to make the workshop happen, but many times here in 
Santa Barbara we had to take the money out of pocket to make it work over 
five years . One weekend Workshop we went on with ,even though we had 5 
signs and lost $1200.  Many Teachers are not willing to commit to teach if 
the money is not there before the date of the workshop. So we guarantee 
their fee.
         .
         And many great Permaculture Teachers and others have given there 
time freely over the years to help out with many workshops. Sometimes many 
workshops organized even the free ones , don't work out. But they still 
take time to organize. But as a result of organizing Workshops here in 
Santa Barbara many other region like SLO, Ojai have organized them too.

         So in order to insure Workshops will happen, you will might 
help  to organize a group to help out with finances if you are planning to 
pay teachers , rental for the room etc and volunteer time. Just an idea

         Here in Santa Barbara Margie Bushman and myself, form a pool of 
money that we start with each year to organize Permaculture Events because 
we really want to spread the word and help to promote the further 
education. It can be as little as $500 some years and other years as much 
as $3000. (We call this seed money to invest in our community, with no 
strings attached) We want to create an energy that create waves of 
creativity that spreads throughout our community creating more  inter 
connection. We committ this money to run courses and events , to cover 
losses. And our time is volunteered with love and joy. All our courses are 
affordable to everyone in the community. And folks can organize to help 
with the workshops in exchange for the Workshop.
         We are investing a very little money to create, a positive energy 
of hope in our community. In Permaculture we talk about investing locally 
in our communities, here is one way to use your money to reach and help so 
many.

         What I am saying is we need to move to as better model of  running 
courses a kind of community pool that makes sure the financial weigh of the 
courses is covered. then more courses could happen in our regions as a 
result. Let's free up this energy and create abundance of spirit.
         just my thoughts wes
ps Our sister Permaculture Guild in San Francisco are doing many creative 
money raising ideas to support activities in their region, if want I can 
post what they are doing

ps thanks tom for opening a door to this  discussion






.,At 11:19 AM 11/16/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>to all the responsible parties:
>(you know who you are i do not)
>
>in regards to the failed agro-forestry workshop of nov14-16
>
>please, please, please
>
>in the future, DO NOT cancel the rest of the workshop on friday night.
>
>it was very inconsiderate and rude to send out an email on nov12 with a 
>detailed schedule of the workshop,
>
>then on the evening of nov14 to announce to the 20 plus people attending 
>that the workshop had been cancelled due to lack of interest.
>
>i believe that apologies are in order.
>
>thank you,
>
>tom nead
>
>
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