Going virtual...
These days are really strange and unique. I have been once in town to my office in one month. I have learned to communicate more and more via chats and messaging apps. Even my parents use Facetime now. And that’s a point I like to be honest. A week ago, I have attended the CanceledCon Conference. It is a design conference at some point made online because we could not meet. It’s a US conference but many people from around the world could attend thanks to technology. I loved the idea. I have also seen local meetups put live online so people could attend them from their sofa. And something that could usually only be attented by local people could be attended by the whole world. I see more and more Instagram lives these days too. These technologies are really attracting attention.
And I thought I would love to do the same. Do more lives or something similar. I think I will do some on Instagram like Q&As. But that’s not enough. If there is one thing I would like to do is doing workshops to people around the world. Right now because of the situation, but also in general. What I find difficult in doing local workshops is that you only attract local people. When I go to Paris and Lyon, I have some people coming from different location in France, but most of the time, people don’t have the budget to travel, pay a hotel and the workshop. Also, for me it is always tricky to organize when I do it by myself. I have to travel too, pay these costs and find a place, a large room for the workshop I have to rent too.
So why not go virtual and organize online workshops? It has many advantages like costs, attending from everywhere in the world where you have a decent internet connection. It also has an ecological impact. Less people travelling is positive. It has also drawbacks. We don’t meet face to face, but still we are “live” together through the computer. It is already better for me that taking a Skillshare course for example.
So that is what I am going to do. From now on, all my lettering and type related workshops, organized by myself, will be taught online. I am going to start with one formula and see later on what works best.
First, you will be able to attend a one-day workshop, probably via Zoom. Not sure yet. It will be a 7 hours workshop, and to that, I will add a one-hour personal coaching session to help you on your projects related to the content of the workshop. It will try to compensate for the fact to not be physically together.
I have not fixed the price right now, but later this week I will post my two first online lettering workshops. The first one will be a classic, “the basics of hand lettering”, and the second one will be “Learn to create your first font with Fontself”. So one will be really analogic and the second one more digital. And after these first two, I will try to adjust and see what works and what does not.
So how do you find the idea? Nothing really new here but I try to develop something here I would like to see for myself. I would love to attend some workshops, online, from people who are maybe really far away. Of course, today I can take a Skillshare course for example. But being able to exchange, share ideas, chat with people online and live is much better to me and more relevant. Especially if you can have an hour of personal help. Of course, I will help everyone during the workshop but being able to help outside of it where you can ask any question related to the workshop is something really worth it I think.
So later this week, I will announce my 2 first workshops, and then maybe others. The first two will be taught in english but if the demand is high I might do some in french too. If you want to stay in touch, don’t hesitate to subscribe to my newsletter (see below). I will send an email when the tickets are available.
I must say I am really excited about these news and can’t wait to work on the workshops!!
Take care and stay home,
Francis