UPDATE: For tomorrow’s post I will include an actual survey with the questions below to make it a little easier to digest. In the meantime, please leave comments or send me an email to jason[at]jasondmoore[dot]com with your thoughts Thanks!

One of my readers from up here in the Northeast US contacted me over the weekend about whether or not I’ve considered leading a Photoshop Workshop and expressed his eagerness to attend if I set one up. And it got me to thinking.

I’ve led multimedia workshops before as part of my previous job, mainly for clients who had very little experience with Photoshop or PowerPoint or GoLive. Most of the attendees were newbies so the sessions were VERY basic to make sure everyone could follow along and get a feel for the software and general design concepts, and that sort of thing.

However, looking forward at the possibility of leading workshops in the future, I’d like to get some of your feedback to see what you’re looking for so I can develop something accordingly. Even if you are not in the Northeast US, please share your thoughts

My first impulse is to say that my target audience would be current Photoshop users who would call themselves experienced beginners – meaning they’re not entirely green but feel pretty comfortable with the software and want to learn more – up to intermediate users – those who have a good grasp of the basics but want to take it to the next level. Does that make sense?

My first question has to do with length. How long would an ideal workshop last for you? An evening? From 9am-5pm on a Saturday? Multiple days? Having been to Photoshop World before I know I could go for days soaking up Photoshop but I’m certain that not everyone has that longevity for such an intensive, in-depth course of study. So what would be your ideal?

What sort of content are you looking for? Photography? Photoshop? Lightroom? Concepts in visual storytelling? Take it one step further. If you’re interested in focusing on Photoshop, what areas would you like to know more about? What tools/techniques have you not quite figured out yet?

What is your ideal class size? Would you look for a more lecture/Q&A style workshop where the instructor would go step-by-step through techniques and explaining the tools/concepts used along the way while you watch? Or would you rather be in a situation where you had your laptop to work alongside the instructor – maybe with a smaller class size for some one-on-one time? Would you want a photowalk as part of the workshop? Maybe the day would go like this: have a session about the basics of composition and visual storytelling, then have the photowalk, then go through some post-processing workflows (perhaps with photos by the attendees) and then some processing time before reviews of photos shot that day?

What would you expect to have included in the fee beyond the tuition? A workbook? Your meal, if necessary? Or would you feel comfortable having the meal be “on your own”?

How far would you be willing to travel to attend? And where would you be coming from (so I could judge where your threshold is relative to here)?

And finally, with all of your responses in mind, what would you be willing to pay for an evening, day-long, weekend-long workshop? And how likely would you be to sign-up for one, if offered?

I know I hit you with a lot of questions right there, but I want to thank you in advance for responding!