HOW TO ORGANIZE A WEN-DO WOMEN’S SELF DEFENCE COURSE OR WORKSHOP
Setting up a Wen-Do course or workshop is one of the best things you can do for the safety of women and girls in your organization or community! We hope that the following information will help you in this process. If you have further questions about any aspect of setting up a course, please call Wen-Do at 416-929-3636, and an instructor will call you back.
1. How long is a Wen-Do course or workshop?
2. Who can participate?
3. How many women can attend?
4. What kind of space do we need?
5. How much will it cost?
6. Suggestions for planning, publicity, and registration
7. And Finally…
1. How long is a Wen-Do course or workshop?
A Wen-Do workshop can be as short as one hour, or as long as a full day, or anything in between.
The Basic Wen-Do Course is 15 hours long. Please see About Us: Who We Are and What We Teach for a summary of the course content. The most common formats for the 15-hour course are:
- 2 days of 7.5 hours each (These can be taught on weekdays or weekends; a Saturday & Sunday or 2 consecutive Saturdays, for example)
- 6 sessions of 2.5 hours each
- 5 sessions of 3 hours each (The 2.5 or 3-hour sessions can be taught during the day or in the evenings; 6 Monday nights from 6:30 to 9:00pm, for example)
- If your group prefers a different format, our instructors are quite flexible.
2. Who can participate?
Women and girls age 10 and up can take Wen-Do.
This includes transgendered women who consistently identify themselves, present themselves, and live as women, in all areas of their lives.
Wen-Do believes that all women and girls can benefit from learning self-defence, including women with disabilities, older women, young girls, large and small women. Women of all physical abilities and fitness levels are encouraged to attend. Our instructors are trained to accommodate the needs of women with a diversity of physical abilities. Should any of the participants have questions or concerns about their health or physical ability, please refer them to the instructor.
If a young girl is taking a course that includes adult women, we suggest that she take the course with her mother, older sister, or another adult, to give her an opportunity to further discuss the issues of violence against women and girls after class.
3. How many women can attend?
There is no limit to the number of participants for a one-hour workshop, as long as the space can accommodate them.
Longer workshops and the 15-hour Basic Course are limited to 20 participants. We recommend a minimum of 12 participants, but courses can be taught with fewer.
4. What kind of space do we need?
The room should be big enough for all the participants to stand with their arms outstretched without touching each other. It should be private and closed to through traffic in the building. The room should be cleared of all obstacles. The floor/carpet should be clean. It is useful to have some chairs available, in case some women are not comfortable sitting on the floor, and a table for handouts. We strongly recommend using a wheelchair-accessible space, if possible.
Courses and workshops have been held in classrooms, gyms, community centres, board rooms, churches and synagogues, meeting rooms, union halls, and large recreation rooms in homes and apartment buildings.
5. How much will it cost?
Instructor fee: The fee for workshops is $200.00/hour, and the fee for a 15-hour basic course is $2500.00. However, if an organization cannot afford these amounts, and we know that many cannot, a lower fee may be negotiated with the instructor. Please feel free to discuss the issue with your particular instructor.
Additional costs for courses outside of Toronto: If the instructor needs to travel outside of Toronto, the transportation costs (bus, train, airfare, or mileage charge for automobile) will have to be covered. If a course is taught on days which are not consecutive, then the transportation costs will double. If a course is taught on two consecutive days (which is generally preferable when the instructor has to travel), then billeting or the cost of a hotel room will have to be covered for the instructor.
Fundraising: Do not overlook the possibility of applying to corporations, service groups or the government for financial assistance with the course. Depending on their priorities, they may be willing to offer funding, or subsidies for a specific group of women (e.g. youth, seniors, single mothers), or in-kind assistance (e.g. space, advertising, refreshments, photocopying, etc.). This of course takes advance planning and coordination.
Charging fees to participants: How much, if anything, you charge participants is up to you. It will depend on what your other sources of funding are, and on what you think participants can realistically afford.
6. Suggestions for planning, publicity, and registration
Planning: Begin to plan a course or workshop 6 to 8 weeks prior to the desired start date. (Of course, if you wish to apply for funding, you will need much more time, depending on the funders' deadlines.)
Week 8: Book the instructor and location. Check deadlines for advertising in newsletters, radio, websites, or other media, and organize submissions accordingly.
Week 6: Put up posters. Email information to relevant email lists. Start to register participants.
Week 2: Confirm location and instructor. Re-poster. Send reminder to email lists.
Week 1: Confirm participants.
Publicity: Promoting a course or workshop can take many forms. The more ways you advertise, the more women you will reach from different areas in your community, workplace, union, school, or organization. Publicity should include the dates, times, location and cost of the course, that the course is a Wen-Do Women’s Self Defence course and the name and phone number of the person to contact for information and registration. You can ask your instructor for sample publicity materials from past courses.
- Postering: Putting up posters or flyers about the course in public areas, or on bulletin boards, is most effective if done twice. The first time should be four to six weeks prior to the start date of the course, and second time, one to two weeks prior to the start date.
- Newsletters and newspapers: You can advertise the course in your school, business or union newsletter. Other publications such as the local newspaper are often willing to print articles or announcements about local activities. Ask the editors if they would like to receive a submission or if they would like to interview the instructor in person or by telephone themselves.
- Public Service Announcements: These are available on radio and cable television if sent with enough notice. A phone call or visit with the person in charge can help to give your information priority.
- Email: Email course information to relevant organizations and individuals. You can attach a flyer for them to post, but you should also include the information in the body of the email, to increase the likelihood of it being read. If the course is happening soon, include the dates in the subject line.
- Wen-Do Website and Phone Line: If you want your course to be advertised publicly, you may ask your instructor to submit the details to the Wen-Do website and phone line.
Registration: Be prepared to talk with many interested women in order to register 12 to 20 women for a course. Please refer women to the instructor for any questions or concerns that you do not feel able to address.
Record the woman's name, phone number, and email address if applicable. Inform her of the dates and times of the course, and the refund policy (see below). Please tell her that each course session builds on the previous one, so it is important to attend all sessions of the course. Ask each woman to arrive 10 minutes early on the first day to sign in and prepare for the course. For courses and workshops longer than one hour, each woman should bring a firm cushion or rolled up sleeping bag, unless lightweight mats (the kind that can be rolled up) will be provided on site. (The cushions or mats will serve as punching bags.) We encourage women to bring water to drink, as well as paper and pen (optional) if they wish to make notes. Women should wear loose, comfortable clothing and rubber-soled shoes or bare feet.
If you are charging participants a fee, we strongly recommend that you ask for full payment ahead of time, and that you consider someone registered only after she has paid. Registrants who have paid in advance are much more likely to attend than those who have not. If you are offering the course for free, you may want to consider asking registrants for a small deposit to hold their spot, on the understanding that their deposit will be refunded if they attend the course.
Please note that any participants under the age of 18 will need a permission form signed by a parent or guardian. Your instructor can provide you with a copy of the form. If the parent or guardian will not be present at the beginning of the course, the form will need to be signed ahead of time.
Refund Policy: We suggest that a withdrawal date of 10 days to 2 weeks prior to the start of the course be established. A woman should be told that she may receive a complete refund prior to that date. After that date, she could find another woman to substitute for her place in the class in order to get a refund. Some groups also allow refunds for medical or emergency reasons. Establish a policy prior to registration.
You will also need to negotiate a cancellation policy for the instructor's fee with the individual instructor you work with.
Confirmation of the Course or Workshop: One week prior to the start date, call or email each student to give the exact location of the class with clear directions to the room. Confirm dates and times of the course, and repeat the information above about arriving 10 minutes early, what to wear, and what to bring.
7. And Finally...
The instructor you work with will remind you about all the above. Do not feel overwhelmed by this information as we are only trying to cover all the bases. Your instructor will gladly answer any questions you may have and guide you through the process of seeing a course successfully off the ground.
Organizing a course or workshop can take several hours of your time. You may wish to divide these tasks among a number of people. It is well worth your time, however, to share the feelings of strength, confidence and security women and girls get from taking Wen-Do. This is vitally important work. You are making this world a safer place for women and girls!