How to Find Workshop Ideas (& 17 Ideas for Coaches)

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Picture this: A virtual or physical room filled with excited people, meaningful conversations flowing, and someone screaming, “This workshop has changed everything for me.” 

That’s what a well-designed workshop idea can do. 

As a coaching expert or consultant, hosting workshops allows you to scale your impact and create deeper connections with your audience. 

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • How to choose a topic for your workshop
  • Online workshops vs. in-person workshops
  • 17 workshop ideas for coaches
  • How much to charge for your workshop
  • Best ways to promote your workshop

🤔 How to Choose a Topic for Your Workshop

Selecting the perfect workshop topic is about finding the sweet spot between your expertise and your audience’s desires. Here are three ways to uncover your ideal workshop topic:

Find Valuable Ideas

The best workshop events solve a problem and show how good the hosts are at what they do. So, before you decide on a topic, evaluate two things—your strong points and the market.

To find your strong points, review your coaching sessions and write out the following:

  • Everything you’ve helped clients achieve in the past year
  • The challenges they mention the most
  • Quick wins that consistently excite your clients
  • Compliments you frequently receive
  • Discussions that make you lose track of time

Then, analyze your content performance. Figure out the topic of posts and emails that generate the most engagement and follow-up questions. 

You can also get a competitive edge by researching what similar brands are doing well (that you can do better) and what they are not doing enough (that you can improve). 

Validate Your Topic

Before you invest time in creating your workshop, test your idea to know what your audience thinks about it. Compile a list of relevant topics from your findings and ask them to choose.

Here are simple tips to validate your workshop topic: 

  • Create a simple poll and share it on your profile or your social media groups
  • Send a survey form to your email list
  • Have coffee chats with 5-10 ideal clients
  • Post about the topic and gauge interest through engagements

Narrow Your Focus

The goal of your workshop should be to teach your audience a few specific things within your zone of expertise. It shouldn’t be a brain dump of everything you know, as the participants can become overwhelmed with too much information. 

To narrow your workshop ideas focus, ask yourself these questions:

  • Can this topic be meaningfully covered in the intended timeframe?
  • Does it solve a specific, urgent problem?
  • Can I include interactive elements to make my creative workshop ideas more engaging?
  • Will participants learn new skills and innovative ideas or see tangible results?
  • Can I include practical exercises and workshop activities to help them achieve their goals?

👩‍💻 Online vs. In-person Workshops: What’s Best for Your Business? 

workshop ideas

Regardless of whether you choose a virtual workshop or an in-person event, educational workshops are a big deal. However, the online vs. in-person decision impacts everything from your content delivery to engagement structure. 

Let’s break down both options so you can choose what’s best for your coaching business.

Online Workshops: Pros & Cons

With online workshop events, you can reach various people across the globe without geographical or timezone limitations. Hosting events online makes it easier to reach a larger audience. 

More so, there are significantly lower overhead costs for both the host and workshop participants. There’s no need to book venues, event organizers, security agents, or catering services. Likewise, participants can save on travel costs. All that is needed is a network connection and a computer or smartphone.

However, here are several drawbacks to online workshop ideas:

  • Varying internet connectivity and technical issues
  • Limited physical interaction and networking opportunities. However, there are virtual breakout rooms for interactive sessions and group work to keep participants engaged.

In-Person Workshops: Pros & Cons

An in-person workshop has a higher perceived value because it creates a sense of exclusivity and scarcity. It feels more like a “special event” than the more widely accessible digital experience. 

This enhances more meaningful connections among attendees and a highly engaged community. Moreover, in-person events are better for physical, hands-on exercises. These interactive workshop ideas also have fewer technical distractions.

But you might encounter the following challenges:

  • Higher operational costs (like the cost of event planning and food items)
  • Capacity restrictions
  • Geographical limitations & travel requirements
  • Weather and other external factors

There is no right or wrong way to go, and you don’t have to stick with just one of these formats. Many successful coaches start with virtual workshops and gradually expand to offer both online and in-person workshops as a hybrid workshop model and adapt along the way.

💡 17 Transformative Workshop Ideas for Coaches

Looking to host a workshop for interactive learning? Here are 17 transformative educational workshop ideas to choose from:

1. Goal-Setting Workshop

This can be done annually or quarterly. A goal-setting workshop aims to teach your audience a structured process for envisioning their ideal goals and translating those dreams into clear, actionable steps.

2. Personal Brand Building Workshop

Chris Do

Chris Do, a personal brand and design strategist.

Having a strong personal brand is vital to stand out online and attract their dream clients. Here, walk your workshop attendees through how to define their value proposition, build a cohesive visual identity, and create a content strategy.

3. Mindfulness Workshop for Busy Professionals

Stress and overwhelm are common challenges in today’s society. You can encourage participants and teach them simple mindfulness practices they can add to their daily routines to find calm and clarity amidst the chaos.

4. Productivity Systems & Time Management Strategies

If you want to help people who constantly feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day, host training workshops to share proven productivity systems and time management hacks.

5. Vision Board Creation Workshop

This workshop guides people through the process of creating a visual representation of their deepest desires and big goals. It includes core value exploration, self-visualization, and goal-setting strategies. 

6. Self-Confidence Workshop

For many, the journey to true self-confidence starts with inner work and a willingness to face their fears. Here, you’ll create a safe space for self-awareness and exploration to uncover imposter syndrome, past trauma, and negative self-talk.

7. Client Acquisition Workshop

Here, you can share active engagement and client attraction strategies, from defining ideal client avatars to creating magnetic sales copy to help participants turn potential leads into paying clients.

8. Social Profile Optimization Workshop

The social profile optimization workshop is about optimizing brand profiles on platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram. You can share tips on how to create attention-grabbing bios that connect with target audiences using strategic keywords and content.

9. Content Creation & Strategy Workshop

The content creation and strategy workshop is about a sustainable approach to blogging, video production, and social media content creation. You can share tips on creating a content plan and coming up with a pool of topic ideas.

10. Launch Strategy Workshop

Launching a new program, product, or service can be daunting. You can share your launch framework—from market research to offer validation, promotional tactics, and sales funnels. 

11. Meal Prep & Food Planning Workshop

For professionals juggling work and family, staying consistent with their wellness goals can be hard. You can teach them time-saving food planning techniques to ensure they have nourishing meals ready to go, no matter how hectic their schedule gets.

12. Brand Storytelling Workshop 

In this workshop, you can teach storytelling techniques to help entrepreneurs attract the right audience through captivating copy for their website, sales pages, blogs, and social media.

13. Public Speaking Workshop

Brené Brown

A TED talk by Brené Brown, a speaker on self-development and confidence.

This workshop focuses on helping participants overcome stage and on-screen fright. You can share tips to help them master body language and vocal techniques and develop camera confidence to speak boldly at industry events or workshops.

14. Money Mindset & Management Workshop

For many entrepreneurs, their relationship with money can be a source of stress, shame, or confusion. If you are a money mindset or finance coach, you can keep attendees engaged with tips to develop an abundance mindset and practical financial management systems.

15. Career Leadership & Team Building Activity Workshop

You can host an engaging workshop to encourage teamwork. This can include new insights on trust-based work cultures, conflict resolution, communication skills, and creative thinking to thrive as dynamic, impactful leaders.

16. Project Management Workshop

This workshop is perfect for a target audience that wants to stay organized while enhancing productivity and client experience. Share proven project management tips, including scope handling, resource allocation, and software tools.

17. Coaching Business Workshop 

As passionate as coaches are about serving their clients, the “business side” is often overlooked. Use this medium to share strategies for building a thriving, sustainable coaching practice.

Your workshop idea can be a more hyperspecific idea, such as email marketing tips, lead generation strategies, sales copywriting techniques, or a content batching framework. 

Note: Your workshop format can be anything you decide. It can be a live program, a self-paced online course, a VIP-day intensive, or a weeklong series.

💰 How Much to Charge for Your Workshop

If you’re like most coaches, you’ve probably been wondering if you’re overcharging or not charging enough. 

The truth is that several factors (such as location, level of experience, and duration) affect the price of an offer, whether it’s your workshop, program, or online course

Your Pricing Guide

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to pricing, but here’s a framework to find a worthy value:

1. Calculate your baseline costs. This includes costs such as preparation time (research, content creation, materials), message delivery time, online platform or venue costs, marketing needs, and other expenses that went into the making of the workshop.  

2. Add your expertise value. Based on the level of expertise you’d deliver, add a price tag. Consider your years of experience, methodologies, success track record, and positioning.

From here, you can explore these different pricing tiers:

Entry-Level WorkshopsMid-Range WorkshopsHigh-Ticket Workshops
These typically range from $0-$197 and work well for:First-time workshop creatorsLead generation eventsTopic testingCommunity buildingThis can range from $297-$997. These workshops usually include:More comprehensive contentGroup coaching elementsExtended access to materialsCommunity supportThese are offered by top coaches and can cost several thousands of dollars. They include:Smaller group sizesIndividual attentionAccess to VIPs & elite networksHigh-touch supportExclusive bonuses

Your workshop is more about the transformation you provide than the number of hours you spend teaching. If your workshop helps someone land their dream job, boost their self-confidence, or improve their relationships, what’s that really worth to them?

Here are key factors to consider when pricing your workshop:

  • The immediate results participants will achieve
  • Long-term benefits and ripple effects
  • Your unique expertise and methodology
  • Level of experience and brand positioning
  • Support and resources provided

🔊 Best Ways to Promote Your Workshop

Here are some effective promotion strategies for your workshop:

Build Anticipation

Start promoting your workshop 6-8 weeks before the date. This allows you to create buzz for the event. 

Some content ideas to share during this period include the following:

  • Sneak peeks of the workshop
  • Questions you’ll be addressing
  • Stories from past participants or clients in general 
  • Your own journey with the topic

Showcase Your Workshop & Offerings

You need a landing page for interested people to sign up for your offer. If it’s a paid workshop, you’ll need more—a sales page, payment platform, email system, and where to host your materials. 

But instead of getting set up on multiple platforms at once, Paperbell allows you to do all this from a unified user dashboard. 

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You can easily create a conversion-led sales page for your workshop, get paid, onboard clients, track sales, and deliver essential materials—all without writing a single line of code. 

Create a FREE account to see how you can do this with Paperbell.

Leverage Multiple Channels

Your workshop marketing strategy should include cross-channel marketing. The more people hear about your workshop, the more in-person or virtual participants you’re likely to have. 

Here’s how to use multiple channels to your advantage:

  • Share value-packed newsletters that showcase your expertise
  • Post success stories of past participants on your social media profiles
  • Go live to answer frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the topic your workshop covers 
  • Encourage your audience to subscribe for exclusive bonuses
  • Create a social media and blog post series that talks about your workshop

Collaborate With Others 

Your workshop event will be more successful if you form partnerships with other coaches and complementary service professionals in your space.

For example, if you’re running a coaching business workshop, you can partner with business coaches, abundance mindset coaches, and marketing consultants

You can also create an affiliate program that rewards people who refer your workshop to their audience. 

Use FOMO Marketing

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a strategy that focuses on urgency and exclusivity.

While you never want to use manipulative tactics, here are ethical ways to create genuine urgency:

  • Early-bird pricing (discounted prices)
  • Limited spots opened
  • Limited-time bonus
best ways to promote your workshop

🚨 Ready to Launch Your Workshop?

With the right tool, launching your next workshop can be as easy as pie. 

Instead of juggling multiple platforms to create a landing page for your workshop, process payment, onboard participants, and manage their activities, you can do all this with Paperbell (no tech skills required!). 

Ready to bring your workshop ideas to life? Sign up for a FREE Paperbell account today.

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By Sally Ofuonyebi
Sally Ofuonyebi is a Copywriter & SEO Content Strategist for Coaches. She's been writing for over 4 years on topics such as marketing, business, and sales. Her work is featured in publications like Moz, AllBusiness, and Sprout Social.
November 11, 2024

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