Snow days?

[Kate Frank]

We had this question emailed from an Affiliate:
“I’m writing to see if you would be willing to share how you handle snow days? Do you try to make them up in the same week? At all? I’m wondering how to handle people paying up front and then having to cancel. Any info would be so appreciated!”

Maureen’s response was:
“Living in New England, I encounter the dilemma of snow days too. You can handle it two ways, so decide which makes sense for you, your budget and your groups.

1. You can offer another time the same week as you indicate in your email. This is great for your budget, but might not be possible for people in the group since they have scheduled in a specific time during the week for the workshop. But each group is different, so yours may allow for this kind of flexibility.

2. Extend the workshop session by adding another week at the end. This isn’t great for your budget since it means the loss of a week’s pay, but it maintains continuity and guarantees that those who have paid up front will be offered a full number of weeks. If those people who have already paid the full amount can’t attend the added week, either split the difference with them on the amount so that neither of you are out the full week’s fee, or give them a credit for the next round of workshops.

Although the workshop leader I learned the most from used to offer a separate day to make up for snow days, I was never able to attend. So I follow the second suggestion in my own workshops and it has worked out quite well.”

How do others handle it? Do you follow one of these approaches or is there another way that works best for you?

[Author]

Posts