Workshop booking for one-off sessions, multi-week courses and repeat dates

The short answer

Workshops come in three shapes, and each wants a different booking setup:

1. A one-off workshop. One date, one ticket. The simplest.
2. A multi-week course. Several dates, the same people throughout, paid once. One ticket should cover every date.
3. The same workshop on repeat. Your beginners' class runs every month, and people pick a date. Each date is a session of its own.

Get the shape right first, then sort out the price, the cap, materials and what happens when someone can’t come.

Shape 1: the one-off workshop

A Saturday pottery taster, a sourdough masterclass, a half-day writing workshop. One event, one or two ticket types (standard and concession, say), and a capacity set by your tables, wheels or kitchen benches.

It’s also how you test a new idea. Run it once, see who comes, then decide whether it becomes a course or a repeat.

Shape 2: the multi-week course

A six-week life drawing course, an eight-week beginners' guitar group, a four-session financial literacy series. The same group meets each week and the course only makes sense taken whole.

Sell it as one booking covering every date. The student pays once, gets one ticket, and checks in each week with the same QR code. Your class list is the same every week, which makes it easy to spot who has missed a session.

Two things to decide up front:

• Can people join late? If not, close sales before the first session.
• What if they miss a week? Most courses don’t refund single missed sessions. Say so before they pay.

If you’d rather let people pay as they go, a weekly subscription covering each session is the alternative, but for a short course with a fixed end, one payment is simpler for everyone.

Shape 3: the same workshop on repeat

Your “Intro to macramé” runs on the first Saturday of every month. Each date is a separate class with its own cap and its own list, and people pick the one that suits them.

Set it up as a repeating series so every date sits on one page, new dates appear as the months pass, and a change to the time or price can reach every upcoming date at once. If a date fills, a waitlist catches the overflow, and their interest tells you when to add a second date.

Pricing a workshop

Build the price from the bottom up:

• materials per person
• venue hire, divided by a realistic number of attendees
• your time, including preparation
• a margin for no-shows and the occasional quiet session

The ticket price calculator for a workshop does this from your costs and expected numbers.

Materials and add-ons

Some workshops include everything; others offer an upgrade: a premium kit, an apron to take home, a printed workbook. Include the basics in the ticket price so nobody turns up empty-handed. Optional extras can be sold at checkout or on the day.

Ask what you need to know

Ask at checkout, not by email afterwards:

• skill level, so you can pitch the class
• dietary requirements for anything with food
• left- or right-handed, for some crafts
• accessibility needs

Keep it to the questions you’ll actually use.

Cancellations and refunds

Workshops have real costs per person, so set a clear policy: refunds until a number of days before, then none for a change of mind. Never write “no refunds”, because the law gives refunds a policy can’t take away. The workshop refund policy template has wording to start from.

On One Ticket

A one-off workshop is an event with ticket types, a capacity and a sales window. A multi-week course is one event with every date added to it: one ticket covers them all and checks in once on each day. A repeat workshop is a series, with a session for each date, set under Repeats with how many weeks ahead to sell. See Repeating events and series and Tickets and prices.

Questions at checkout are asked once per ticket, as a typed answer, a list or tick boxes. A waitlist under Ticket settings offers freed places to the next in line. Choose a refund policy per event, from no change-of-mind refunds to refunds any time before.

Extras, such as a premium kit sold with the ticket, are on Pro and Team, along with partial refunds. Pro and Team are open now: upgrade any time in Settings › Plan. Limited-time offer: A$1 for your first year (first 100 organisers), then A$29/month for Pro or A$79/month for Team. Cancel anytime.

On a paid ticket the buyer pays a small booking fee and you receive your full price. See pricing, the Events page and ticketing for art and craft workshops.

Back to the complete guide to recurring events. Related: How to take payment for a workshop or class, Class passes, class packs and subscriptions and How to set up a recurring event.