Lessonface Program Partners Case Study: Conference of Northern California Handweavers (CNCH)

CNCH, Conference of Northern California Handweavers, is a nonprofit organization that aims to promote the art of handweaving and educate the public about the craft. CNCH's member guilds include weavers, dyers, basketmakers, and spinners. In 2024, they held their first online seminars on Lessonface. We asked CNCH Program Chair Mary Ann Parker to answer some questions about her experience with Lessonface. Here is her perspective. Thank you again, Mary Ann!

Lessonface is an easy platform on which to do this.
Pick your classes and teachers wisely and you will be successful.

How far in advance do you typically plan in-person vs online classes?
2024 was the 1st time that CNCH offered online classes. We 1st contacted Lessonface about 9
months before the conference.

How did you hear about Lessonface, and why did you decide to utilize the
Lessonface platform?
Our conference chair suggested that we try online classes after seeing the classes that MAFA
was offering. We originally thought that we could host the classes ourselves, since we often
had online presentations at our guild meetings, but the logistics of finding someone to run the
program and getting, and paying for the internet service in the hotel proved to be troublesome
and expensive. We talked to Margaret Briggs about MAFA’s experience which is when we
learned about Lessonface. We then contacted Lessonface and decided to use you rather than
do it ourselves.

What type of support and resources does Lessonface offer you?
Lessonface provides all the technical support needed to host online classes. We no longer
needed a technical person on our end to set the whole thing up and be responsible for the
internet connection. In addition, Lessonface set up the web page for our conference on their
website and promoted it through their monthly newsletters. Each time they sent out a
newsletter, our enrollment increased by 10-15 students.

What type of enrollments/student participation did you expect for your online
classes with Lessonface, and have you met your expectations so far?
As this was our first time having online classes, we had no idea what to expect. We budgeted
the income very modestly. We capped our enrollment at 50, and 2 classes were filled in a
matter of weeks. A 3rd class filled before the seminar started and the 4th had 47 enrolled. We
were absolutely thrilled with the turnout.

How did students find out about your online classes?
We promoted our online classes along with our in-person conference workshops. We posted
our conference brochure on the CNCH website, and regularly sent out email blasts to our
members about everything at the conference. We also had Facebook and Instagram accounts
where they were promoted, sent out emails to weaving guilds outside our area (Southern
California Washington, and Oregon), and promotions through the Lessonface newsletters.

What feedback have you received from your community about your online
classes?
Overall, people were very excited about the classes and enjoyed them. Many people no longer
travel, or cannot afford the expense of the in-person workshops. Having the online classes at
the same time as the conference gave them the feeling of having “been” at the conference with
us. We definitely have members who don’t like online classes, feeling that it is competition
with the in-person classes. We purposely had seminars, rather than workshops, so that there
wasn’t that sense of competition. We felt we were serving two different groups in our fiber
arts community.

How do you believe virtual classes benefit an organization?
I think the virtual classes can bring a sense of community to an organization. We have an aging
population in our fiber arts guilds. Many can’t afford to go to a conference, or can’t travel any
more. And for younger members, the logistics of leaving their families for a long weekend is
troublesome. The virtual seminars give people an affordable option to participate. The added
income that CNCH received enabled our conference to be profitable.

Do you have advice for other organizations considering offering online classes
with Lessonface?
I say give it a try. Our organization had no experience with Lessonface or online classes during a
conference, and we decided to try it out. Lessonface is an easy platform on which to do this.
Pick your classes and teachers wisely and you will be successful.

Do you anticipate offering more online classes? Will you change anything about
your approach going forward?
CNCH is talking about offering more online classes. The question is whether to offer them
during a conference or at other times of the year. Overall, the CNCH board realizes the benefit
both financially and community wise of online classes or seminars. We started small, just 4
classes, but I think it could grow to more if we pursued this avenue of education and income for
our CNCH members.

Work with Lessonface:
Online class programs for organizations
Online teaching for individual teachers